Transfer news: Liverpool exits, Mane TRUTH, Kim's entourage on Man Utd agreement, Chelsea signing confirmed

Good morning everyone and welcome to today’s Daily Briefing from CaughtOffside – click here to subscribe for this and more exclusive ad-free content straight to your inbox! AC Milan director Maldini on €35m deal for Charles De Ketelaere: “Charles is the example of a player who has to improve. It’d have been easier for us to sign Paulo Dybala as free agent last summer… but would he have been the right player for our project? No.” Matheus Uribe has completed his medical tests as a new Al Sadd player — the Colombian midfielder will leave Porto as free agent. Long term deal signed, Uribe will try a new chapter in Qatar. Bayer Leverkusen hope to sign Granit Xhaka in June after agreeing personal terms on a contract valid until 2027. Talks will move to final stages soon. Arsenal will then insist on Declan Rice deal as their main priority to fill that gap in midfield. For the time being, they’re still waiting on West Ham to decide the final price tag. Arsenal are interested in Joao Cancelo but could also consider Ivan Fresneda if Man City refuse to sell them another player (Telegraph) Mateu Alemany’s move to Aston Villa was 90% done, but he never signed anything. He had the chance to work with Unai Emery, with a big budget and on an exciting project, but he loves Barcelona and he changed his mind and decided to stay. There’s still no concrete negotiation between Jordi Alba and Barcelona over salary reduction; this was not discussed in the meeting that took place on Tuesday while club plans remain to reduce salaries. Alba is under contract until 2024 and would be happy to stay at Barca. Barcelona will fix the appointment of Deco as new director very soon, it’s just a matter of time for technical reasons, then it will be completed. Joan Laporta is convinced of Deco’s skills as director to help the club on long-term project. In a surprise U-turn, Mateu Alemany is now set to stay at Barcelona — he’s changed his mind. Alemany had an agreement in principle with Aston Villa but never signed anything. Barca are now expected to continue with Alemany. Deco remains in advanced talks to become new director while Alemany would stay on same conditions. Mateu Alemany won’t be moving to Aston Villa after all Bayer Leverkusen hope to sign Granit Xhaka in June after agreeing personal terms on a contract valid until 2027. Talks will move to final stages soon. Xabi Alonso plays down rumours about Tottenham and Real Madrid: “Yes, I’m gonna stay at Bayer Leverkusen. I’m very happy at this club and with this team.” Despite speculation over his future, Sadio Mane still wants to stay at Bayern next season. Mane and his agency ROOF have no plans to leave the club. Mane likes the project at Bayern, he has great relationship with Tuchel and hopes to stay and win titles next season. However, there is interest from Saudi Arabia – click here to find out more. Bayern have a very clear stance on Joshua Kimmich – he is considered untouchable and not on the market this summer. There is no intention to negotiate with Barcelona or anyone else, he’s integral to the club’s project. Jefferson Lerma will be out of contract in June at Bournemouth — Crystal Palace are interested in the Colombian midfielder and will push in the next days. He is attracting plenty of interest as clubs are keen on free agent opportunity. Official: Brentford striker Ivan Toney has been suspended from all football and football-related activity with immediate effect for eight months. He has also been fined with £50,000 —and warned as to his future conduct for breaches of The FA’s Betting Rules. Roberto de Zerbi almost confirms Mahmoud Dahoud as next signing for Brighton: “Is he coming? Yes, we have no secrets — I like Dahoud and I would like to work with him. It’s not official… yet.” Dahoud has already completed medical tests at Brighton. De Zerbi on Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo: “I said there can be the possibility to lose big players. We are Brighton, and I know the policy of our club.” Independiente director: “Today, I can say that Kendry Paez will be Chelsea player in 2025. We received bids from Man United and Borussia Dortmund but Chelsea showed super interest.” No talks Chelsea-Inter or with player’s camp for Romelu Lukaku, as reported last week. This won’t happen before the end of season. Any discussion with Pochettino will take place after the Champions League final. Lukaku doesn’t want any distraction as his full focus is on Inter. Julian Nagelsmann’s agent Volker Struth: “Can confirm that Chelsea were quick to call for Julian. He was their number 1 choice; I believe it would have happened if he wanted it. It was the right decision by Julian not to go there.” Jefferson Lerma will be out of contract in June at Bournemouth — Crystal Palace are interested in the Colombian midfielder and will push in the next days. He is attracting plenty of interest as clubs are keen on free agent opportunity. There’ll be no Romelu Lukaku talks with Chelsea yet. The Belgian is only focused on the end of the season with Inter, who will take on Manchester City in the Champions League final. Inter vice president Zanetti on Lautaro Martinez links with Man United and Chelsea: “Lautaro’s key player and we keep him with us. As things stand, it’s time to enjoy Lautaro as a player. He’s very happy here, it’s his home. I hope this can be the case for many years.” Inter are closing in on the agreement to extend the contract of Alessandro Bastoni. The defender’s new deal will be valid until June 2028. alary will be around €5m net per year plus add-ons, with the documents to be officially signed in the next few weeks. Page 2 Leonardo Bonucci has revealed that he will retire at the end of the next season, in June 2024. “When I will retire in a year, an era of the defense will be over. I’m really proud of what I did at Juventus,” Bonucci confirms. Leeds trying hard to keep Cody Drameh while Luton want to do everything to sign the right-back hoping to play PL football. Championship, PL and European clubs are all monitoring the situation closely. No decision has been taken. Official: Liverpool have confirmed that Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita, James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will leave the club as free agents. However, it’s been reported that Jurgen Klopp really wanted to keep one of those four players – read more on CaughtOffside! Manchester City crushed Real Madrid 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium last night to book their place in the Champions League final. They’ll take on Inter Milan in Istanbul on Saturday 10th June. Erling Haaland’s agent Rafaela Pimenta: “The release clause into Haaland’s contract is a mystery, it reminds me of the Treasure Island. No one knows… I like it! Clause removed after Pep signed new deal? No comment on contracts. We had many stories about that…” Bernardo Silva on Paris Saint-Germain rumours: “My plan is to complete well the season, win the Premier League and then the two finals… then, this summer we will see what happens.” Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland Kim Min-jae’s entourage: “It’s not true that a deal is closed with Manchester United. There is no hurry for the future. United have been interested in Kim since he was in China, we only spoke but I repeat: there has been no concrete contact.” Kim Min-jae’s entourage: “It’s not true that a deal is closed with Manchester United. There is no hurry for the future. United have been interested in Kim since he was in China, we only spoke but I repeat: there has been no concrete contact.” Bernardo Silva on Paris Saint-Germain rumours: “My plan is to complete well the season, win the Premier League and then the two finals… then, this summer we will see what happens.” Carlo Ancelotti: “Will Real Madrid be my last club? I don’t know. I said that one time yes, but… I don’t know. Real is the best club in the world, a big family. I will stay here until they want to keep me. I will always be Madrid fan. There are many links, many rumours about my future as Brazil head coach but trust me, there’s nothing concrete. I repeat, I’ll stay here at Real Madrid until they want to keep me.” Dani Carvajal: “City were far better than us, congrats to them. We will come back stronger and work to be in another final soon.” Luka Modric: “Carlo Ancelotti deserves to stay as Real Madrid coach also next season.” Serhiy Rebrov will become the new head coach of Ukraine national team soon — the agreement has been sealed. After discussions with Slaven Bilic, the plan is to proceed with Rebrov; it will be official soon.