CHELSEA are reportedly lining up a swoop for Mohamed Salah, after reaching the Champions League final.
Meanwhile Sergio Aguero is reportedly eyeing up a transfer to Barcelona, where he could be joined by Neymar if the Brazilian quits Paris Saint-Germain and we have the latest on Manchester City being interested in Declan Rice.
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Follow ALL of the latest news and updates below…
- Thomas Blow
FIK ABOUT IT
AC Milan want to complete the permanent transfer of Fikayo Tomori for £25million this summer.
The Chelsea and England defender, 23, is enjoying himself on loan at the San Siro this season.
Part of the contract signed in January included the option for Milan to buy him at the end of the six-month agreement.
And manager Stefano Piolo confirmed his side intend to activate the clause to keep Tomori.
He said: "We want to buy Tomori on a permanent deal from Chelsea.
"Our intention is clear and also Fikayo’s decision [staying at Milan].
"We’ll see what happens at the end of the season."
Credit: AFP - Jack Figg
MORNING FOOTBALL FANS
There was some serious moving and shaking in the Premier League yesterday.
Manchester United came from behind at Villa Park to beat Aston Villa 3-1 to keep Man City's title party on ice.
Everton ground out a grim 1-0 at West Ham to put a severe dent in the Hammers' Champions League hopes.
Wolves beat Brighton 2-1 at Molineux and Arsenal condemned West Brom to the drop with a 3-1 win at the Emirates which was also Sam Allardyce's first relegation of his managerial career.
Elsewhere, relegated Wycombe are considering legal action — to send Derby down from the Championship instead of them.
Wayne Rooney’s Rams beat the drop by a point on Saturday but are still fighting the EFL over alleged breaches of spending rules, which is set to lead to a points deduction next season.
An independent tribunal is expected to deliver its verdict soon.
Wycombe would demand to see a points hit applied to THIS SEASON’S table.
Wanderers owner Rob Couhig, an American lawyer, said: “People tell me that Derby County have issues out there.
“I don’t know whether we’re ready to go to lawyers yet."The message is: Watch this space.”
Derby will be looking anxiously at the case of Sheffield Wednesday.
They were deducted 12 points for this season, later reduced to six, for breaching financial rules.
And finally, the body of missing footballer James Dean has been found following a four day search, police say.
James, 35, was last seen in the Orchard Drive area of Oswaldtwistle near Blackburn on Wednesday at around midnight. A body fitting his description was found today at 2.25pm in the Moscow Mill Street area after a large group of locals joined cops in searching for him.
While the corpse has yet to be formally identified, police say it is believed to be the former Halifax and Chorley striker’s. In a statement, Lancashire Police said: “Police searching for a missing man have sadly found a body.
“James Dean, 35, was last seen in the Orchard Drive area of Oswaldtwistle around midnight on Wednesday (May 5). Following extensive police enquiries a body was sadly found in the Moscow Mill Street area around 2.25pm today (Sunday, May 9).
“While the body has yet to be formally identified, it is believed to be Mr Dean. His family have been informed and our thoughts are with them at this time.
“The death is not being treated as suspicious and a post-mortem examination will take place in due course. We would like to thank everyone who assisted during the search for James.”
- William Pugh
ROO SERIOUS?
Relegated Wycombe are considering legal action — to send Derby down from the Championship instead of them.
Wayne Rooney’s Rams beat the drop by a point on Saturday but are still fighting the EFL over alleged breaches of spending rules, which is set to lead to a points deduction next season.
An independent tribunal is expected to deliver its verdict soon.
Wycombe would demand to see a points hit applied to THIS SEASON’S table.
Wanderers owner Rob Couhig, an American lawyer, said: “People tell me that Derby County have issues out there.“I don’t know whether we’re ready to go to lawyers yet. The message is: Watch this space.”
Derby will be looking anxiously at the case of Sheffield Wednesday. They were deducted 12 points for this season, later reduced to six, for breaching financial rules.
- William Pugh
TOP GUNNER
Bukayo Saka was Arsenal's 'best player by a mile' in Sunday's win over West Brom, according to Joe Cole.
The versatile England ace, 20, was moved to left-back for the visit of the Baggies on Sunday evening having spent much of the season in a more attacking role.
And Saka put in another supreme performance, including an assist for the first goal, as Arsenal eventually edged past West Brom 3-1.
