Sportswizzy

Real Madrid have made an £100million bid to sign Thibaut Courtois and Willian – and Chelsea are seriously considering cashing in on the duo, reports claim. The La Liga giants have been relentlessly 

pursuing Courtois this summer, with the Belgian goalkeeper keen to return to the Spanish capital and Chelsea resigned to losing him. Willian held talks with Real’s bitter rivals Barcelona, before opting to sign 21-year-old winger Malcom instead. The Brazilian is a wanted man after an impressive World Cup with Brazil, with Jose Mourinho keen for a reunion with the attacker at Manchester United, however, Madrid are intent on signing him.

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And Chelsea are close to letting the pair move to the Santiago Bernabeu, according to the Daily Mail. 

Barcelona baulked at Chelsea’s £70m asking price for Willian, but Madrid are willing to cough up £65m for the 29-year-old as part of their double swoop. Julen Lopetegui is keen to build his side around Gareth Bale following Cristiano Ronaldo’s exit and views Willian as the perfect foil to the Welshman, who will be given a free role.

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Chelsea are happy to sanction Courtois’ move as long as they can secure a replacement of their own, with Jack Butland looking increasingly likely to fill his gloves at Stamford Bridge. A deal for top target Jordan Pickford – another who impressed at the World Cup – is proving difficult to complete, with Butland viewed as an adequate alternative.

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Real Madrid have made Chelsea an opening offer of £100m for goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and midfielder Willian, according to sources in Spain.

The Belgian goalkeeper has made no secret of his desire to move back to the Spanish capital where his children live. He has just one year remaining on his contract at Chelsea.

After an impressive World Cup, 29-year-old Willian looked set to join Barcelona last week but the Catalan club baulked at Chelsea’s £70m asking price and settled on spending half that amount on Bordeaux winger Malcom instead.

READ ALSO:FC Barcelona to bid for Chelsea FC star after the World Cup – report

Now Madrid want to include Willian in their swoop for Courtois with the Brazilian making up around £65m of the combined fee.

Courtois has been the Spanish club’s No 1 target for some time with the Real Madrid board convinced they will get their man as soon as Chelsea have signed a replacement.

Chelsea have until the August 9 transfer deadline to make a move for a new keeper with Stoke’s Jack Butland easier to sign than first-choice target Jordan Pickford who Everton do not want to release.

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Chelsea would then have until the end of the month to tie-up a deal with Madrid to send Courtois to Spain because La Liga’s window will remain open until August 31.

Signing Willian would underline Real Madrid’s intention to free-up Gareth Bale this season.

He was regularly shackled to the right-side of a midfield quartet under Zinedine Zidane. But new coach Julen Lopetegui wants him playing as a more central striker enjoying the freedom that was previously bestowed on Cristiano Ronaldo.

Sportsmail understand Real’s opening bid is being seriously considered. The European champions have been quiet in the transfer market so far with £40m right back Alvaro Odriozola their only major acquisition to date.

READ ALSO:Chelsea 'involvement' in holding up Man City deal for Jorginho

Chelsea showed some signs of a willingness to negotiate their Willian asking price last week when Barcelona turned their attention to Malcom, who was on his way to join Roma.

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Daley Blind's return to Ajax is nearing completion after Manchester United announced terms had been agreed.

The 28-year-old swapped the Amsterdam giants for Old Trafford four years ago in a £14m deal.

A return has been understood to be on the cards for some days and on Monday night United tweeted: "MUFC has agreed terms with Ajax for the transfer of BlindDaley. A further announcement will be made in due course."

MUFC has agreed terms with Ajax for the transfer of BlindDaley. A further announcement will be made in due course.

The ex-Red Devils defender hopes those at Old Trafford will form part of a big-money transfer scramble if the exit doors open at Paris Saint-Germain

Manchester United have been urged to put themselves in contention for any transfer deal involving Kylian Mbappe, with Rio Ferdinand hoping his former club are “chasing” Paris Saint-Germain’s World Cup-winning forward.

At just 19 years of age, the France international has become one of the most sought-after and highly-rated talents in the global game.

His exploits for his country this summer have helped to further enhance his profile, with four goals recorded for Les Bleus as they swept to football’s biggest prize at Russia 2018.

Mbappe was on target in a 4-2 final triumph over Croatia, with that effort helping him to the Best Young Player Award, and speculation regarding a big-money move has resurfaced during the current window.

Ex-United defender Ferdinand believes those at Old Trafford have to be in the mix if the exit doors in Paris are nudged open, telling BBC Sport: "He is the guy who will be standing up on that Ballon d'Or podium in years to come. Easy.

"I hope my old club are chasing him. He has that connection with Paul Pogba, too.

"There is already maturity beyond his years."

Mbappe’s goal against Croatia, as he put the finishing touches to France’s victory, saw him become only the second teenager after Brazil legend Pele to net in a World Cup final.

It is achievements such as that which have seen him heavily linked with the likes of Real Madrid, as those in the Spanish capital bid farewell to five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.

PSG, though, took up the option of turning a loan agreement with Monaco into a permanent deal for the youngster.

A €180 million (£159m/$211m) deal is due to keep Mbappe at Parc des Princes, with a man who netted 21 times at club level last season already stating that he intends to still be in France for 2018-19.

