Mehdi Taremi, a hot name in Saudi Arabia and in Italy; David De Gea still has many doubts about his future; Fabio Grosso starts to shake. Here are some of the main stories over the last few days of the transfer market from TribalFootball’s transfer expert Rudy Galetti.
MIRANDA, BETWEEN BETIS AND MILAN
Juan Miranda is still thinking about what to do next year. The Spanish left-back has a contract expiring at the end of the season with Real Betis who, on their side, in addition to monitoring other profiles to replace him, are also trying to understand the margin of negotiation with his entourage for a potential renewal until – at least – 2025.
Certainly, extending the contract of Juan for another year will not be easy also because AC Milan have been tempting the Spanish player for some time and are ready to increase the pressure on him. The Rossoneri started contact with Miranda a few months ago with the idea of anticipating the competition for his arrival as a free agent next summer. However, several injuries in defence for the Rossoneri have led the club to understand the conditions for his possible transfer as early as January.
Real Betis are asking for around 5/7 million euros to let Miranda leave early: in the coming weeks, as the winter transfer session approaches, everything will be clearer.
TAREMI, A BATTLE BETWEEN ITALY AND SAUDI ARABIA
Mehdi Taremi will certainly be one of the strikers most followed and contacted in the coming weeks. In fact, the Iranian player’s contract with Porto is expiring at the end of the season and he will not renew with the Portuguese club.
The teams interested in Mehdi are already there, starting from Saudi Arabia where Al Shabab and Al Ahli initiated talks with his entourage to understand the room of negotiation. Even in Italy, the Iranian striker has several admirers: last summer, as everyone remembers, AC Milan tried to convince Taremi to join the club at the end of August, but the offer made to Porto and also the proposal for the player were considered too low. In particular, the President of the Portuguese club, a few days ago, defined the Rossoneri’s bids as “ridiculous”.
Anyway, still in Milan, now Inter would like to bring the striker to Serie A, even better if already in January: the Nerazzurri are preparing a concrete attempt to convince his current club to let him go, but Porto already clarified they are not open to give discounts despite his contract expiring in June.
DE GEA HAS NOT YET DECIDED HIS FUTURE
The future of David De Gea is still to be decided. Many clubs are interested in him and at the moment anything can happen for the former Manchester United goalkeeper, currently still a free agent.
In Saudi Arabia, Al Shabab and Al Nassr are interested in him and there have been some contacts between the Saudi clubs and the goalkeeper’s entourage, but to date there are no advanced negotiations. De Gea, in fact, wants to calmly evaluate all the possible offers that will come to him: like the one from MLS, where Inter Miami of Leo Messi are interested in David and are trying to convince him to land in the United States.
But that’s not all: even in Europe there are teams attracted by the Spanish goalkeeper, such as Real Betis. The club is experiencing a difficult time with their goalkeepers, with Claudio Bravo and Rui Silva both injured, and the third goalkeeper Fran Vieites is at the moment the only option to defend the goal of the Verdiblancos: for this reason, De Gea remains one of their targets. Anyway, as told, the Spanish player is in no hurry to choose and the feeling is that his final decision will still take some time.
LUKA MODRIC AND CASEMIRO: SAUDI TEMPTATIONS
A few weeks ago, we already talked about the strong interest of Saudi clubs in Luka Modric. The Croatian player is in the last year of his contract with Real Madrid and probably next season he will no longer be a Blanco.
As mentioned, currently Al Ahli and Al Ittihad are the teams that are following Modric most closely, but in the last few days it is the former that has increased the pressure on the Croatian midfielder, trying to convince him and his entourage to give the green light also for a possible transfer in January.
But here comes the “big” news: Al Ahli have also started contacts with Casemiro. Their desire is to strengthen the midfield during the winter transfer window and if Modric will not give his approval to go ahead in January, the club where – among others – Roberto Firmino plays will try to get serious with another Brazilian.
For sure, it won’t be easy to convince them about a move during the next transfer session, but both midfielders have made it known that they want to play – sooner or later – in the Saudi League. Who knows if the beginning of 2024 will be the right time for a concrete attempt for (one of) them?
FABIO GROSSO, THE EXPERIENCE WITH OL ALREADY AT END OF THE LINE?
With another – the seventh – defeat in Ligue 1 (0-2 against Lille) the position of Fabio Grosso on the bench of Olympique Lyon is seriously at risk. The Italian coach – last in the standings, 5 points away from the safety zone – no longer enjoys the full trust of the club which has already started contacting some possible replacements in recent weeks.
Despite the denials by the French club, one of the names on the list is Jorge Sampaoli: the former Flamengo coach, in fact, is appreciated by OL who has included him among the profiles to be evaluated to possibly replace Grosso if the results, in the next matches, will be missing. For his part, the Argentine coach is ready to get back in the game: a few weeks ago, in fact, Jorge had given his full willingness to talk to Ajax who, in the end, chose John van ‘t Schip who knew the environment better, having played with the Lancers for over 10 years.
There is no confirmation, however, of a possible interest from the Peruvian National Team for Sampaoli, not even in the list of names to replace Nicolas Cordova. Jorge is only waiting for the bench of an important club, such as Olympique Lyon.
