Man City switch attention to Gvardiol as West Ham hold out for £100m for Rice

The rumour mill is in full swing with daily stories of players coming and going.

Saudi Arabian clubs are being linked with a high volume of players, with N'Golo Kante the most recent high-profile recruit.

Each weekday we'll bring you the best transfer gossip and the likelihood of those transfer stories bearing fruit.

Manchester City are planning to switch their attention to RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol, reports respected Italian football journalist Fabrizio Romano. City manager Pep Guardiola is said to be a huge admirer of the Croatian centre-back's qualities who has established himself as one of the Bundesliga's best defenders. Leipzig value Gvardiol highly and it is understood are holding out for a fee of more than €80 million for the 21 year old.

West Ham won’t sell captain Declan Rice unless they receive an offer in excess of £100 million, according to The Guardian. Arsenal are the frontrunners to secure the 24-year-old midfielder's signature, and after seeing their second bid of £75 million plus add-ons turned down on Tuesday, it looks as though they will need to come back with a much-improved offer to tempt the Hammers to part with their star player, who is also reportedly a target for German champions Bayern Munich. Rice enjoyed a superb season for West Ham, cpataining the club to the Europa Conference League title – their first trophy in 43 years.

Iran and Bayer Leverkusen striker Sardar Azmoun is on the radar of clubs in Saudi Arabia, reports Sky Sports Deutschland journalist Florian Plettenberg. The Bundesliga side are understood to be willing to sell the 28-year-old Azmoun if any interested club meets their €12 million valuation. Azmoun scored four goals in 23 league appearances last season.

Al Nassr and Barcelona are keen to sign Inter Milan midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, understands Italian football journalist Gianluca Di Marzio. After an offer of €18 million was proposed by Cristiano Ronaldo's Saudi Pro League club, Di Marzio tweeted that Spanish champions Barca are prepared to match the offer. The 30-year-old has three years remaining on his contract at the San Siro.

Two Saudi Pro League sides are interested in Lazio winger Felipe Anderson, according to football journalist Ekrem Konur. Al Shabab and Al Nassr are both said to be considering a move for the 30-year-old Brazilian, who made 50 appearances across all competitions for the Italian club last season. He has just one year remaining on his contract.

Barcelona will make a final approach to sign Martin Zubimendi, reports Sport. The Real Sociedad midfielder, who was previously linked with Arsenal, has been highlighted by the Catalan giants as a key reinforcement this summer, but coming up with the funds to activate Zubimendi's €60 million release clause could scupper the deal unless Barca can generate funds through player sales.

Clubs in the Saudi Pro League currently aren’t willing to meet the demands of Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum, reports Foot Mercato. The former Liverpool player has returned to PSG after a loan spell with Roma, and it is understood that while the Ligue 1 club are looking to move him on, his €10 million-per-season salary is proving to be an obstacle.

SPECS

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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI

National Editorial: Suleimani has been killed, now we must de-escalate

Mina Al Oraibi: Air strike casts a long shadow over the decade ahead

Jack Moore: Why the assassination is such a monumental gamble

Matthew Levitt: Iran retains its ability to launch terror attacks

Damien McElroy: A CEO tasked with spreading Iran's influence

Hussein Ibish: Trump's order on solid constitutional ground

Simon Waldman: Cautious Israel keeping a low profile

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

COMPANY PROFILE

● Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

On Women's Day

Dr Nawal Al-Hosany: Why more women should be on the frontlines of climate action

Shelina Janmohamed: Why shouldn't a spouse be compensated fairly for housework?

Samar Elmnhrawy: How companies in the Middle East can catch up on gender equality

Justin Thomas: Challenge the notion that 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus'

War and the virus

Simon Rushton: War vet raises £12m for health workers

Monster

Directed by: Anthony Mandler

Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington

3/5

The stats

Ship name: MSC Bellissima

Ship class: Meraviglia Class

Delivery date: February 27, 2019

Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT

Passenger capacity: 5,686

Crew members: 1,536

Number of cabins: 2,217

Length: 315.3 metres

Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)

The%20Roundup

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Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.