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Arsenal are undergoing a major restructure of their squad ahead of the 2025/2026 campaign, with manager Mikel Arteta desperate to end the club’s long wait for a Premier League title.

Arsenal in discussions for £85m Serie A star as "close" circle contacted

The north Londoners have a number of targets they’re exploring.

By
Emilio Galantini

Jun 20, 2025

New sporting director Andrea Berta’s arrival in north London three months ago brought plenty of anticipation with it, and the Italian has already been busy for a long time behind-the-scenes.

Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi is set to join Arsenal after the Gunners and Berta agreed to pay over his release clause. While Arteta’s side need to stump up a larger fee overall for the Spain international, this cost will be spread out across installments, allowing Arsenal to both navigate PSR regulations and take less of a chunk out of their summer transfer kitty for this year.

Kepa Arrizabalaga is also still joining Arsenal from Chelsea as David Raya’s new back-up goalkeeper (The Times), and the experienced 30-year-old is set to compete for Arteta’s number one spot between the sticks.

While Arsenal are yet to bring in a new striker, despite talks for both Sporting CP star Viktor Gyokeres and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, Arteta’s dire need for a centre-forward means it’ll surely only be a matter of time.

Amidst all of this activity, when it comes to recruitment, players deemed surplus to requirements have been going the other way as well.

Jorginho and Kieran Tierney have officially departed Arsenal, with the former terminating his contract early so he can link up with Flamengo for the Club World Cup, and the latter re-joining former club Celtic on a free transfer.

Now, amid challenging talks over a new deal for star £200,000-per-week midfielder Thomas Partey, the Ghanaian is close to joining them.

Thomas Partey could leave Arsenal in the next few days

He made over 50 appearances under Arteta last season in what was his best-ever campaign for Arsenal, prompting the club to open discussions over an extension, but these negotiations have gone nowhere.

As things stand, Partey could now leave Arsenal in a matter of days, as explained by Fabrizio Romano.

The 32-year-old seemed nailed-on to quit the north London club before 2024/2025, given his well-documented past injury problems, but Partey’s resurgence has suddenly made the star’s exit a much bigger blow for Arteta.

Arsenal’s manager was public in his desire for Partey to remain in N5, after the ex-Atletico Madrid man thrived playing in both midfield and as an emergency right-back last term, which included some pretty big performances against the likes of Real Madrid.

Amid serious interest from AC Milan and José Mourinho’s Fenerbahçe, the curtain appears to be drawing on Partey’s five-year stay at the club, which could now leave Arteta one “sensational” player short in the engine room.

Manchester United had problems aplenty last season, but one of the most damning issues was the inability to produce the kind of slick attacking performances that would have merited a European-qualifying finish or indeed a trophy.

Bruno Fernandes did all he could, posting 19 goals and assists apiece across all competitions, but it wasn’t enough to stop Erik ten Hag’s dismissal, nor did it amount to silverware, or a respectable Premier League finish.

But the Red Devils can now look forward to a pre-season of preparation under the wing of Ruben Amorim, and despite all the issues, optimism remains that a corner can be turned, especially with the prestigious club’s pull still firmly intact.

Perhaps the greatest British outfit of all time, United fell by the wayside last term, but Old Trafford remains one of the most attractive destinations for high-quality players, with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Matheus Cunha rejecting offers from teams like Arsenal to complete a “dream” £62.5m move to Manchester this week.

The Brazilian forward has been hailed as “one of the most coveted players in the league” by content creator Dev Bajwa.

However, he’s not the only top Premier League forward INEOS have pushed to reel in this summer, with Bryan Mbeumo in talks to move to the Theatre of Dreams.

The latest on Bryan Mbeumo to Man Utd

Man United’s reputation as one of Europe’s big boys was underscored when Brentford’s Mbeumo intimated his preference to join Old Trafford this summer, even though Arsenal, Newcastle United, and Tottenham Hotspur, all of whom have Champions League football to look forward to, have been firmly in the race.

After scoring 20 goals across 38 league outings, the intrigue is understandable, and also points toward a revised United strategy to strengthen by securing Premier League-proven players.

However, Mbeumo’s stock is high, and while he is hoping to make the move to Old Trafford, Spurs’ appointment of Thomas Frank has thrown something of a spanner in the works, with the former Bees boss’ arrival giving the Londoners renewed optimism that they could strike a deal for the Cameroon international.

