Sunday’s transfer news: Manchester United wait on Donny van de Beek, Lionel Messi will skip Barcelona return, Arsenal set for double boost

Everton are closing in on two rather headline signings.

The first is one that emerged late last night, with the BBC reporting that a £25m fee has been agreed with Napoli for Brazilian midfielder Allan.

The 29-year-old has previously worked with Carlo Ancelotti when the Italian was in charge of the Serie A club, and it looks like he will. be plying his trade in the Premier League this season.

Leeds' new signing Robin Koch is convinced he will become a better player under Marcelo Bielsa in the Premier League.

Koch, hoping to make his third senior appearance for Germany in next month's Nations League games, completed his switch from Kaiserslautern for an undisclosed fee, reported to be £11.6m, on Saturday night.

The 24-year-old sealed his move on the same day Leeds completed the signing of forward Rodrigo from Valencia. Both players have agreed four-year deals. Bielsa has guided Leeds to the Premier League for the first time in 16 years and Koch said he was delighted to team up with the Argentinian.

"It was one of the points for me to come here to Leeds," said Koch, who missed only two Bundesliga games last season.

The 6ft 4in defender revealed he had spoken about Bielsa with Leeds midfielder Mateusz Klich, who he played alongside at Kaiserslautern.

"I talked to the players and Klich said 'yeah, the coach really makes us better'. I heard that from a lot of people, but to hear it directly from a player under him, it was good for me.

"So I'm ready for my next step, in a new league and also to get to the next level of personality in my game and this is the best step for me - under Bielsa at Leeds."

Let's go back to the Lionel Messi saga.

Reports this morning suggest that the arrival of the 33-year-old at the Etihad Stadium could end up producing more of a benefit for the club than anticipated.

The Sunday Mirror reports that Manchester City are hopeful that signing Messi will help to convince Pep Guardiola to sign a new deal and remain in charge of the club, with his future slightly uncertain.

Here's the full story as Tottenham complete their third signing of the summer in the form of right-back Matt Doherty.

Spurs have completed their third signing of the summer, following the arrivals of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Joe Hart.

Matt Doherty joins after impressing at Wolves where he developed into one of the most attacking right-backs in the Premier league, having spent 10 successful years at the Molineux.

The 28-year-old will not immediately link up with the club as he is due to join up with the Republic of Ireland for international duty, but will return in time to prepare for the first game of the season against Everton.

Breaking

Tottenham have announced the signing of Republic of Ireland defender Matt Doherty, who joins from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a four-year deal.

The outlook is split on where Messi will play his football this season.

The Telegraph reports that senior officials at the Nou Camp are already resigned to losing him to Manchester City this season, with the Premier League club putting together a package to lure him to the Etihad.

But Spanish newspaper Marca says that a leading football agent who helped take Messi to Barcelona back in 2004 is "90 per cent sure" that Messi will actually remain at Barca, which would come as quite the U-turn given he has not returned to the club this morning.

Manchester United are monitoring the situation surrounding Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek.

The 23-year-old helped the Amsterdam side reach last year's Champions League semi-finals and has been linked with a variety of high-profile moves.

Van de Beek did not play in Ajax's friendly against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday due to what coach Erik ten Hag said were developments regarding his future.

Barcelona and United have been strongly linked with the Holland international, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side understood to be monitoring the midfielder.

While it is not believed anything is firm or imminent, the Old Trafford giants have been scouting Van de Beek and he would fit the age profile the club are looking at.

The future of Lionel Messi grows increasingly uncertain with the news that the Barcelona great has NOT returned to the club today as expected for coronavirus testing, ahead of tomorrow's resumption of training.

Messi is determined to join Manchester City this season, and Barca's hardball stance on letting him leave for anything less than his €700m release clause - a position assumed by Josep Bartomeu - has not gone down well with the player.

La Liga TV host Semra Hunter is reporting this morning that Messi has not arrived at the club's training complex as expected, and additional reports in Spain go as far as suggesting that he has already told Barcelona that he is no longer their player.

This is starting to get Messi...

Good morning and welcome back to The Independent's transfer news live blog!

Just 25 days after the end of the 2019/20 Premier League season, the new campaign got under way yesterday as Arsenal beat Liverpool in the Community Shield at Wembley, but attentions have quickly returned to prowling the market for a bargain or a big buy.

Clubs are set for a busy six weeks until the 5 October transfer deadline, with a number already dipping in the market to reinforce their squads ahead of the 2020/21 season - which will begin on the weekend of 12 September in just two weeks' time.

With developments surrounding Lionel Messi, Donny van de Beek and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this morning, there's no shortage on updates to bring you.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the headlines this morning.