Key events
The word on the street is that Liverpool are closing on Federico Chiesa. The Italian has looked set to leave Juventus for most of the summer and Arne Slot is winning the race for his signature.
The forward would be an impressive addition to a frontline packed full of quality. It’s been a quiet summer at Anfield but this should get the fans interested.
We are expecting Kepa Arrizabalaga to complete his loan move from Chelsea to Bournemouth today. The Spaniard spent last season out on loan at Real Madrid and was not even close to being part of Enzo Maresca’s plans at Stamford Bridge, so his departure makes sense.
Arrizabalaga worked alongside Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola at Athletic Bilbao, so hopefully the Basque connection is strong and the goalkeeper can reach his potential.
It’s not only Scott McTominay who is set to sign with Napoli in the coming hours because Romelu Lukaku has turned up for a medical in Naples as he looks to end his Chelsea career.
“Oh Will,” begins Hugo Campbell. “I could talk about my FM Derby team forever – the 07-08 squad that got relegated from the Premier League with a record low points total.
“Beefed the midfield out with Belgian maestro Walter Baseggio and Polish grafter Maciej Iwanski (both in for sub £1m) who bossed it for years, Rob Earnshaw scored a min of 20 goals a season and brought in a young Axel Witsel who played at the wing back then. We got to the Uefa Cup final within four years, where we got smashed by Inter, but in my head I decided we had a bus parade anyway because we’d made the city so proud of us.”
Derby will never forget.
Wolves are closing in on a deal to sign Sam Johnstone from Palace, according to Sky Sports.
The goalkeeper, who is currently backup to Dean Henderson at Selhurst Park, will cost Wolves £10m.
“I had a summer job 10+ years ago at Football Manager,” emails Sam. “Each meeting room is named after an FM hero and their shirts adorn the walls. Not only that, they would invite them to play in their annual intra-company tournament. Apparently Tonton Zola Moukoko lacked pace, even when playing against some wheezing developers in niche third kits …”
Poor Tonton.
“In recent versions of FM I tend to pick Parma for no real reason other than liking their kit,” says Naz. “Because of this I had a particular interest in Romania and Hungary at the Euros due to Dennis Man and Botond Balogh, the latter of which would regularly develop into a World Class Centre Back, as FM themselves put it.
“From earlier editions, I was a big fan of Bojan Djordjic, David Healy, and Ronnie Wallwork. No prizes for guessing which team I grew up supporting!”
Fun fact: I went to school with the person who stabbed Wallwork.
Dundee have signed Leicester midfielder Sammy Braybrooke on loan.
I was told a few years back that Braybrooke was the best midfielder in his age group in the country a few years back. Will be interesting to see how he does.
“There’s only one player who goes down in the annuls of CM history and that is Tonton Zola Moukoko,” says Jit. “The guy was an absolute beast on the game and took my Crystal Palace team to multiple European cups and domestic deal sweeps.
The guy was Messi and Ronaldo rolled into one, a player that even won Sweden the World Cup.
”In reality though Derby county signed him, probably based on his Champ Man ability and he faded into obscurity. Followed him ever since and even have a Palace shirt with is name on the back.”
That is commitment.
Cast your eyes over this.
Daniel Stephens pens: “Back in the days of mastering my defence first strategy, you could pick up two fellas early in 2003/4 of Championship Manager
“Colombian Jose Julian de la Cuesta was a mainstay as I headed to Champions League glory, 14 years of service for around €600,000 was the best buy of the entire game for me, either LB or DCL he was a constant MOTM winner.
“Real life? Six seasons in different levels with Cadiz, then an ACL-engineered downward spiral.
“There was also a guy from Montpellier called Julio Colombo, hard to prise him away for a couple of mill, but a solid CB for a decade.
“Real life? A solid career at Montpellier followed by an arrest for drug-trafficking…”
Both memorable, at least.
Did you know that Oasis are reuniting? Burnley sure do.
Ipswich snap up Ogbene
Chiedozie Ogbene is set for a second season in the Premier League after moving to newly-promoted Ipswich from Luton for a fee in the region of £8m.
The 27-year-old Republic of Ireland winger, who has signed a four-year deal at Portman Road, impressed in the top flight with Luton, making 30 appearances.
“I’m very excited and feel lucky to have this opportunity to play in the Premier League again,” Ogbene said “I’ve had very positive chats with the manager and for someone to believe in me that I could play at this level again means a lot to me and my family. I know what he wants from me and the role I will play and I’m here to be a positive addition to the squad as we look to achieve our goals.”
Hannibal joins Burnley from Manchester United
Midfielder Hannibal Mejbri has joined Burnley from Manchester United for an initial fee of £5.4m which could rise to £9.4m and has signed a four-year contract. United also have sell-on and buyback clauses inserted as part of the deal.
“I’m very excited,” Hannibal said. “Very happy to be here and I can’t wait to see the fans. I have played against Burnley before at Turf Moor and the atmosphere was amazing.After speaking to the coach [Scott Parker] the project sounded good to me and hopefully we can make success.”
“Lukas Ambros has been my go-to signing in the last few iterations of FM Touch (yes, I play Touch on the Switch, sue me!) to help lift my beloved 1. FC Nürnberg back to 1. Bundesliga,” emails Sebastian Thümmel. “He’s only 20 years old now in real life, but in Football Manager, he would always develop beautifully and eventually move on, netting me an eight-digit sum.
“His real-life career hasn’t picked up. So far, at least. After stints at two Bundesliga youth squads, he has recently moved to Gornik Zabrze in Poland. I had actually dreamed of him transferring to Nuremberg to replace Can Uzun, but alas, nobody seems to be sharing my dream. Not yet, at least. He (and I) still have time.”