United will remain confident that they can complete a statement signing, but if not, why not turn to an alternative who has also enjoyed success on English soil over the past couple of years?

Man United join race for PL star

As per Caught Offside, Manchester United have joined the race for Bournemouth’s Justin Kluivert, who’s coming off the back of a prolific campaign in the Premier League.

The Dutchman, 26, is highly regarded at the Vitality Stadium, who are under no pressure to cash in. However, if suitors were to make an offer worth roughly €55m (£47m), they might just be tempted.

A host of rivals, such as Arsenal, Liverpool, and Tottenham, are also keen, but the Red Devils registered their interest some time ago and could use their peerless pull once more to bring him in.

Why Man Utd want Justin Kluivert

Kluivert has truly stepped out of his famous father’s shadow to become his own player, joining Bournemouth from Roma two years ago in a deal just shy of £10m.

Across his two campaigns at the club, the Netherlands international has scored 22 goals and supplied ten assists, though it’s been his “red-hot” 2024/25 season that has taken him into another sphere, as has been noted by journalist Ryan Taylor.

If Man United do miss out on Mbeumo, Kluivert could prove the perfect alternative. As per Sofascore, he only missed six big chances in the league, putting away 12 more chances. Moreover, he averaged 1.4 key passes and 1.1 dribbles per game while completing 81% of his passes, bespeaking technical control and indeed the right application of his abilities.

This offers shades of Mbeumo, in a way. The Brentford sensation, 25, supported his prolific success through a base range of talents, averaging 1.8 key passes, 1.4 dribbles, and 4.7 successful duels per game.

Kluivert was utilised across a range of attacking areas by Andoni Iraola last season, and that is in keeping with his career at large, suggesting he could perform across different berths for Amorim, whose three-pronged attacking set-up could see him dovetail right in.

Left winger

136

35

25

Right winger

85

20

21

Attacking midfield

57

15

8

Centre-forward

7

2

1

He’s proven his capacity to impress across the frontline, which speaks of dynamism in a similar vein to Mbeumo, a right-sided forward by trade but not without his strengths as a focal frontman, actually playing seven times as Frank’s striker over the past year, scoring four goals and laying on one assist.

Kluivert’s demonstrable Premier League success, so clinical and composed, could see him become a star in Amorim’s system. As per FBref, he ranked among the top 6% of forwards in the division for goals and assists per 90, leading the data-driven site to rank Mbeumo up as one of his most comparable players.

United need more goals, and by injecting Amorim’s fold with talents such as Cunha and Kluivert (or indeed Mbeumo), they would take a confident step toward a lifting resurgence.

Furthermore, they’re hardly one-trick ponies. All are physical and multi-faceted players, capable of creating chances and using their athleticism to serve the fluency of the wider team.

Amorim has weathered a storm, all right, but there might just be light at the end of the tunnel. United have been here before, roused by ostensibly effective transfer windows, but there’s a certain astuteness about INEOS’ dealings right now which suggests brighter fortunes may lie around the corner.

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Manchester United appear to be making positive moves over a deal to land a new striker for Ruben Amorim.

ByEthan Lamb Jun 14, 2025

Tottenham Hotspur are looking to finish the season on a high and could land a summer coup involving one of Europe’s highly-rated young defenders, according to a report.

Tottenham Hotspur prepare for Europa League date with destiny

There are no two ways about it; Spurs face arguably the biggest week in their modern existence as Ange Postecoglou prepares his side to take on Manchester United in Wednesday’s UEFA Europa League final.

Financially, the winners of the competition stand to earn £10.95 million for a victory in the final, which has created a unique sense of jeopardy between two of England’s most reputable clubs.

Factor in money accumulated across the course of their run to Bilbao and subsequent qualification for the Champions League, there could be a bounty exceeding £80 million in store for either Tottenham or Manchester United.

However, Spurs may have to navigate the showdown without Pape Matar Sarr after he was taken off during their 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa last Friday.

Speaking about his latest injury scare, Postecoglou stated: “Pape felt something in his back, so we took him off as a bit of a precaution. I don’t think it’s anything too significant, speaking to him afterwards but he just felt something in his back.”

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ByCharlie Smith Oct 7, 2025

Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison will miss the final for Tottenham, who know the implications of Wednesday’s final and what it could mean when it comes to attracting potential recruits this summer.

