Football transfer rumours: Nicolas Jackson to join Manchester United?

The Villa Park Rehabilitation Centre for Disaffected Souls Who Learned the Hard Way that Old Trafford is No Longer the Theatre of Dreams or Let’s Be Honest Even Hopes could soon have a new arrival. After helping Marcus Rashford discovery his joie de football last season, Unai Emery reportedly wants to do to the same for Alejandro Garnacho, while also injecting him with an eye-watering level of tactical detail and a hitherto unseen desire to do the defensive hard yards.

Chelsea and Tottenham are also listening to Garnacho FM for the latest, which could result in an unlikely swap deal. The word on the street is the Manchester United’s search for a centre-forward has reached Nicolas Jackson, who might as well have a red shirt to go with the red cards he’s started collecting.

Villa and Milan also have a soft spot for Jackson’s unique brand of excellence, incompetence and occasional noggin-loss. But Villa might be advised to delete Chelsea’s number for the next few weeks: according to some of today’s rags, Chelsea’s main transfer target this summer is Villa’s potential superstar Morgan Rogers. Just as Pep Guardiola dreams of a team of midfielders, so Chelsea’s recruitment department are moving ever closer to an XI made up solely of attacking midfielders and wide forwards.

Milan and Man Utd are also engaged in an entirely metaphorical arm wrestle for the Brighton left-back Pervis Estupiñán, who fancies a new challenge and will sure as flip get one if he joins either of those two.

Detestors of all things Man Utd will be pleased to know we’re almost done with them for today. Before we go, Juventus are the latest club to consider a move for Marcus Rashford.

English football’s love/hate/actually-he’s-really-good-isn’t-he relationship with Granit Xhaka will resume if he becomes the most high-profile arrival of Sunderland’s £££tastic transfer window. Saudi Pro League club Neom FC are keen to scupper that particularly initiative.

Ademola Lookman, the man whose Europa League final hat-trick in 2024 denied Xhaka’s Leverkusen an InvinciTreble, is wanted by Inter. And Bayern Munich, who are back at the summit in Germany after the horrific one-year drought imposed upon them by Leverkusen, have highlighted VfB Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade as Harry Kane’s eventual replacement.

Stuttgart have told Bayern where to stick their offer of €50m + €5m in add-ons, a 10% sell-on clause and a few laminated posters of Mario Gómez. But we know how this usually ends.

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West Ham are doing things quietly, the Graham Potter way, but have already made one outstanding signing in the Senegal left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf. Next on their list is one or possibly both of Harvey Elliott, Liverpool’s curly-haired bundle of infectious creativity, and Bournemouth’s Marcus Tavernier.

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