Fabrizio Romano Transfer News: Calafiori to Arsenal or Chelsea, Man Utd Zirkzee & De Ligt PROGRESS

Tom Weber

Updated: 2 Jul 2024 12:42 CDT
5 min read

Fabrizio Romano has provided the latest on all the major transfer stories from around Europe.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, the Italian transfer expert dropped an update on the interest of Arsenal and Chelsea in Riccardo Calafiori, the progress Man Utd have made on deals to sign Joshua Zirkzee and Matthijs de Ligt, Barcelona's U-turn on Mika Faye and much more.

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Romano's first order of business on July 2 was to reveal that Spain and Atletico Madrid striker Alvaro Morata has decided to remain with his current club despite concrete and advanced interest from Saudi Arabia, especially from promoted Al-Qadsiah, who have already signed Real Madrid captain Nacho.

Romano also confirmed that Man City are set to sign Savio from sister club Troyes after his outstanding season at fellow City Football Group side Girona. An official announcement of the transfer will be made after the Copa America.

Mika Faye U-turn

Barcelona had been in talks with Porto over a transfer for Senegalese wonderkid Mika Faye, but a deal is currently off, according to Romano. This is due to the Blaugrana's hefty demands but also because new coach Hansi Flick has informed the club that he wants to keep the defender, leading to a U-turn from president Joan Laporta and company.

"Porto really tried but it was never a done deal because Barcelona always wanted €15 million, €16m guaranteed plus a buy-back clause around €30m, €32m and a sell-on clause also included in the agreement."

"Also important to say that the manager of Barcelona, Hansi Flick, informed the club and the player of his intention to keep Faye as part of the first squad, so Barca are happy to continue with Mika Faye. Unless they receive a crazy proposal, the expectation is for him to stay."

Thuram to Juventus - but Calafiori deal off

Romano then announced that Nice midfielder Khephren Thuram is on his way to Juventus. The former Man Utd and Liverpool target will join the Bianconeri for €25m.

However, as far as Riccardo Calafiori is concerned, Juventus are unlikely to strike a deal, with the player expected to be heading to the Premier League instead.

"The situation between Juventus and Bologna is a complicated situation because Riccardo Calafiori gave the priority to Juventus, gave the green light to Juventus, in February, in March, in April, in May, but then Thiago Motta...decided to join Juventus and the president of Bologna, Joey Saputo, was not happy."

"Bologna will not make life easy for Juventus and Bologna expect Premier League clubs to enter the race...Especially two clubs are following Riccardo Calafiori: one is Chelsea because Chelsea will add one more left-footed defender, could be a centre-back, could be a left-back, Riccardo Calafiori can play multiple positions."

"It's not correct to say that Chelsea already offered an important salary to Calafiori because the salary is not the point and we know that Chelsea are not doing crazy things in terms of salary this summer. It's just important for Chelsea to understand if Riccardo Calafiori will be keen on the move."

"And also Arsenal: Arsenal are informed on the situation of Calafiori, Arsenal already had some contacts, but still not a club-to-club negotiation, so let's see what happens there with Riccardo Calafiori."

Zirkzee and De Ligt to Man Utd

Finally, Romano revealed the latest on Man Utd's pursuit of Joshua Zirkzee and Matthijs de Ligt. He reports that the only thing stopping Man Utd from signing Zirkzee is the fact that the recruitment department has yet to decide whether he is the right striker for the project.

"Man Utd remain in direct communication with the agent of the player, there is an internal discussion at Man Utd because basically Man Utd will have no problem paying the salary, commission, the contract length, the release clause is also fine for them, €40m is something they can do, the budget for the striker is also more than that."

"So Man Utd can do the deal for Zirkzee at any moment. It's about an internal discussion now to decide whether they want to proceed or not."

As for De Ligt, talks are swiftly progressing with the player and Bayern. "Man Utd confirmed to Bayern in the last 48 hours that they are interested in the player, that they want to open the negotiation."

"The feeling of Man Utd is that De Ligt wants the move...I can tell you that today Man Utd are the only club in contact with De Ligt and his agent Rafaela Pimenta. She's only speaking to Man Utd, the player is giving priority to Man Utd, the player wants to go to Man Utd."

"Personal terms are absolutely close to being agreed. Now, it's up to the clubs. Man Utd feel that they can agree even on something like a €50m package but with add-ons included, so they want a different structure of the deal...work in progress on this one and also De Ligt has been informed by Man Utd that Erik ten Hag is absolutely keen on the move, Erik ten Hag is pushing for this one."