Ultimately, having the Champions League carrot ready to dangle could be a key advantage in the race for talent, though they are now reportedly looking at signing a Paris Saint-Germain star who has earned intriguing recognition.

Tottenham Hotspur looking to sign PSG defender Axel Tape

According to Sports Zone, Tottenham are circling for Paris Saint-Germain defender Axel Tape this summer amid his reported decision to leave the French giants on a free transfer.

Bayer Leverkusen are said to be in ‘pole position’ to sign the 17-year-old, while Bournemouth and Chelsea are also in the hunt to offer a Premier League avenue to the youngster.

Likened to Dean Huijsen by Rising Gems, Tape has made three first-team appearances for Paris Saint-Germain this campaign and primarily features as a central defender.

Daniel Levy is well-known for his penchant to facilitate the arrival of young talent to develop into first-team stars, which is a brief Spurs could look to fill once again should the Bondy-born man arrive in London.

Prodigious figures such as Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Mikey Moore have all been given senior minutes this term, even if the root cause of their frequent involvement has been an injury crisis.

Looking to the future, Tape could be the latest to join a conveyor belt of youthful assets who are only going to multiply in value under Postecoglou’s watch.

The brutal reality of the latter stages of the Champions League hit Aston Villa like a brick when they travelled to Paris to take on PSG on Wednesday night.

Villa, who did take the lead through Morgan Rogers, were beaten 3-1 by a dominant Paris Saint-Germain side, managed by Luis Enrique, who had some terrific individuals on display at the top end of the pitch.

The effervescent Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue, and Ousmane Dembele put on a masterclass in front of their home supporters, with all three of them involved in at least one of the three goals.

Because of the quality of the PSG attackers, several Aston Villa players endured a rough evening in France. One of those was Axel Disasi, after he was brought on at half-time.

Axel Disasi's awful performance against PSG

The versatile defender, who is a centre-back by trade, came on to replace Matty Cash at the break at right-back and was almost immediately sent to the shops for PSG’s second goal in the 49th minute.

Kvaratskhelia, who is a test for any full-back, showed unbelievable footwork to jink past the Frenchman before blasting a finish into the top corner of Emi Martinez’s near post.

In his 45 minutes on the pitch, Disasi managed two tackles, one interception, one block, and one key pass, whilst he also won half (2/4) of his ground duels, in what was a solid display outside of being brilliantly beaten by the Georgian magician.

The 27-year-old defender, who is on loan from Chelsea, was far from the worst player on the pitch for Unai Emery, though…

Aston Villa's worst player against PSG

While Disasi struggled, it was Matty Cash who was even worse than him in the first half.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

The Poland international was actually selected ahead of the Chelsea loanee to start at right-back against Kvaratskhelia and had to be withdrawn from the action at half-time after a dismal opening 45 minutes in Paris.

GOAL awarded him a player rating of just 4/10 and wrote that he was a ‘red card waiting to happen’, after his early yellow card for a foul on the former Napoli forward.

The English-born defender must be brutally binned from the starting XI by Emery after his poor showing in the opening 45 minutes, as Disasi outperformed him off the bench – despite his part in the second PSG goal.

As you can see in the table above, the 4/10 full-back was incredibly wasteful with the ball at his feet and offered nothing at the top end of the pitch, whilst Disasi – at least – created one chance for the team in the second half.

As mentioned by GOAL, Cash was also walking a disciplinary tightrope with four fouls committed and a yellow card to his name in the first 45 minutes, as he was forced to foul Kvaratskhelia, who got the better of him, on several occasions.

With their respective performances in mind, Emery must drop the former Nottingham Forest star from the starting line-up to bring Disasi in at right-back from the start next time out.

