Graham Potter has decided to turn down the opportunity to manage Leicester City following his dismissal from Chelsea. The former Barcelona and Spain manager Luis Enrique is now the frontrunner for the job, with Chelsea looking to interview five potential candidates, including Enrique, Julian Nagelsmann, Mauricio Pochettino, Luciano Spalletti of Napoli and one other. Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Oliver Glasner are also being considered. However, Chelsea’s hierarchy are concerned about Nagelsmann’s age of 35.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has identified Harry Kane as his preferred striker option for the summer, but the 29-year-old is open to signing a new contract with Tottenham. Meanwhile, United are planning to put England defender Harry Maguire, 30, up for sale this summer, and have held talks about signing France full-back Benjamin Pavard, 27, from Bayern Munich. They have also begun negotiations over the potential signing of Bayer Leverkusen and Netherlands full-back Jeremie Frimpong, 22.
Tottenham are looking into the possibility of appointing Brendan Rodgers as their new manager following his sacking at Leicester. Arsenal have held discussions with Belgium midfielder Youri Tielemans, 25, whose contract at Leicester runs out this summer. A Saudi Arabian club have shown a strong interest in Aston Villa and Brazil forward Philippe Coutinho, 30. Chelsea have a verbal agreement to sign Ecuadorian midfielder Kendry Paez, 15, from Independiente del Valle in a deal that could be worth more than £17.5m, and have increased their interest in Atalanta and Denmark striker Rasmus Hojlund, 20.
Finally, Newcastle United are among the Premier League clubs who have expressed an interest in Manchester City’s 21-year-old English midfielder Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who is currently on loan at Burnley.