Niall B gets in touch to say: “I (an Irishman) became a fan of Wycombe Wanderers through Fifa. My friend and I played as random teams one day and ended up playing a fixture I’m not aware has ever graced real life (but was exceptionally entertaining), namely, Wycombe vs Al-Ahli (before the money, sadly, or the teams would have been a lot less evenly matched).
“We had a blast and so we replayed this fixture over and over… and over.
“We are Chairboys to this day (it being far more practical geographically than supporting a Saudi team), almost a decade later, and even have our names printed on a brick at the stadium. We’ve been to quite a few matches now and I hope to take my 1 year old to his first match soon.
“Ps shout out to Tomás Collender who is our Dublin branch’s Chairboy Chairman!”
Getting your money from computer games.
It is all change in the Manchester United midfield as Manuel Ugarte is in the UK to undergo a medical after the club agreed a deal with PSG. Meanwhile, Scott McTominay is on his way out and looks set to join Napoli.
Ed Partridge gets in touch: “Not necessarily following someone’s career, but the amount of times I’ve been to see Ipswich play, convinced a member of the opposition has played for us, only to realise I had signed them on Football Manager …”
Barcelona’s Valle moves to Celtic on loan
Celtic have brought in left-back Alex Valle on a season-long loan from Barcelona.
Valle is a youth international with Spain and was on the bench for Barcelona’s opening two league games.
“I’m very excited, it’s a great opportunity to come to this historic club,” Valle said. “They have given me a lot of confidence to come here, so I will try to do my best to return the confidence. I’ve heard a lot about the fans and and what we can experience in this stadium, so I’m just excited to see it in real life.”
“A few years ago I picked it up again and had fun getting Middlesbrough to the Champions League, partly driven by a core of youth team players including the keeper Connor Ripley and attacker Harry Chapman,” says Andy Moorhouse. “Fast forward to last Saturday and my disappointment of watching from the away end as Barnet took the lead against Southend from a long shot right in front of us was at least partly eased by hearing the scorer was Harry Chapman. A quick Google check confirmed it was the same guy. Obviously never hit the heights he did under me but glad he is still playing professionally.”
Never meet your heroes.
“In my football manager 2006/2007 you could sign Greg Halford for around £500k,” says Joe. “He was a Right Back and a striker. The game saw him as a defender so when he was played as a striker he was never marked for corners or free kicks so he scored an unbelievable amount of goals.
“I think he had 17/20 for pace, 18/20 for strength, 15/20 for shooting and was 6’3!”
A cunning plan.
Leicester City boss Steve Cooper is looking to add more players to his squad after breezing past Tranmere in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
One key target is the Genk winger Bilal El Khannouss, who has been linked with a move to the East Midlands. Asked about the situation with El Khannouss, Cooper said: “I’ve stayed away from everything outside of a matchday. I’m due to go and speak to the recruitment guys and see if there are any updates with players leaving or coming in so let’s see.
“As soon as the league started, I’ve been very clear about what I feel would be helpful but also very committed to working with the guys every day and they are (working hard), so too the coaching staff. There is a real togetherness. Any manager would say come the window they want to be in the strongest position possible and we are no different.
“If we are able to get where I would like us to be then brilliant, if not then the commitment and work doesn’t change, we give everything we’ve got to the players who are doing brilliant and hope to grow the team day by day.”
“It’s always, always Sharbel Touma, twice capped for Sweden, journeyman left winger in reality,” emails Graeme Neill. “For my Liverpool 99/00 team, someone I picked up for £325,000 and became a player whose goals and assists over the course of his career were akin to Messi and Ronaldo combined (and then some).
I always wondered how he was getting on every few years or so and would check out where he was. SPOILER: he was not doing as well as he did under my management.”
Did get two caps for Sweden, at least.
“Showing my age a little, but I remember signing Julius Aghahowa on Championship manager 01/02 and he turned into a world beater,” says Daniel McCreadie. “Following his real life career didn’t capture my interest for too long unfortunately.”
He had a fun if not world class career. His spell at Wigan does not live long in the memory.
Nolberto Solano has been sacked by Blyth Spartans. He managed six games in charge and failed to win a single one.
– Chiesa to Liverpool?
– Calvert-Lewin to Chelsea?
– Johnstone to Wolves?
Get all the hottest transfer goss, courtesy of the Rumour Mill.
I wonder … have you ever signed someone on Football Manager (or similar games) and followed their real-life careers on account of their performance for your team? Get in touch.
Leicester City women sign Chossenotte
Tom Garry is, thankfully, up bright and early to learn these things.
Leicester City Women have signed 19-year-old French youth international winger Shana Chossenotte from new manager Amandine Miquel’s former side Stade de Reims for an undisclosed fee. Chossenotte has signed a three-year contract. #LCFCwomen #BarclaysWSL
— Tom Garry (@TomJGarry) August 28, 2024
We shall start with a look back through yesterday’s Guardian transfer news …
Still plenty of fun to be had at Chelsea.
Arsenal bring in Mikel Merino.
Brighton keep on spending.
Manchester United close to Ugarte deal.
Palace to sign Nketiah.
Welcome
There are fewer than three days left for Chelsea to buy another 237 players before the transfer window is pulled shut and the lock put on.
Plenty of players have their futures up in the air from Ivan Toney to Raheem Sterling, and plenty in between. We will be bring you the latest from around the clubs as people look to get deals done. I am sure there will be the odd surprise thrown in, too.
Stay tuned …
