Arsenal, Man Utd & Chelsea to bid for Football Manager star as Arne Slot’s first Liverpool target emerges

Welcome to your daily dose of the biggest Premier League transfer rumours doing the rounds in the global media right now – and today, we start with reports of a three-way tussle that could break out between Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea, all of whom are allegedly keen on Benjamin Šeško.

The Slovenian striker’s name will be familiar to Football Manager players, as he’s typically one of the best young strikers in the world in recent editions, and the 20-year-old hasn’t done too badly in real life either recently, scoring 11 Bundesliga goals in his first season at RB Leipzig.

Now TeamTalk claim that Chelsea have “been in contact”, Manchester United are “keen” and Arsenal are “one to watch.” Apparently Leipzig have placed a £43m price tag on him and are preparing for his likely exit, with Bayern Munich also interested.

The 3AM Verdict: Šeško is a physical target man with a good eye for goal but he isn’t a technically-minded player – we struggle to see him at Arsenal, and judging by the report, their ‘interest’ isn’t all that concrete.

But a more direct team who want some strength up front might do worse, and he’s certainly got the goalscoring instincts to be worth a £40m-plus outlay. He won’t be the marquee striker signing these clubs need, however, so we’d see him as someone who may be bought if there’s money left over.

Arne Slot lining up his targets at Liverpool

Over at Liverpool, meanwhile, it seems as if likely next manager Arne Slot may be getting his signings sorted for the summer already – at least according to Sport Witness. They’ve picked up on a report from the Netherlands which suggests that the chances of the Reds signing Feyenoord full-back Lutsharel Geertruida are “greater than 50%.”

It’s a rumour fuelled by the fact that the 23-year-old, who has been one of the stars of Slot’s reign at Feyenoord, was spotted at the London Stadium watching Liverpool’s game against West Ham United. Apparently he would set any suitors back “at least” €30m (£25.6m).

The 3AM Verdict: Geertruida is an attacking wing-back in the mould of Trent Alexander-Arnold – in other words, he doesn’t put up big numbers defensively, but offers plenty going forward, with 10 goal contributions to his name in the Eredivisie this season so far.

This sounds like a fair price, too, so the real question is just whether this is a player Liverpool need when one of their established stars already plays in his position. Perhaps we can restart the Trent To Midfield debate again…

Wolves do some Cherry picking

Finally, a quick word from the Molineux, where Gary O’Neil is working hard to upgrade his squad this summer – and he seems to have settled on making a bid for Bournemouth midfielder Lewis Cook, at least according to Football Insider.

The one-cap England international has just one year left on his current deal with the Cherries and could, therefore, be available for a cut-price deal – although the report also claims that Andoni Iraola and his team are working hard to tie a first-team regular down to a contract extension. That doesn’t mean that Wolves won’t try and sway him, however, apparently his former boss O’Neil is “a big fan.”

The 3AM Verdict: No price tag is mentioned, but Cook is one of the more dependable defensive midfielders in the top flight, making tons of tackles and few mistakes.

It would be a stretch to describe him as a creative force, but he’s the kind of unglamourous player that makes everything around him a little easier. If the fee isn’t too high, this looks like a pretty good plan for Wolves, who will need a little more solidity next season.