Welcome to Wednesday’s round-up of the biggest and boldest new Premier League transfer rumours and today, as we so often do, we find ourselves starting at Stamford Bridge, by this point surely the new spiritual home of the rumour mill.
The Chelsea striker market is still very much open, and it appears that new head coach Enzo Maresca has found someone. TeamTalk reports that Maresca is interested in Loïs Openda of RB Leipzig, who was most recently spotted caressing the ball with his fingertips when playing for Belgium at Euro 2024.
Openda is under contract with Leipzig until 2028 and only arrived there last summer. As the story notes, his team is not under any rush to sell, but he does have a release clause of £70 million that may become active the next summer and influence the price Chelsea is willing to pay. It appears that La Liga and “two other top EPL sides” are also interested, but you can never believe anyone who refers to it as the EPL.
The 3AM Verdict: Thanks to his quick feet and dribbling abilities, Openda is dangerous both in front of goal and in deep areas. He scored 28 goals in all competitions this season, which was his best ever. Put another way, he seems like a class act who could help Chelsea, and £70 million is probably not that bad of a price. Although there isn’t much evidence to support this report, we’ll continue to be sceptical for the time being. However, if Openda is willing to switch teams for the third consecutive summer, it doesn’t seem completely out of the question.
Everton ‘agree deal’ for Villa starlet
News has emerged from Merseyside suggesting that Everton could be very close to making their first summer acquisition. According to reports from Football Insider and other sources, Everton and Aston Villa have reached an agreement about the acquisition of promising midfield player Tim Iroegbunam, who is reportedly valued at around £10 million.
The 20-year-old holding midfielder, who impressed when on loan at QPR in the 2022–2023 season but was largely benched for the majority of the previous year, is reportedly joining on a permanent contract. He is obviously eager to get some first-team experience under his belt. Iroegbunam is reportedly “highly rated” at Villa Park, but they’ve opted to let him go because of the necessity to adhere to profit and sustainability guidelines.
The 3AM Verdict: We like Iroegbunam because he is a hard-working, strong tackler who likes to keep things simple yet still manage to be quite effective. It’s possible that his lack of artistic flare prevented him from making an impression on Unai Emery’s squad, but it’s difficult to miss a player who will flourish under Sean Dyche. Amadou Onana is probably leaving for a lot more than £10 million, therefore this could turn out to be a very wise business move.
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