The winger will now be hoping to end the season strongly as he aims to cement his spot in Gareth Southgate's Three Lions squad for this summer's delayed European Championship.
Saka's strong showing at the Emirates won't have hurt his chances either, with ex-England midfielder Cole raving about him. After the game, Cole told BT Sport: "[Saka] was excellent.
"He was a thorn in [West Brom's] side. His movement was fantastic. He’s so direct, he drives into areas and picks passes out all the time. He was Arsenal’s best player by a mile.”
- William Pugh
MAKING HIS MARC
Wayne Rooney has hailed Marcus Rashford’s development and admits he used the Manchester United star’s incredible rise to inspire his own Derby youngsters.
Rooney, 35, played alongside Rashford, 23, at Old Trafford for 18 months after the striker was given a shock debut by Louis van Gaal in February 2016.
Injuries to United’s front line saw Rashford thrust into the limelight for the last-32, second leg Europa League tie against Midtjylland.
Despite being just 18 years old and having hardly trained with United’s senior squad, Rashford scored twice on his debut.
He hasn’t looked back since, going on to become a key player under current United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, as well as England gaffer Gareth Southgate.
And Rooney, who secured Derby’s Championship status on Saturday in dramatic style, has revealed he motivated some of the Rams’ youngsters by telling them about Rashford’s brilliant story.
- William Pugh
TRAGIC FIND
The body of missing footballer James Dean has been found following a four day search, police say.
James, 35, was last seen in the Orchard Drive area of Oswaldtwistle near Blackburn on Wednesday at around midnight. A body fitting his description was found today at 2.25pm in the Moscow Mill Street area after a large group of locals joined cops in searching for him.
While the corpse has yet to be formally identified, police say it is believed to be the former Halifax and Chorley striker's. In a statement, Lancashire Police said: "Police searching for a missing man have sadly found a body.
"James Dean, 35, was last seen in the Orchard Drive area of Oswaldtwistle around midnight on Wednesday (May 5). Following extensive police enquiries a body was sadly found in the Moscow Mill Street area around 2.25pm today (Sunday, May 9).
"While the body has yet to be formally identified, it is believed to be Mr Dean. His family have been informed and our thoughts are with them at this time.
"The death is not being treated as suspicious and a post-mortem examination will take place in due course. We would like to thank everyone who assisted during the search for James."
- William Pugh
MAG FEAR
Harry Maguire is a major doubt for the Europa League final, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed.
The United captain was forced off with quarter of an hour to go following a bruising afternoon at Villa Park, in which the Red Devils fought back from a goal down to win 3-1.
The image of the skipper hobbling away while cause major panic for Solskjaer.
And after the game, the Old Trafford chief revealed Maguire could miss the Europa League final later this month.
Solskjaer said: "Hopefully [the Europa League final] will be OK with Harry. I don’t know.
"We need to check it. It might be a few weeks or a month – we don’t know. It was his calf or lower leg. I think the player landed on him and he twisted something."
- William Pugh
COMEBACK KID
Arjen Robben burst into TEARS after making his first start for boyhood club Groningen since September.
The former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich star, 37, returned to his old Dutch club last July – a year after retiring from the beautiful game. However, Robben suffered an injury on his second debut in September.
And he only made his playing return off the bench less than a month ago against Heerenveen. On Sunday against Emmen, Robben was thrust into the Groningen starting XI by manager Danny Bujis.
And the winger showed that class is permanent by delivering TWO assists in a 4-0 win. Speaking after the final whistle, Robben was clearly emotional and could not hold back the tears.
He told ESPN: “I have come a long way, this is what I wanted. I want to help this club and I want to play football.
“If I can and succeed, then I am very happy. It has been a long and hard road. It was tough and difficult but I kept fighting. The reward has to come sometime."
- William Pugh
TUCH OF CLASS
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was spotted giving forward Callum Hudson-Odoi tactical pointers immediately after their victory over Manchester City on Saturday.
The Blues fought back from a goal down to strike late on and beat the Premier League champions-elect for the second time in three weeks.
But as the rest of the team celebrated on the pitch in the aftermath of their superb win, Tuchel was more focused on pulling Hudson-Odoi for a chat.
The German coach could be seen remonstrating with Hudson-Odoi in an incredibly visual manner, although it is not known what he said.