Emery's own Saliba: Aston Villa will have bid accepted for £50m "monster"

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By
Kelan Sarson

Apr 8, 2025

Brendon McCullum hoped to lift his spirits but it seems Jos Buttler could not stir himself for another voyage of discovery

Andrew Miller28-Feb-20251:35

Buttler: ‘Right time for me and the team to have a change’

Ten long years ago, almost to the day, England’s cricketers suffered a humiliation greater even than their Champions Trophy exit at the hands of Afghanistan. It was meted out by none other than New Zealand’s then-captain, now England coach, Brendon McCullum, and it would soon prove to be the most consequential defeat in their white-ball history.The venue was Wellington, during the 2015 World Cup, where McCullum’s eviscerating 18-ball fifty rushed through the breach that Tim Southee, armed with Test-match slip cordons and a Kiwi crowd baying for blood, had blown with his career-best 7 for 33. England’s eight-wicket loss was completed with a stunning 326 balls of the entire match left unused – more than a single 50-over innings.Though we did not know it at the time, that was the beginning of England’s Bazball journey. Legend has it how, by degrees, the fates of England and McCullum would entwine and interlock: first, through his close personal friendship with his counterpart Eoin Morgan, who would adopt and adapt his mentor’s aggressive methods to glorious effect for the 2019 World Cup, and then, in 2022, with the relaunch of the Test team under McCullum and Ben Stokes – essentially a transfusion of that new unfettered attitude from white ball to red.Jos Buttler was not only an integral factor in the Morgan reboot, he had been a cause célèbre in the original 2015 meltdown. He made 3 from 7 balls from No. 7 in the Cake Tin crushing, having once again come to the crease below the likes of Ian Bell, Gary Ballance and James Taylor, tasked with an outdated “finisher” role in an innings that, at 104 for 5 in the 27th over, was already as good as over.Related

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As if to demonstrate the madness of this misallocation, Buttler’s solitary hundred up to that point had come from a near-identical starting point: 111 for 5 in the 29th over against Sri Lanka at Lord’s the previous summer, whereupon he blazed an astonishing 121 from 74 balls but still ended up on the losing side. The path to redemption was plain to see. More power up top, more faith throughout, and a more central role for the best white-ball batter of his generation. In June 2015, in the opening game of the team’s new era, Buttler himself made 129 from 77 balls (against New Zealand, inevitably) to lift England to their first 400-plus total, and it was as if a prophecy had been fulfilled.And yet, throughout this decade of close alignment – and despite McCullum himself speaking warmly of their friendship on the day he came full circle as England’s white-ball coach – Buttler had never before felt the direct effects of that legendary dressing-room influence. Until, that is, this brief and gruesome alliance that has spanned barely six weeks. Nine defeats in ten matches would have been thin gruel in any context. Add to the mix another global-trophy disaster, and the captain’s position was untenable. It’s little wonder that McCullum’s overriding emotion, as he sat with his captain at his resignation press conference, was “sadness” that their partnership had never stood a chance.In part, Buttler has been a victim of circumstance, as McCullum also implied. All things being equal, he would have been a glorious addition to the core of generational greats – Stokes, Joe Root, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Jonny Bairstow – without whom the original Bazball project could never have got off the ground. Instead, he remained at arm’s length from their capers, charged instead with the solemn duty of upholding the white-ball team’s standards, following Morgan’s sudden retirement in June 2022.Jos Buttler and Brendon McCullum were only briefly in harness with the white-ball teams•Matthew Lewis-ICC/ICC via Getty ImagesLest it be forgotten amid the navel-gazing, Buttler did achieve that aim magnificently at the first time of asking. And yet, even as he piloted England to the T20 World Cup in 2022, there were doubts as to whether he had placed his own stamp on the team that Morgan rebuilt, or simply pressed the right buttons and got the requisite response from men that he had already gone the journey with: Stokes and Adil Rashid chief among them.These doubts were redoubled in 2023, when England’s bid to get the 2019 band back together came such a spectacular cropper at the 50-over World Cup in India. And since then, even though McCullum’s arrival as all-formats head coach implies a renewed focus on white-ball cricket, this winter’s Ashes is surely the more pressing reason for the realignment. Irrespective of the setbacks in the short term, the consistency of messaging to the likes of Harry Brook, Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett, not to mention England’s cohort of hard-worked fast bowlers, could yet be crucial in a legacy-defining campaign.Where then, did Buttler sit within all that? All under-pressure captains must surely ask themselves the question that he articulated on Wednesday night: “Am I part of the problem, or part of the solution?”. But whereas Morgan in 2015 would have looked first in the mirror, and then at an underutilised generation of hungry young thrusters – Buttler, Stokes, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow among them – and realised that all they needed was a chance, England’s situation right now merits a significantly more pessimistic outlook.

