West Ham close in on Ajax star Kudus as Man United face competition for Pavard

The transfer rumour mill remains in full swing with daily stories of players coming and going.

With just a few weeks remaining, we bring you the best transfer gossip and the likelihood of those transfer stories materialising.

West Ham United’s spending continues as they close in on Ajax’s talented attacking midfielder Mohammed Kudus, according to Foot Mercato. The French outlet suggests that Hammers representative Tim Steidten has been holding face-to-face talks in Amsterdam and is close to finalising a deal that would see the 23-year-old star head to east London for £35m. The Hammers have also signed James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez, and are now turning their attention to Rennes winger Jeremy Doku.

Nottingham Forest are hoping to sign Youssouf Fofana from Monaco for a fee of €35 million plus add-ons, according to The Athletic’s David Ornstein. The deal requires the 24-year-old midfielder to agree terms, but there are other clubs interested in his services. Fofana joined Monaco from Strasbourg in 2020 and made 47 appearances last season, scoring twice and as many assists. He also made six appearances for France at the last World Cup. Forest are also targeting PSV Eindhoven's Ibrahim Sangare, Leicester City's Wilfried Ndidi, Leeds United's Tyler Adams and Benfica's Florentino Luis.

Manchester United aren’t the only club looking to land wantaway defender Benjamin Pavard from Bayern Munich, for Inter Milan have also joined the race to land the French international, according to Bild’s Christian Falk. United looked favourites to sign the 27-year-old France international, but have struggled to get the deal over the line as a result of being unable to offload Harry Maguire to West Ham United. Inter have made an offer of €25m, though Bayern are holding out for closer to €40m.

Inter Milan have reportedly entered the race to sign Bayern Munich defender Benjamin Pavard. EPA

Fulham are looking to use some of the money from the sale of outgoing forward Aleksandr Mitrovic to land out of favour Everton winger Demarai Gray. That’s according to Teamtalk, who believe the Jamaica international has agreed personal terms with the Cottagers. Gray, 27, wasn’t used in any of Everton’s pre-season friendlies, and he wasn’t involved in the Toffees' defeat to Fulham last weekend. Gray did, however, make five appearances for his country in the Gold Cup, scoring twice and adding two assists, but he doesn’t appear to be in Everton manager Sean Dyche’s plans, leaving the door open for Fulham to try and reignite his career.

Liverpool may look to PSV star Johan Bakayoko if Mohamed Salah leaves to go to Saudi Arabia, according to Football Insider. Bakayoko, 20, is a wanted man and is also being tracked by French champions Paris Saint-Germain after enjoying a breakout season for Ajax last year; in which he scored nine goals and contributed six assists in 39 appearances in all competitions, as well as winning four caps for Belgium. Salah’s move to Saudi Arabia has apparently been green-lit by Reds manager Jurgen Klopp. Liverpool have already signed 30-year-old Endo for £16m from Stuttgart.

Al Ittihad are interested in signing Atletico Madrid’s experienced 32-year-old striker Antoine Griezmann, according to journalist Ekrem Konur. The Saudi club are hoping N’Golo Kante and Karim Benzema can help persuade the France international to follow their path to the Middle East. However, there’s a flaw in the big spenders’ plan, and that is that the Frenchman would rather end his career in the MLS alongside Lionel Messi at Inter Miami. The Jeddah-based outfit are willing to pay the €25m release clause, but Griezmann has indicated that he wants to would prefer to move to America instead.

West Ham close in on Ajax star Kudus as Man United face competition for Pavard

In the latest transfer gossip round-up, Al Ittihad are keen on Griezmann and Liverpool identify potential Salah replacements

Major transfer deals of 2023/24 summer window