He then embraced the youngster before jovially pushing him away and allowing him to go and enjoy the win with his Chelsea teammates.
- William Pugh
BARCING UP THE WRONG TREE
Juventus have turned down offers from Barcelona and Chelsea for star defender Matthijs de Ligt ahead of the summer transfer window, according to reports.
De Ligt has been among Juve's most impressive players amid a rather turbulent season under manager Andrea Pirlo, which could even see them missing out on Champions League qualification.
A report from Tuttosport claims Chelsea were the first to show an interest for the centre-back, whose consistent performances have seen the Bianconeri conceding a mere 31 goals in 34 Serie A matches.
Barca also made an approach for the Netherlands international after their failed bid in 2019, which is when he moved to Turin from Ajax.
However, both transfer requests have been turned down by Juventus, who just recently conceded the Serie A crown to Inter Milan.
Barcelona have been courting De Ligt for two years now, ever since he and other young Dutch talents, like Frenkie de Jong and Donny van de Beek, burst onto the scene for Ajax.
- William Pugh
FT: ARSENAL 3-1 WEST BROM
West Brom are beaten in London, and their immediate return to the Championship is confirmed.
Albion gave it a go in the second half, and Matheus Pereira halved the half-time deficit with a superb solo goal, but Willian's free-kick in the final minute – his first Arsenal goal – condemned the Baggies to the drop.
- William Pugh
ARSENAL 3-1 WBA
90. He's done it! Willian has his first goal in an Arsenal shirt!
The Brazilian won the free-kick with that burst of pace and piece of trickery, and made it clear that he wanted to take it too. For once, he didn't disappoint.
Central and 25 yards from goal, the forward curled a beauty over the wall and into the top left corner beyond Sam Johnstone.
- William Pugh
ROM DECISION
Ashley Young admitted he was baffled by Manchester United's decision to sell Romelu Lukaku.
The wing-back added he simply 'could not understand' why they allowed the Belgian to leave for Inter Milan. Young – who joined Lukaku at Inter six months later – said: "I said it at the time, I couldn’t understand the decision.
"Whether it was made quickly or not, Romelu has proved a lot of people wrong. He’s worked unbelievably hard. There was talk that he was overweight and couldn’t do this or that.
"He’s smashed records and made history in Italy, he’s been unbelievable for the club.
"For me he was fantastic even in the Premier League, to go out there and face another challenge, I think it was the right choice for him.
"He deserves all the plaudits he is getting."
- William Pugh
BOWING OUT
Manchester United's Class of '92 will search for Salford's new manager after Gary Bowyer returned to Derby.
Bowyer was temporarily appointed boss until the end of the season in March after Richie Wellens was sacked.
Bowyer was hoping to guide the Manchester club into the play-offs but they fell two points short despite a 3-0 home win over Leyton Orient on the final day of the campaign. He has now returned to the Rams as Under-23 coach after they dramatically avoided relegation from the Championship on Saturday.
Bowyer said in a statement: "The agreement was until the end of the season and unfortunately it’s the end of the season, so I’ll be with Derby’s under-23s on Monday night at Manchester United.
“It’s a mixture of emotions, it’s like getting one of those fake lottery tickets. You can’t say ‘it was down to that game’, it was over the course of the season and unfortunately, we’ve just fallen short.
“I think we’ve lost three games since we’ve been here and all three were 1-0 so that shows you how tight the games were and how hard they’ve pushed."
- William Pugh
SOU-PER MAN
Yves Bissouma has reportedly requested to leave Brighton at the end of the season – amid intense interest from Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City.
Bissouma joined the Seagulls from Lille in 2018 for a fee that could rise to £15.7million with add-ons. The 24-year-old has shone bright this season proving he is one of the Premier League's most talented box-to-box midfielders.
The Mali international's impressive performances at the Amex Stadium have caught the eye of Arsenal, Liverpool and City. According to the Sunday Times, Bissouma has asked to be allowed to leave Brighton, who rate him at £40m.
That development paves the way for an intense bidding war between three of the Premier League's biggest clubs.
Liverpool are reportedly most interested in the midfielder as manager Jurgen Klopp has been ‘personally researching’ his character as well as off-field behaviour to make sure he is the right fit for the Reds.
In fact, Klopp sees him as a potential successor to Georginio Wijnaldum, who looks set to exit Anfield on a free transfer once his contract expires in June.
