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Pedro Lima will be the new Chelsea player. The young right-back from Sport Recife will first move to Strasbourg, another side of the BlueCo Group. The deal has been verbally agreed for €7 million plus €3.5 million in add-ons, a club record, and the player's agent will be in London this week to finalize the deal.
Lima has been linked with a number of European clubs, including Spain's biggest clubs, but will play for Chelsea in the future after moving to Strasbourg for the first time. This is partly due to Financial Fair Play reasons, so at the moment it is a Strasbourg deal but his future will be at Chelsea.
Chelsea continue to work on a deal for John Duran. Although it is true that Aston Villa is progressing in negotiations with Juventus regarding the agreement to sell Douglas Luiz and to sign Weston McKennie and Samuel Iling-Junior from this Italian club, they have also discussed with Chelsea. The two clubs are in talks, and Duran is one of the names on Chelsea's list of new strikers.
Chelsea want to bring in new players quickly, they don't want new important additions like the one that will arrive at the end of August, so talks are ongoing with Aston Villa to find a solution. Duran is keen on a move, but other key European clubs are also interested in the young Colombian striker, so the calls have come after the clubs considered the possibility of signing the player due to Aston Villa's financial situation.
So, there is movement around Duran's situation, but Chelsea is talking to Villa, and talking about the player's side – direct talks are happening and Duran wants to move to Chelsea. So it is now up to Chelsea to decide when and how to close the deal, with Duran the favorite to replace the striker at Stamford Bridge.
Conor Gallagher, on the other hand, wants to focus only on the Euros, so for now it is quiet with Aston Villa. They are still interested in the player, as are Tottenham, but at the moment there is no progress as Gallagher wants to focus on England and is not eager to leave Chelsea. It must be the right opportunity, but he is still very happy at the club.
As reported yesterday, Erik ten Hag will remain as manager of Manchester United, and now the two teams are moving forward in discussions about a new contract for the Dutch coach. What I hear right now is that there is more than a 90% chance of seeing Ten Hag extend his contract at Man United.
Regarding the length of the contract, negotiations are still ongoing, but the discussion is about an agreement until 2027, so another two years more than a year he has left on his current contract. This offer is on the table, and it is a good discussion because Ten Hag, despite all the rumors about his future and his situation, respected the decision of Manchester United to have a long review and consider all the options and take time before deciding the future manager.
Ten Hag knows now that he is staying at Manchester United, and will take part in future negotiations, but now his contract will be discussed, and from what I hear a new deal that could last until 2027 is indeed a reality. It is 90% guaranteed, both sides want to do it, with Ten Hag happy to have a long-term vision with the owners and directors, and to avoid possible media problems after the first few games of the season. Sometimes a few bad results can lead to reports that the manager's job is already in danger, so Man United want to protect Ten Hag as he is considered an important part of their project.
Man United have considered changing the manager – that's true, it could happen this summer but it's never 100% decided. That is why it is always an open story with many aspects. Personally, I think that giving Ten Hag a new contract is important to show strong confidence in his work, this may look like a detail but in my opinion it is an important aspect of this story: the new contract of Ten Hag is really very important. a step to protect him.
There were five or six names United considered for the job, and Fulham's Marco Silva is one of them, but not the only one. As previously reported, Thomas Tuchel held a meeting and discussed with Man United and they decided not to continue the negotiations. Marco Silva was an option that was discussed internally but he was not that close to the job.
Juventus are busy this summer, with a deal for Douglas Luiz already announced, and are also interested in Mason Greenwood, while Teun Koopmeiners has long been their top target.
There is one issue for Juve at the moment, with Wojciech Szczesny, whose move to Al Nassr has been problematic. There are problems there, not with the player, but between Juventus and Al Nassr, so at the moment there is no green light to continue with this deal of 5 million euros. Let's see what happens there, but it will be up to you in the coming days.
Ederson – The Atalanta midfielder has responded to links with Liverpool, but what is the situation? Liverpool have been in contact with his agents for the past few weeks but they have not started negotiations, they have not submitted an offer so far, there are no ongoing negotiations at this stage. We have to see if they will include Ederson in their short list or not, it is too early for this and there are no tangible changes in the situation so far. Atalanta, on the other hand, does not want to lose both Ederson and Koopmeiners.
Raphael Varane – A free agent this summer after leaving Manchester United, Inter Miami is one of several clubs that have called Raphael Varane's agents to ask for information on Varane and his situation. For now, that's it – nothing more practical or advanced than this, from what I've heard.
Andriy Lunin – Some surprising reports have linked the goalkeeper of Real Madrid to Arsenal, but Arsenal is only focused on David Raya to stay on a permanent contract, I don't know about this story of Lunin going to Arsenal to be honest. Real Madrid are still considering their new contract proposal for the player, so it is now up to Lunin to decide.
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