The 25-year-old joined the Saints in 2017 for around £18m and the club hope to recoup the £15m they paid Juventus when they signed him. And talkSPORT understands the Premier League giants have been in contact about him. “He has an agreement with manager Ralph Hasenhuttl that if the right offer came in, then he would be allowed to leave,” south coast correspondent Alex Crook said.
“It hasn’t worked out for him at Southampton. There is a player in there and some of his performances have been really impressive, but you can count those on one hand. “I think Ralph Hassenhuttl, as he looks to revamp his squad, just grew frustrated, certainly in the second half of last season that he was never fit and there was a feeling among the powers that be at Southampton that he was not working as hard as he could to get fit.
“What’s interesting is that when Atalanta tried to sign him last week – they wanted him on loan, but Southampton wanted to sell him and their asking price was around £15m. As you know, when Arsenal and Man United are interested that price goes up.”
This may come as a surprise to Chelsea fans, but a three-way fight has broken out for Tiemoue Bakayoko. RMC Sport understand Paris Saint-Germain, Man United and Arsenal are all keen on the midfielder, who spent last season on loan at Milan. The French radio station note manager Unai Emery likes him as a player.
In addition, Leonardo, who took him to Milan is now the sporting director at PSG, a team Bakayoko supports, while United are considering him as it’s very possible both Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba could leave.
The 24-year-old joined Chelsea in 2017, but has been unable to break into the first team yet. He is now with Chelsea’s first team, who are being put through their paces by new manager Frank Lampard as part of pre-season training.