Transfer news: Saliba to Real Madrid or PSG, latest on Man United target’s future & more

This article was originally published on the Daily Briefing, a subscription service. If you would like to receive Jonathan Johnson’s exclusive transfer articles via email ahead of publication on caughtoffside.com, please sign-up for the service here: thedailybriefing.io

Luis Enrique PSG contract likely to be sorted soon

A new contract for Luis Enrique at PSG is in the works. It’s not necessarily a top priority for the moment, but there is an on-and-off dialogue between Enrique and the club, with both parties very happy with how things have been going. It was a positive start for Enrique in his first season and there’s also optimism for this season after a good summer and how the new season has started as well.

At the moment, everything is progressing and on track as Fabrizio Romano has reported, but I don’t think it’s something we’re going to see done in the next few days, but over the coming weeks and months it’s definitely something PSG are keen to try and sort out.

If it all progresses as expected, then I think it’s a really good move for PSG. It’s been quite rare for them to find a coach that is so willing to take on the challenge that PSG presents, both in terms of the expectations and the pressure that comes with managing a club with a lot of money, who’ve signed a lot of star names, but which hasn’t really had the success in the Champions League that many people have expected of them.

The thing that has impressed me most is the way that Enrique has imposed a new style on the team and embraced PSG’s ambition to move towards a younger and more French, Paris-based core of players. I think his willingness to build towards the future without Kylian Mbappe has also been rewarded, given how they’ve started so far, and I think he’s just generally simplified what has historically been a very tricky managerial posting.

There have not been too many managers who’ve enjoyed sustained success with PSG, and, who knows, maybe Enrique will become the latest to fall into that trap, but for the moment it’s going really well and it looks like he’s on course to become the most successful manager since Thomas Tuchel. Obviously Tuchel took PSG one step further in the Champions League, reaching the final, but let’s see what this season could hold.

For now I’m told the feeling inside the camp is really positive, and I think Enrique is someone as well who is less likely than Tuchel to clash with the club hierarchy. It also seems like the club are willing to back him and invest in his ideas for the medium to long term, so it’s looking like a good match so far.

So I think it’s for that reason that both parties are keen to sort out a new contract and make sure that they can continue building towards the future together. There will be other challenges that PSG have to give attention too as well, which means they can’t fully focus on Enrique’s contract situation, but in the next international breaks it wouldn’t surprise me to see some progress made. At some point between now and the end of the year there should be an update on that, though PSG are also looking at some player contracts to resolve as well for that period.

Could Arsenal lose William Saliba to Real Madrid or PSG?

We’ve seen some transfer gossip about William Saliba and it’s only natural that some of the top clubs in Europe would be interested in the Arsenal defender. PSG’s interest is nothing new – he’s Paris-born and hails from the Bondy region, like Kylian Mbappe and Randal Kolo Muani.

However, at the moment, whether it’s PSG, Real Madrid or another top European club, it’s very hard to see them being able to prise Saliba away from Arsenal. He’s one of their top talents at the moment, and one of the best defenders in world football, and after a strong showing at the Euros he’s shown he’s in that world class bracket. I think now that Mikel Arteta’s future has also been cleared up, I think Saliba will be looked at as a player that the Gunners hope to keep as a key cornerstone for the team.

I think when you look at Real Madrid and their reluctance to really go in with a big money bid for Leny Yoro this summer, I think Real are waiting to see how their current defensive options look once everyone is fit and completely recovered from injury, with David Alaba a key player still working his way back. Real’s tricky start to the season also means they’ll probably wait and see what other areas of their squad could also do with strengthening.

I think PSG would ideally have liked to move on some players in defence this summer, such as Milan Skriniar, but I don’t think that they would necessarily have looked to add someone of Saliba’s profile – they were very keen on Yoro, but ended up getting Willian Pacho, and it’s easy to forget just how important Lucas Hernandez was for PSG before his untimely injury, so that’s another factor for them to consider, that they have very impressive strength in depth in defence once he’s back and fit.

For the moment, I can’t see anyone going in for Saliba while he remains such a key part of that Arsenal project, but, depending on what happens this season, who knows, perhaps a scenario could develop that presents an opportunity for one of these top European clubs to sound out his situation.

Why it’s taken so long to resolve Adrien Rabiot’s future

Adrien Rabiot’s future still hasn’t been resolved as he remains a free agent since leaving Juventus at the end of last season, and Didier Deschamps notably called the situation “embarrassing” as he spoke about Rabiot’s absence from the latest France squad.

I think Rabiot clearly has an idea about where he’d like to go, and that’s to a top club, while there’ll also be the expectation that his salary is befitting for a player of his experience. There’s also pressure, though, as this will probably, given his age, be the last big contract of his career. He’s 29, on the verge of hitting 30, so wherever he goes next, it’s probably got to be a two to three year contract and one that I think he knows will take him towards the veteran stage of his career.

There’s also the complication, and people probably won’t be too surprised to hear this, of negotiating with his mother and agent Veronique, who remains very influential in his career and what he does. I think it’s a mix of these factors that have contributed towards it taking him so long to find a new team.

Obviously it’s also a bit of a fragile moment for the French national team, with Deschamps under a bit of pressure after failing to play as well as many would have hoped at Euro 2024, while it’s also been a bit of a slow start to the Nations League. Deschamps is clearly not too happy with Rabiot’s situation and the fact that he’s still without a club despite all these links we’ve seen.

I think the Manchester United links were always with Rabiot being seen as an alternative to Manuel Ugarte, but at the same time he’s always going to be the kind of player that top clubs are looking at – a free agent who can come in and give them a big boost in positions that are problematic for them, whether it’s because of an injury or if they’re generally a bit light in midfield.

So I think there is still some hope that there can be a resolution to Rabiot’s future in the coming weeks, but even if he were to join a new club tomorrow he would still be some way off the level of fitness of his teammates because they’ve been back training for at least a month or so now with their respective clubs.

It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out as Rabiot has turned down some lucrative offers, but it’s clear he has quite a strong preference to remain at the very top level in Europe, while he’s also tempted by the Premier League, where he feels there’s unfinished business from his brief spell with Manchester City as a youngster.

But until his situation is resolved I think we’re going to keep seeing a lot of links like this because he’s certainly one of the most high-profile free agents on the market at the moment.

Aurelien Tchouameni happy at Real Madrid for now

Aurelian Tchouameni remains an interesting profile to a lot of top clubs despite moving to Real Madrid. We’ve seen a few times now when he’s been in and out of the team that there have been rumours linking him with other clubs, not just Liverpool and Arsenal, but a handful of others as well.

I do think Real are in a bit of a transitional period at the moment where they’re adapting to having Kylian Mbappe with them, which is impacting many areas of the team, not just the attack but also in midfield. We’ve also seen Tchouameni being asked to fill in in defence by Carlo Ancelotti at times, so overall I do think he remains an important player for them, and I think the player himself will continue to be happy as long as he’s getting regular minutes.

Still, I do wonder if, long-term, there will still be a guaranteed starting XI role and once that becomes clear it might be that we’ll see Tchouameni being more willing to consider his future. At the moment he is an important player for Ancelotti, but how that looks once all his competitors in his position are fully fit and available, we’ll have to wait and see.

For this season, it would be a big surprise to see Tchouameni leaving Real Madrid, but from next summer onwards, a lot will depend on how confident he still is of keeping his place in the team, particularly when Eduardo Camavinga is back and available in midfield again.

The post Transfer news: Saliba to Real Madrid or PSG, latest on Man United target’s future & more appeared first on CaughtOffside.