According to London Evening Standard, Chelsea have slapped Real Madrid transfer target Thibaut Courtois with a £73million price tag; whilst The Daily Mail claim Manchester City are scouting 17 players ahead of the summer transfer window.
Real Madrid will reportedly turn their attentions to the Blues’ No.1 during the summer transfer window if they fail to lure David De Gea away from Manchester United – whose planned transfer to the Bernabeu infamously collapsed in the dying embers of last summer.
The Belgium international has come under criticism for questionable individual errors since returning from a long-term injury in December but according to LES, Chelsea are refusing to budge on the £73million valuation they issued Courtois when the La Liga giants expressed an interest during the 2015 summer transfer window.
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That would constitute a world-record transfer fee for a goalkeeper – more than doubling the current record fee Juventus paid for Gianluigi Buffon back in 2001. Chelsea see no reason to lower their valuation of a goalkeeper who is still seen as one of the best in world football and whose contract doesn’t expire for another three years.
Meanwhile, The Daily Mail claim Manchester City are scouting 17 players ahead of Pep Guardiola’s first transfer window as Etihad boss, namely; lkay Gundogan (Dortmund), Julian Weigl (Dortmund), Ben Chilwell (Leicester City), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Club), John Stones (Everton), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Paul Pogba (Juventus), Thiago Alcantara (Bayern Munich), Godfred Donsah (Bologna), Amadou Diawara (Bologna), Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht), Riechedly Bazoer (Ajax), Dennis Praet (Anderlecht), Ousmane Dembele (Rennes), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Inaki Williams (Athletic Club), Alvaro Morata (Juventus)
Significant changes to the first-team squad are expected during the offseason, with underperforming defender Eliaquim Mangala one of the players expected to be moved on. However, The Daily Mail claim City expect to make only four or five major signings from the aforementioned list of 17.