In recent times, for a fee of around £20m, you could have bought either Nathan Aké, Kevin Wimmer or Marko Arnautovic. Set to join their ranks, then, is Alexis Sánchez, who may or may not have a few thoughts about the sort of company that puts him in if his proposed move from Arsenal to Manchester City goes through.
Arsenal were due to spend the £55m they thought they were getting for him in the summer on Thomas Lemar but now they’re likely to get £35m less for Sánchez, and given Monaco have slapped a £90m price tag on the versatile forward’s head, Arsène Wenger is likely to fix his increasingly woeful stare on to Boca Juniors’ 21-year-old winger Cristian Pavón, available for a more modest £27m.
With that done and dusted, he’ll tell Jack Wilshere to write his name under a new contract, then allow Everton to muddy the waters in bidding for £20m Theo Walcott too.
José Mourinho will stop baiting Antonio Conte for just long enough to welcome Lucas Moura to Manchester United from PSG – the winger has agreed to the move, apparently, though the clubs have yet to agree a fee.
Meanwhile, one or two people have realised Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s contract runs out in the summer so have popped brave heads above the parapet to suggest that could very possibly mean he’ll leave the club unless he is offered another one. You heard it here third.
Sevilla and West Ham are sniffing around Chelsea’s Michy Batshuayi, who Conte insists he is “very happy” with, which is the reason he’s parked him on the bench all season. Talking of West Ham, the club are quite happy to let Reece Oxford go to Borussia Mönchengladbach, but only if they get £15m.
Stoke City are hoping to make a present of Galatasaray midfielder Badou Ndiaye for whoever their new manager turns out to be, while Istanbul Basaksehir want to take Arda Turan off Barcelona’s hands.