Premier League Transfer Gossip – Chelsea consider ‘final’ Stones bid

Playing for 90’s transfer gossip column brings you all the latest news and rumours of ins and outs from the Premier League and abroad, including news on the future of John Stones.

Chelsea may pay £40m for Stones

The Guardian report that Chelsea are considering whether to lodge a final bid worth £40m for the Everton defender John Stones after seeing their third offer of the summer for the England international flatly rejected by the Merseyside club.

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Everton made it clear, yet again, on Tuesday that they are not interested in parting with the 21-year-old defender, who has been capped four times, and will not enter into negotiations with the champions. That resolve could yet be tested by an offer which would establish Stones as the most expensive defender in English football, though raising the bid to £40m would effectively see Chelsea doubling their original valuation of the centre-back.

Both Branislav Ivanovic and John Terry have endured difficult starts to the campaign, Chelsea’s worst since 1998, with the captain substituted at half-time on Sunday as the title winners succumbed 3-0 to Manchester City, last season’s runners-up.

Nicolas Otamendi and Kevin De Bruyne set to sign for City for a combined £88m

Manchester City are set to take their spending this summer through the £150million barrier with the signings of Nicolas Otamendi and Kevin De Bruyne. Premier League leaders City are closing in on deals of £56m for Wolfsburg midfielder De Bruyne and £32m for Valencia defender Otamendi.

Talks with Valencia over Argentina international Otamendi are at an advanced stage, with an agreement expected to be announced within the next 48 hours. Although the Blues have denied Otamendi has already undergone a medical, the 27-year-old is understood to have been in Manchester on Tuesday with agent Jorge Mendes to finalise a move that will see him become the Etihad club’s fifth signing of the close-season.

Belgium international De Bruyne is also expected to arrive for a fee in the region of £56m

Spurs told to increase bid to £25m Berahino bid after West Brom reject £18m

The Independent report that West Bromwich Albion have told Tottenham Hotspur that they want £25m for the England Under-21 international Saido Berahino having rejected an £18m bid from Spurs today.

The West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace took the unusual step of issuing a statement to announce that the bid had been rejected, although with the caveat that the club were open to a better offer. Spurs claim that they have offered to pay £18m for the 22-year-old whom they looked closely at signing in January but were eventually put off by West Brom’s valuation.

Strikers are at a premium across Europe and with Spurs down to just Harry Kane and new signing Clinton N’Jie as their only senior strikers in the first team squad, recruiting Berahino has become a priority. With Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and Peace both uncompromising transfer negotiators, this one is likely to go on until the end of the window.

In his statement on the West Brom website, Peace said that he could not rule out selling Berahino, a club academy graduate who has been named in Roy Hodgson’s senior England squads in the past. Previously, potential buyers have been discouraged for Berahino’s reputation for being difficult but he has benefited from a shortage of available strikers this summer.

Bournemouth plot Jermain Defoe swoop

The Daily Mirror report that Bournemouth are considering an audacious move to re-sign Jermain Defoe. Striker Defoe is understood to be unsettled at Sunderland, who have had a nightmare start to the new season.

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Defoe, 32, is keen on a return to the south, where he had spent his whole career before he joined MLS side Toronto from Tottenham in 2014.

He became a cult hero at then-League Two Bournemouth with an historic loan spell with the Dorset side very early in his pro career.

Farmed out by his then-club West Ham at just 18, Defoe scored 18 goals in just 29 league games between October 2000 and May 2001 – and equalled a post-war Football League record by scoring in 10 consecutive games.