Glasner confirms Johnstone, Ahamada want Crystal Palace exits (2024)

• Barcelona trying to hijack Red Bull Salzburg’s move for Liverpool’s Bajcetic
• Southampton agree £25m deal to sign Arsenal’s Ramsdale
• Liverpool closing in on Chiesa signing
• Sancho likely to leave Man Utd with Juventus, Chelsea interested
• Napoli agree deal for Chelsea's Lukaku
• Palace agree fee for Wolfsburg defender Lacroix
• Ugarte close to Man Utd move; as McTominay set for Napoli

Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has confirmed that Sam Johnstone and Naouirou Ahamada have asked to leave the club.

Goalkeeper Johnstone informed Palace while away on their week-long tour of the U.S for the Stateside Cup in pre-season that he wanted a move away, while midfielder Ahamada is unsettled by a lack of game time.

Johnstone, who signed on a free transfer in June 2022 has been understudy to Dean Henderson since returning from a broken elbow sustained on international duty with England in March and had his squad number of No 1 taken away from him this season. He is unsettled at Palace and Glasner confirmed his desire to leave.

Ahamada has struggled for any meaningful game time since his arrival from Stuttgart in January 2023 for €12million (£10.6m; $13.1m), starting just once in his 28 Premier League appearances, accumulating a total of 331 minutes.

When asked if Johnstone would be in contention to start Palace’s Carabao Cup match against Norwich City on Tuesday, Glasner was cautious, before admitting the 31-year-old was looking for a new club.

“Sam told us he wants to leave, and so if he finds a club he can leave,” Glasner said. ”That is not the best situation to get a start.”

The 22-year-old Ahamada is in search of more minutes which are unlikely to come at Palace as he is behind Jefferson Lerma, Cheick Doucoure, Will Hughes and Adam Wharton, with Glasner admitting he could leave before the end of the transfer window on Friday.

“I don’t want to talk about individuals. We talk to every single player. Everybody knows the situation, we know the situation, how the players are thinking about it.

“He is here now for more than two years. He hasn’t had many minutes that he needs at his age and so we spoke together. He thinks it would be good for him to get more minutes. It’s very difficult with all the competitors in his position to get these minutes here.

“So maybe there is another option for him and this is what he is looking for and maybe this is what will happen or not.”

Dani Olmo is likely to miss Barcelona’s game against Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday evening despite the club’s efforts to register him in time.

he 26-year-old rejoined his boyhood club in a €60million move (£50.8m) from RB Leipzig on August 9, but has not made an appearance in a Barcelona shirt since then.

Barcelona are struggling to officially register Olmo due to ongoing financial constraints.

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Trabzonspor have made a bid of €4m for Burnley captain Josh Brownhill.

The 28-year-old has entered the final year of his contract and has been offered a four year deal in Turkey on significantly improved terms.

Brownhill was made skipper by new Burnley manager Scott Parker and is considered to be a vital part of the club’s attempt to bounce straight back to the Premier League.

The midfielder has played 169 times for the club and previously remained at the club to help them regain their top division status under Vicent Kompany. Last season he played 33 times for Burnley and scored four goals in the Premier League as Burnley finished 19th.

In addition to active interest from Turkey, clubs in the Premier League are known to be monitoring the situation with Brownhill having tracked his — and the club's — progress over the past 12 months.

Burnley have sold key players this summer including Wilson Odobert (to Tottenham Hotspur), Sander Berge (Fulham), Dara O'Shea and Arijanet Muric (both Ipswich Town) and Anass Zaroury (Lens).

Raheem Sterling’s priority is to resolve his contractual situation at Chelsea before holding talks with suitors over a move before the transfer window closes.

Sterling is not part of the plans at Stamford Bridge but has three years left on terms worth more than £300,000 per week.

The 29-year-old forward is preparing for further dialogue with Chelsea in the coming days, prior to potentially choosing a new club.

Enquiries about the conditions of a possible transfer have been made by multiple sides, though that has not translated into concrete negotiations so far — with the initial focus being on Sterling’s contractual issue.

While Aston Villa were reported to be keen on Sterling, they have no firm interest in the former Manchester City attacker and are not pursuing the matter.

Sterling has not featured in either of Chelsea's opening games of the Premier League season or the Conference League play-off first leg against Servette.

Giorgi Mamardashvili is set for a medical ahead of completing a move to Liverpool.

A deal has been struck that will see the Valencia goalkeeper spend the upcoming season in Spain before officially moving to Anfield next summer.

The Premier League club will pay €30million plus €5m in add-ons with the 23-year-old being loaned back to La Liga before then being expected to compete for a place next season.

Alisson will remain as the club's undisputed No 1 in the meantime with Caoimhin Kelleher, the reserve goalkeeper in recent years, as second choice.

Alisson is under contract until 2027 with Kelleher's terms set to expire in 2026.

Mamardashvili starred for Georgia during their run to the European Championship last 16 before their eventual exit at the hands of champions Spain.

He kept 13 clean sheets in 37 La Liga games for Valencia last season.

Southampton and Flamengo are continuing talks over a deal that would see Carlos Alcaraz join the Brazilian club with Victor Hugo going the other way.