- William Pugh
OL THANKS TO YOU
Luke Shaw has revealed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's pep talk inspired Manchester United's comeback win over Aston Villa – but urged his team-mates to start games faster.
The Red Devils once again went into half-time trailing after Bertrand Traore gave the hosts an early lead at Villa Park.
But Bruno Fernandes and Mason Greenwood scored within four minutes of each other shortly after the restart, with substitute Edinson Cavani sealing the win with three minutes to play.
And in-form left-back Shaw credited Solskjaer's team talk for inspiring the second-half rout. He told Sky Sports: "Going 1-0 down in the first half we knew it was going to be a hard game.
"We have been in this situation so many times – second half we came back much better. That's a positive but we need to start the first half better than we normally do.
"Maybe we're not ready for the game but we have the quality and can't keep counting on second-half performances. [Solskjaer] said exactly what I have just said… we have been in this situation a lot of times, we have the quality, are a fit team and we always believe."
- William Pugh
HT: ARSENAL 2-0 WEST BROM
Arsenal lead by two at the break courtesy of Emile Smith Rowe's first Premier League goal and a thunderbolt from Nicolas Pepe.
The Gunners have grown to impress, but the match perhaps sums up West Brom's season.
Albion started well, spurned some chances, and then fell apart. In 45 minutes, they will be relegated unless they can find a way back into this one.
- William Pugh
WHAT A LOAD OF KIT
Manchester United have missed out on a £200million sponsorship deal due to the fall-out from their failed bid to join a European Super League.
Pressure from protesters against all the club’s commercial partners has forced Manchester-based The Hut Group to withdraw from an agreement to sponsor the club’s training kit.
They were due to replace AON with the words MyProtein, a firm owned by THG, on the tops in a ten-year deal.
But United are now looking for a new sponsor and feeling nervous about how toxic their brand may now be, with a huge part of their income coming from sponsorship.
A fan group calling itself NOTAPENNYMORE has launched a social media campaign aimed at the club’s main sponsors which include Adidas who sell United kit around the world.
They issued an open letter to all the commercial partners claiming their products would be targeted causing The Hut Group to pull out. This has happened a week after protests at Old Trafford and the club’s Lowry hotel base forced their home game against Liverpool to be postponed.
- William Pugh
ARSENAL 2-0 WBA
35. Brilliant from Nicolas Pepe!
The Ivorian takes Callum Chambers’ pass in his path on the left, and when nobody comes to challenge him, he skips inside on to his left foot and powers a shot into the far corner from just inside the box.
Superb stuff from Arsenal’s record signing, but again it’s dubious defending from Albion.
- William Pugh
ARSENAL 1-0 WBA
29. A first Premier League goal for Emile Smith Rowe!
Arsenal had just begun to turn the screw, and have their youngsters to thank for breaking the deadlock.
Bukaya Sako again gets beyond a this-time static Albion defence, and pulls a lovely low cross back for Smith Rowe to meet at the near post with a left-footed volley.
- William Pugh
KICK-OFF!
Arsenal 0 – 0 West Brom
The teams are off and underway at the Emirates.
To follow our LIVE match blog for kick-by-kick action click HERE.
- William Pugh
GUNNERS GET READY
The players are out and warming up ahead of Arsenal's 7pm kick-off against West Brom.
Mikel Arteta's side need a win to keep their European hopes alive while the Baggies must win if they are to stand any chance of staying up.
- William Pugh
TEAM NEWS IS IN!
Here's how the teams line-up for Arsenal vs West Brom at the Emirates tonight.
7pm kick-off.
- William Pugh
FULL-TIME!
West Ham 0 – 1 Everton
A pretty grim affair comes to an end in East London.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin's first-half effort was enough to separate the teams as Everton sat back and defended mega-deep after they went one up.
Vladimir Coufal hit the post after the break and Said Benrahma missed a sitter for the Hammers in the first-half.
But they could not break through the Toffees' wall of 11 defenders and their Champions League hopes have all but died with that result.
The Hammers stay fifth but are just one point ahead of Liverpool who have a game in hand. Everton stay eighth.
- William Pugh
ARSENAL IN DA HOUSE
The Gunners have arrived at the Emirates ahead of tonight's game against West Brom.
Kick-off at 7pm in North London.
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