“There have been few players of Buttler’s generation whose performances have seemed so dependent on his mood. His famous bat-handle message has long been a prop to remind him to snap out of it, but his innate pessimism was even in evidence in the Afghanistan defeat”

By the time of his ODI debut in February 2012, Buttler was already a star of the county one-day scene, having amassed 854 runs at 71.17 in his first two seasons with Somerset, including two Lord’s finals. In an early example of the ECB’s fretting about attention spans, the format back then was 40-overs not 50, and yet, as Matt Roller and Tim Wigmore noted in White Hot, their book about England’s white-ball renaissance, this had the unexpected benefit of drawing out the players’ aggressive tendencies, but not at the expense of technique and endurance.By contrast, the advent of the Hundred has taken all such long-haul considerations out of the picture, and with it the very best players. Brook, Buttler’s heir apparent, had not played a single List A game since May 2019 until his ODI debut against South Africa in 2023, and while Smith averaged 63.00 in Surrey’s run to the One-Day Cup semi-final in 2021, his elevation to Hundred marquee status means he may never again feature in a competition that ticks over as a county development project in those overshadowed summer weeks.It’s hard, then, to blame Buttler if he has struggled to greet the advent of “white-ball Bazball” with anything like the same enthusiasm and optimism that Stokes dredged up for the red-ball project. There’s next to no reason for a player who has achieved as much as he has, and with such a stellar cast alongside him, to believe that the best really is yet to come. Of his 2019 team-mates, only Rashid is performing at anything like the requisite level, and he is already 37. Buttler himself has made three fifties in 15 innings across formats since November, having missed five months with a calf injury.What’s more, if the Bazball philosophy is, at its heart, a confidence trick – a mindset with which to park the consequences of your actions and just go out and have a go – then Buttler was always an awkward frontman for such a project. For all of his mighty deeds, there have been few players of his generation whose performances have seemed so dependent on his mood. His famous bat-handle message has long been a prop to remind him to snap out of it, but his innate pessimism was even in evidence in the Afghanistan defeat, when he scratched along to 12 from 24 balls before finally nailing a six that briefly snapped him back into the zone.But it also, perhaps, casts a new light on McCullum’s determination, at his unveiling at The Oval last September, to cheer up his “miserable” captain. It seemed a flippant comment at the time, but it was perhaps a more desperate plea than anyone realised. As indeed, was McCullum’s suggestion on Friday that this might prove as serendipitous as Root’s Test captaincy resignation.Neat though the parallels may be, if Buttler, of all people, could not be persuaded to suspend his disbelief at the outset of this alliance, then who realistically could fill such a void? Ten years on from that tide-turning loss, this time England’s standards may simply have sunk along with their skipper.

Most speed demons have a scary aura about them, but this guy is good wholesome fun

Alagappan Muthu01-Apr-20230:26

Ponting: ‘If Wood stays fit, you will see him bowl some really fast spells’

Mark Wood doesn’t like being here.He has bowled just one ball but he is already going Looney Tunes on the pitch. Giving it a glare that is only missing the cartoon knives flying out of his eyes.It’s the landing area. It’s slippery. It’s not able to support his weight. So on comes a bit of sawdust.Related

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Bodies made of flesh and bone aren’t meant to take the kind of strain fast bowlers put them to. And yet they have been doing it for hundreds of years. Because the payoff is immortality.Fred Spofforth played his last match in the 1800s. He is still called The Demon. There was another guy back in the 1950s who played just 17 Tests. Every time people say his name, even now, they add the word ‘Typhoon’ to it.Fast bowlers, man. They bridge the possible with the impossible. They connect dreams to reality. They stir emotion, create history, and revel in infamy. They are the bad boys that your mother warned you about but you can never, ever stay away from.Except Wood refuses to further that stereotype. In fact, for the most part, he is an utter comedian. More often than not, he struggles to even stay on his feet after releasing the ball, falling splat on the ground in a way that wouldn’t look out of place in a Charlie Chaplin sketch. Last year, while under medication following surgery, he took part in a conversation where he was in equal parts adorable child, incorrigible teenager and total brat.”Is my shoulder meant to be sore?””Yeah.””That’s weird, that. I’ve had elbow surgery but my shoulder’s achin’.””Yeah, it’s from the position you were lying in.””Pff, whatever. I’ll still bowl fast.”

Here’s more of Mark Wood under anaesthetic for you

I’ll still bowl fast… pic.twitter.com/YFGiWPQN0w

— England's Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) March 28, 2022