Alcaraz, 21, spent the second half of last season on loan at Juventus but returned to Southampton this summer and featured as a late substitute in the opening day Premier League defeat at Newcastle.

The clubs are in talks for Victor Hugo to move the opposite direction as part of any agreement. The 20-year-old midfielder has scored six goals in 63 appearances for the Brazilian club, and may move to Southampton on a loan deal with an obligation to buy.

No agreement has yet been reached between the two clubs and no medical have yet been scheduled.

Alcaraz has scored eight goals in 48 appearances for Southampton since joining from Racing Club in January 2023.

Nottingham Forest appear to have switched their focus from Eddie Nketiah back to Feyenoord striker Santiago Gimenez.

Feyenoord have not responded to Forest's latest offer for Gimenez but the Premier League side appear to still be short of the Dutch club's valuation.

Another loan departure from Barcelona: Clement Lenglet has joined Atletico Madrid on a season-long deal.

The Frenchman, who has spent time on loan at Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa, follows Vitor Roque (Real Betis) in departing Hansi Flick's first-team squad today.

Lenglet, formerly of Sevilla, made 25 appearances on loan at Villa last season with his most recent Barcelona performance in the 2021-22 campaign.

Former Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Everton attacking midfielder James Rodriguez is close to signing for Rayo Vallecano.

The 33-year-old, who won the Copa America MVP award earlier this summer, is expected to sign a one-year deal with the La Liga side.

Barcelona striker Vitor Roque has joined Real Betis on a season-long loan deal.

The Brazilian joins Betis on a deal that is extendable into a second season, and for which Betis will have the option to buy the teenager on a permanent basis. Betis will pay the striker's full wages for the duration of his loan.

The 19-year-old joined Barcelona’s first-team squad in January from Athletico Paranaense, where he scored 28 goals in 81 appearances, after the Catalan club agreed a €30million deal to sign him in the summer of 2023. He had initially been set to join the club in the summer of 2024, but that plan was accelerated following a series of first-team injuries.

He featured in 16 matches for Barcelona during the second half of last season, although just two of those were as a starter, and scored two goals.

Manchester City have considered a move for FC Copenhagen striker Orri Oskarsson but now seem unlikely to pursue a deal for the 19-year-old.

Oskarsson, 19, is high on the list of targets City have been exploring if they are to bolster Pep Guardiola’s front line before Friday’s deadline, which includes Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi.

Virgil van Dijk only has a year left on his contract at Liverpool but appears unfazed by his situation at the Merseyside club.

“I’m very calm,” the 33-year-old told Sky Sports. “I want to play the best season I can, again. I want to be important and stay important for the club this year.

“Whatever happens next year, we’ll see. Everything happens for a reason, that’s how I see it.

“There’s been no changes in my situation but I’m very calm about it, there’s no reason for me to sit down and start thinking about something else because I have the whole season to play. Hopefully, it’ll be a successful one.”

Will Ivan Toney still be at Brentford come Saturday morning? It's a question that is probably very pertinent in certain parts of west London today...

Toney was again absent from the Brentford squad as they were defeated 2-0 at Liverpool. The England international has one year left on his Brentford contract and has attracted interest from Saudi Arabian side Al Ahli.

“No, when we beat Liverpool at home a couple of years ago we played with Wissa and Bryan up front,” Frank said when asked by Sky Sports if his side missed a physical striker during the Liverpool game.

“I think we’ve got a good squad, we’ve done some good business. Nothing big I need or I want.”

Asked specifically whether he expects Toney to be at Brentford following the transfer deadline, Frank replied: “That I don’t know, let’s see what will happen.”

Mikel Arteta was coy on the transfer front when asked about incoming after Arsenal's 2-0 win at Aston Villa on Saturday, but it appears as though Mikel Merino will soon join the north London side.

On Friday, we reported that the 28-year-old Spain international was to travel to London to undergo a medical ahead of his proposed transfer to Arsenal.

Previously, we reported that Arsenal had agreed an initial fee of €33.5million (£28.4m) for the midfielder.

Napoli have reached an agreement with Manchester United to sign midfielder Scott McTominay.

A fee in the region of €30million (£25.4m; $33.6m) has been settled on and United would receive a share of any future sale from the Italian side.

The proposed deal is subject to all parties being satisfied with the player terms.

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Former West Ham United defender Angelo Ogbonna is close to signing for Championship side Watford.

The 36-year-old has agreed a one-year deal with Watford and is a de facto replacement for departed club captain Wesley Hoedt.

• Ugarte travelling for Man United medical ahead of €60m transfer
• Mamardashvili to undergo Liverpool medical; Merseyside club also considering Chiesa move
• Palace close to agreeing Nketiah deal
• Atletico exploring Nunes loan move
• Sterling prioritising Chelsea contract before any transfer talks
• Napoli agree deal for Man Utd's McTominay

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Shortly after the Forest news, it emerged that Crystal Palace are considering a move for Nketiah.

They had had talks with Arsenal over the 25-year-old earlier this summer.

Nketiah is still expected to secure a move away from Arsenal before Friday's transfer deadline.

Yesterday, we reported that Eddie Nketiah's proposed move from Arsenal to Nottingham Forest had broken down.

Forest had agreed a fee worth up to £30million with Arsenal for Nketiah but did not reach an agreement with the striker.