Football transfer rumours: Aston Villa steal ahead in Tielemans chase?

H aving watched a certain someone lead Manchester City to a league and Cup double, Manchester United are after a Scandinavian forward of their own. Rasmus Højlund may not yet have the credentials of Erling Haaland but, with 16 goals and seven assists for Atalanta this season, the Dane is certainly catching the eye and could join his compatriot Christian Eriksen at Old Trafford.

The 20-year-old won’t come cheap, though, and is expected to fetch at least £40m. Not the best news for Anthony Martial, who could leave United after another injury kept him out of Saturday’s FA Cup final, the third successive final the Frenchman has missed for the Reds.

Christian Pulisic is using the international fixtures to his advantage, simultaneously falling over himself to express his loyalty to Chelsea and also keeping his options open. “As of right now, I’m a Chelsea player and I plan to go back, but a lot of things can happen. A lot of things can change,” said the USA international before the Concacaf Nations League title defence gets under way. “It’s been an interesting journey at club level for me – I had a great couple of years and the last couple of years just haven’t gone at all how I planned them to be.”

The news of Karim Benzema’s move to Saudi Arabia has kickstarted Real Madrid into a rather nostalgic gear of being linked with … pretty much everyone. Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies is the latest name to fall out of Florentino Pérez’s mouth, with the Canadian still having two years to run on his contract. The same cannot be said for Nacho Fernández, who is considering offers from Real and Internazionale.

Youri Tielemans, Caglar Soyuncu, Daniel Amartey, Nampalys Mendy, Ryan Bertrand, Ayoze Pérez and Tetê will leave Leicester on