EXCL: Salah latest as Gerrard makes plea, Kepa return, Echeverri is EPL bound, Real Madrid’s Varane decision, Conte to Milan? … and more

December 27th 2023, 19:00

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The situation is very quiet with Mo Salah and a Saudi switch, however.

Salah is fully focused on Liverpool as they’re flying in all competitions, but the Saudis still like him obviously and they still dream of Salah for their project. This is not something concrete for the January transfer window.

Regarding a return to Chelsea for Kepa, to be honest, I’ve absolutely zero idea of what’s gonna happen in June. Too early. It depends on Kepa performances, Lunin performances, Madrid strategies, Chelsea strategies… nothing to be decided in December or January.

This kind of stuff is always decided in May… the only guarantee now is that Kepa will stay at Real Madrid until the end of the season.

Deco is a big fan of the player and also other people in the club know this talented boy very well. He’s playing for River Plate and was under contract until December 2024, a dangerous situation for River because his release clause is just €25m euros going up to €30m in the final 10 days of the window.

It’s impossible for Barcelona to make the deal happen because of Financial Fair Play restrictions, even though he was really tempted by the opportunity to join Barcelona because he’s understood to be a big fan.

Chelsea made some contacts to make sure they were in the race for Echeverri, but at the end of the day, Manchester City are the big favourites and are advancing to the final stages of this story.

They’re now negotiating directly with River Plate whom they have an excellent relationship with after what they did with Julio Álvarez, and the plan is to do it again with the same structure.

City will let Echeverri stay at River Plate for at least six months, then will decide whether they want to bring in the player next summer or next winter. The deal is advancing but is not done yet.

As I told you, Madrid are still discussing internally about the possibility to bring in a new centre-back at some point. After the injury to David Alaba, we know that Carlo Ancelotti and people on the board are involved in the decision.

What Real Madrid are doing is to explore the market at the moment, and from what I’ve heard, Raphael Varane is not in contact with them and neither have the club approached Manchester United at this stage.

There is still a chance for the Frenchman to stay at United until the end of the season and then leave the club in the summer too. The situation remains open and it depends on the proposals Los Blancos receive.