Chelsea have agreed a fee with Manchester United for the signing of Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho.
RTÉ Sport understands Chelsea will pay a £40million (€46.3m) fixed fee for the 21-year-old, with United retaining a 10% sell-on fee clause.
The deal will represent United’s fourth-largest sale after the transfers of Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku and Angel Di Maria, and is the largest fee received for a graduate from the club’s academy.
Garnacho will follow Marcus Rashford to become the second member of United’s so-called ‘bomb squad’ of unwanted players to secure a move away from Old Trafford, with Antony, Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malacia still working away from Ruben Amorim’s first-team squad.
Chelsea had initially offered a fee of £25m (€29m) for a player who has scored 26 goals in 144 games for United, but who fell out of favour with Amorim towards the end of last season and was told he could leave the club after being left out of their final Premier League game against Aston Villa.
Garnacho had made pointed remarks to the media after being kept on the bench until the 71st minute of United’s 1-0 Europa League final loss to Tottenham, with his brother Roberto using social media to complain about his situation.
Chelsea have already signed Jamie Gittens, Liam Delap, Joao Pedro and Estevao Willian in a revamp of their attack this summer, and Garnacho is likely to compete with Gittens on the left wing.
The deal for Garnacho comes as Christopher Nkunku closes in on a move to AC Milan in a deal understood to be worth around £36m (€42m) to Chelsea.
The 27-year-old, who is surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge, has been given permission to travel to Italy for a medical as details of the move are finalised.
The move to Serie A brings to an end a frustrating two years that followed a €60m move from RB Leipzig in 2023, with injury having badly disrupted his first campaign before struggling to break into the team last season under Enzo Maresca.
He has not been in the squad for either of the Blues’ first two games of the Premier League season with Maresca having made it clear he is not a part of his plans.
Initially signed as the solution to the club’s lack of a proven goalscorer, he sustained a serious knee injury during a pre-season fixture against Borussia Dortmund shortly after joining, eventually going on to make only 11 Premier League appearances in his first season.
He struggled for starts in the league last season under Maresca with most of his appearances coming in cup competitions and in the club’s successful Conference League campaign.
Once the move goes through it will free up Chelsea’s hand as they seek to finalise deals for RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons and Garnacho.
Netherlands international Simons was in London on Thursday to finalise his future ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline, with Tottenham having joined Chelsea in the race for his signature.
Nicolas Jackson (R) and Christopher Nkunku appear surplus requirements at Stamford Bridge
Any deal for Simons could also be contingent on a resolution to Nicolas Jackson’s future.
Bayern Munich have made a loan bid take the striker off Chelsea’s hands but with the club preferring a permanent sale for the Senegal international, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Napoli all remain in the race to sign him.
Jackson’s future is further complicated by the stand-off between Newcastle and Alexander Isak.
Nick Woltemade (10) has two senior caps for Germany
But Newcastle’s summer-long pursuit of a striker could be set to end amid reports they are close to signing Nick Woltemade from Stuttgart.
Isak is effectively on strike in a bid to force through a switch to Liverpool and with Callum Wilson joining West Ham, Newcastle have started their Premier League campaign without a recognised striker.
Joao Pedro, Hugo Ekitike and Benjamin Sesko have all rebuffed the Magpies in the last couple of months but multiple outlets are claiming the club have agreed a club record £65million (€75m) fee to sign Woltemade, eclipsing the £63m (€73m) they paid for Isak from Real Sociedad three years ago.
Stuttgart confirmed on their website on Thursday evening that they have received an offer from an unnamed European club for Germany striker Woltemade, who has been released “from training and match duties in order to hold talks with the interested party regarding a potential move”.
It has also been reported Woltemade will fly into the north-east on Friday to undergo a medical ahead of the completion of a move that could embolden Liverpool to launch a second bid for Isak.
The Premier League champions’ opening offer of £110m (€127m) was rejected, with Newcastle holding out for a British record £150m (€173m) for a frontman who scored 27 goals last season, including 23 in the top-flight.
However, Isak’s publicly stated wish to leave St James’ Park despite having three years left on his contract could lead to Newcastle softening their stance before the transfer window shuts on Monday.
Anthony Gordon has been leading the line in Isak’s absence but he was red-carded in Newcastle’s 3-2 loss to Liverpool on Monday and the England forward could now face a three-match suspension.
The impending arrival of the 6ft 6in Woltemade therefore seems especially timely, with Newcastle also unable to agree fees for Brentford targetman Yoane Wissa and Wolves’ Jorgen Strand Larsen.
Woltemade scored 17 times in 33 appearances in all competitions last season, including 12 goals in 28 matches in the Bundesliga.
The 23-year-old was also the leading scorer in this summer’s European Under-21 Championship with six goals in Germany’s run to the final, while he has been capped twice by the senior national side.
He had been linked with a switch to German giants Bayern Munich and provide competition for England captain Harry Kane up front but Newcastle look to have won the race to sign Woltemade.
Michel-Ange Balikwisha will wear No 10 at Celtic
Celtic have announced the signing of Michel-Ange Balikwisha from Royal Antwerp on a five-year deal.
The Belgian winger joins the Hoops just a couple of days after they missed out on the Champions League following a play-off shootout defeat to Kazakhstan outfit Kairat Almaty.
Being demoted to the Europa League has been widely blamed on Celtic’s failure to reinforce their attacking options, with Brendan Rodgers’ side unable to score in 210 minutes against Kairat.
Balikwisha completing his move, subject to international clearance, redresses the balance, with the 24-year-old helping Antwerp to their first Belgian league title since 1957 in 2023.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers told the club’s official website: “I am delighted to welcome Michel-Ange to Celtic and I believe he will be a great addition to our squad.
“He is a really talented, exciting player and with a good level of experience at a high level already, so he will be an important player for us moving forward.
“He loves to attack and can play both sides of the pitch so we are sure he will give the team some great options.
“Having spoken to Michel-Ange I know he is very excited about joining Celtic and he wants to be a big success with us, so we look forward to working with him.”
Celtic sold main goalscorer Kyogo Furuhashi in January without replacing him and Nicolas Kuhn followed him out of the door last month to compound the loss of fellow winger Jota to a serious knee injury.
But the only experienced addition this year had been Japanese striker Shin Yamada, leading to criticism from fans, some of whom chanted ‘sack the board’ during the first leg against Kairat.
Wolves have bolstered their defensive options with the loan signing of Girona’s Ladislav Krejci.
The centre-half’s move to Molineux will become permanent on a five-year deal if certain options are met.
The Czech Republic international becomes Wolves’ fifth signing of the summer, joining Fer Lopez, Jorgen Strand Larsen, whose loan deal was made permanent, Jhon Arias, David Moller Wolfe and Jackson Tchatchoua.
Wolves have lost their opening two Premier League games without scoring but beat West Ham 3-2 in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
Leeds boss Daniel Farke is hoping for attacking recruits before the transfer window shuts, with Isaac Schmidt and Largie Ramazani set to leave.
Schmidt is close to joining Werder Bremen while Ramazani is in Spain ahead of a proposed move to Valencia and Farke wants reinforcements before Monday’s transfer deadline.
Farke, whose side play Newcastle on Saturday, said: “It’s not confirmed yet, but it’s right, I can confirm that we are happy for Largie and Isaac to travel for talks with with other clubs.
“So it’s not confirmed yet, at least not as we’re talking, but we expect that this will happen.
“So for us, our main focus is to strengthen our offence. How realistic it is? I think it makes no sense right now that I give you a percentage or whatever, but yes, we’re looking forward to strengthen our offence a bit more.
“And if this is one or two more signings, we will see.”