He told reporters on the back of his World Cup heroics: "I will stay with PSG, continuing on my path with them.

"I am at the beginning of my career."

Chelsea are interested in Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. They've already gazumped one Manchester club with their signing of Jorginho, and with Milinkovic-Savic having been linked with United, could the 23-year-old be the second? 

Manchester City are expecting to complete a deal for Napoli midfielder Jorginho, but there are reports of Chelsea's involvement in negotiations

The delay in Manchester City announcing the signing of Jorginho has led to speculation in Italy that Chelsea could yet hijack the deal.

The Blues have been involved in negotiations over the summer for the Napoli midfielder after Pep Guardiola identified him as they man to replace Yaya Toure and eventually succeed Fernandinho in the team at the Etihad.

It has taken time for an agreed fee to be reached the two clubs, who were at one point £20m apart on their valuation of the player .

After weeks of little happening, it seemed as though there was significant progress in the deal over the last week and there is expectation that City will complete the signing.

However, the fact that the deal is still not official has raised the prospect that Chelsea could yet play a critical part in any transfer.

Roman Abramovich is looking to get a new manager installed at Stamford Bridge (although he wil lhave to get rid of Antonio Conte first) and former Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri - still, bizarrely, under contract with the Serie A runners-up - is thought to be the favourite for the job.

Corriere Dello Sport surmise that Jorginho must be a discussion point between Sarri, Chelsea, and Napoli for the midfielder not to have been confirmed as a City player by now.

And CalcioMercato suggest that Abramovich could bypass the large release clause demanded for Sarri by offering Napoli more to make Jorginho a Chelsea player than City have been willing to offer.

MANCHESTER CITY have put Southampton’s Mario Lemina on their transfer wish-list, according to Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth.

The Gabon international, 24, joined Southampton from Juventus last season and Sheth now understands he’s wanted by Pep Guardiola.

It comes after they missed out on Fred to Manchester United and Jorginho to Chelsea.

“Back in January they were on the verge of signing Fred but then it looks like they switched attentions to Jorginho. Manchester United nipped in for Fred and Chelsea nipped in for Jorginho,” Sheth said.

“It’s two players they wanted but two players that have escaped from City.

“I think they will be looking in that holding midfield for a long-term replacement for Fernandinho perhaps, he’s so crucial to the way they play.

“If Guardiola is there long term, he wants to play the same way and he will have to find an identical replacement for Fernandinho.

“We are told Southampton midfielder Mario Lemina is on a list of their targets. Quite how high we don’t know but he’s someone who has interested them.”

City have already started their transfer business after completing a club-record £60million move to sign Riyad Mahrez.

Mahrez, 27, temporarily stopped training with Leicester after a move from the Foxes to City failed to materialise in January before finally getting it done.

Sheth thinks the Algerian has signed to become a squad player at the Etihad.

“I just think Pep Guardiola must have looked at last season. They were hunting four trophies until quite late in the season. Are City going to win the quadruple?” he told the Transfer Talk podcast.

“They ended up with two - the League Cup and the Premier League - a fantastic season, 100 points. I wonder if he looked at it and thought to just get that bit further perhaps to get even further in the Champions League, perhaps to even challenge for the unprecedented quadruple, squad depth is what is needed.

I wonder if he looked at it and thought ‘extra depth’.

“To add someone like Riyad Mahrez for extra depth in your squad shows how good you are.

“A Man City reserve team could compete for the top four, I reckon.”

A France squad containing Samuel Umtiti and Ousmane Dembélé are World Cup winners following their 4-2 win over Ivan Rakitic’s Croatia side in the final played in Moscow. An own goal from Mandzukic, a penalty from Griezmann and strikes from Pogba and Mbappé were enough to see off the Balkan team for whom Mandzukic and Perisic found the net. France claim their second World Cup title some twenty years after their first which was won on home soil.

Croatia started the better of the two teams but found themselves behind against the run of play on 19 minutes. Griezmann floated a free kick into the penalty area and Mandzukic could only flick the ball on into the top corner of his own net. Nevertheless, Dalic’s team were quickly on level terms. Perisic fired in from the edge of the box to make it 1-1 still in the first half. On 38 minutes the Inter Milan midfielder went from hero to villain when after the referee used VAR for the very first time in a World Cup final to adjudge a handball by Perisic in the area. Griezmann fired home the penalty to give France a 2-1 lead at half time.
France wrap up win in second half

The second half began much as the first had with Croatia on the attack. However, it was France who struck with Pogba firing home from inside the area after a quick counter. An excellent strike from distance from Mbappé appeared to end the game as a contest with France 4-1 ahead only for France goalkeeper Lloris to be caught out by an alert Mandzukic who pulled one back for Croatia with just over 20 minutes left.

The miraculous comeback never materialised and France claimed their second World Cup title after victory in 1998 on home soil. Blaugranes Samuel Umtiti and Ousmane Dembélé can now add the World Cup title to a season in which the two FC Barcelona players had already added the La Liga and Copa del Rey titles to their list of honours.

Aside from the Barça presence of Dembélé, Umtiti and Rakitic in the World Cup final, there was further representation in the stands with a party containing sporting vicepresident Jordi Mestre, director Xavier Vilajoana, Club CEO Òscar Grau, sporting director Josep Segura and first team technical secretary Éric Abidal all present in the Luznihki Stadium in Moscow.