It’s amazing what an international break can do. Bored chief executives or bored journalists could probably be more creative than check the weekend’s goalscorers and then link them with a big-bucks move to that of their rivals, but that isn’t really the lay of the land. So fresh from smashing a shot straight at Scotland’s Craig Gordon, Liverpool are preparing a bid of £40m for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, according to the Express, in “a last-ditch attempt to stop him from signing a new £100,000-a-week contract with Arsenal”.

Now the Mill is in no position to tell Arsène Wenger what to do, but if such an offer is true, for a player entering the final 12 months of his contract, it would not be a surprise to see the Frenchman drive Oxlade-Chamberlain to Merseyside himself. The 23-year-old did impress in a right wing-back role towards the end of last season, but has ambitions to play in a more central midfield role and has previously stated that “I’ve always wanted to be Steven Gerrard.” We’ll see how that one pans out.

Joe Hart confident Manchester City won’t price him out of transfer market Read more

The Leigh Griffiths v Joe Hart Part I and Part II episodes has left England No1 looking and sounding increasingly desperate. “I would love to give you a poker-straight answer as to where I’ll be next season, but I’ve got nothing at the moment,” Hart mumbled. Griffiths, meanwhile, has free-kicked himself into talk of a move to both West Brom and Newcastle, despite warming the Celtic substitutes bench for much of last season.



Álvaro Morata is set to join Manchester United and has told Gareth Bale to join him and make the United squad better. And James Rodriguez has been told by his stepfather to join Manchester United in the summer to get some playing time.” Morata liked a post on Instagram with these very words, proving absolutely nothing, but sending Manchester United online forums into meltdown and giving the Mill hope that this Madrid-Manchester saga might be over soon.



Stop press! Liverpool want a Southampton player. Don’t worry, this one is believed to be all above board: somebody has realised that Dusan Tadic has a £13m release clause. Meanwhile, that silly Gelson Martins ruse hasn’t worked and Liverpool have done what everyone knew what they were going to do: increase their bid for Mo Salah: Roma are reportedly mulling over an offer worth €45m.



In case you missed it over the weekend, Bayern Munich have signed Arsenal reject Serge Gnabry on a three-year contract. Whilst that is slightly old news, what is does mean is that Bayern’s Douglas Costa looks closer to slinging his hook: Juventus are thought to be meeting German officials this week, with Tottenham and Liverpool also thought to be keen.



Meanwhile, Everton are looking at Burnley’s Andre Gray, Schalke looks set to beat Arsenal to the signature of Nantes’ Amine Harit, and Tottenham will meet the €25m release clause of Nice’s Ricardo Pereira if Kyle Walker leaves the club this summer. That’s your lot.

