Last night the first round of Champions League fixtures came to an end with a stunning round of matches. Manchester City were shocked at home by Lyon, while Cristiano Ronaldo saw red on his European debut for Juventus. Of course, there are still stories in today’s papers that don’t involve last night’s results, and here are the biggest transfer stories of the day.
PSG line-up Rakitic move
In the last couple of years, PSG have become renowned for spending big money on players. Last summer, they paid £200 million to sign Neymar from Barcelona and agreed on a deal to sign Kylian Mbappe from Monaco for £160 million this summer after an initial loan period. Now, according to radio station Onda Cero, they have headed back to Barcelona, and are lining up a £89 million bid for Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic.
Arsenal keen on Pavon’
There wasn’t much for Argentina to shout about during the World Cup, and their poor performances often meant a number of their young players suffered and weren’t able to show their best form. One of those players was winger Christian Pavon, who despite a tough World Cup, has caught the attention of Arsenal, reports the Daily Mail. Pavon has a £44 million release clause at Boca Juniors, and the likelihood is that the Gunners would have to match this to bring him to the club.
Real Madrid eye de Jong
One of the longest transfer sagas of the summer was Barcelona’s unsuccessful pursuit of Frenkie de Jong. It looks likely that Barca will return for the midfielder in January, but according to Don Balon, Florentino Perez is hoping to steal him away from Barcelona at the last minute, and bring him to Real Madrid. This would be a shock move, as Barca have a good relationship with Ajax, and de Jong seemingly has his heart set on a move to the Nou Camp, but Perez is still confident of getting a deal done.
One problem that Unai Emery has had in his first months at Arsenal is getting his players to play how he wants them to play, and although they have picked up a couple of wins in recent weeks, they still don’t look entirely convincing. One man who does know how the Arsenal manager wants to play is Ever Banega, who has played under him in the past, and the Sun reports that Emery wants to bring the Sevilla midfielder to the Emirates, and is prepared to meet his £18 million release clause.