Wanyama among frozen-out stars at the Premier League’s big clubs
London, Wednesday
The Premier League transfer window may have closed but the top flight’s biggest clubs are still hoping to do plenty of business before its European equivalent shuts.
Five of the Premier League’s top six, with the exception of champions Manchester City, have established stars available for sale at the right price as European clubs circle.
Here, is a look at the top stars who could be on the move before the European deadline on September 2.
Tottenham
Once one of Mauricio Pochettino’s go-to players alongside Mousa Dembele in midfield, Victor Wanyama has seen his career at Tottenham grind to a halt following a series of injuries.
The Kenya captain has since struggled to reclaim his place in the team and looks set to spend more time on the bench following the arrival of the club’s record signing Tanguy Ndombele. Club Brugge are reportedly in for Wanyama, 28, who has spent four years in north London.
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou
Since his £11m arrival from Marseille in 2016, Georges-Kevin Nkoudou has never looked like he would nail down a place in Spurs’ starting XI.
After being sent out on loan to Burnley and Monaco, it never quite happened for the Frenchman who suffered injuries at both clubs. Pochettino is keen to offload the pacy 24-year-old who has been linked with moves to the Turkish league in the last few days.
Serge Aurier
In what is one of the more perplexing additions to this list, it seems that Serge Aurier’s time at Tottenham is coming to an end. Following the sale of Kieran Trippier to Atletico Madrid, the inexperienced Kyle Walker-Peters is the only other recognised right-back at the club.
While it seems likely that Pochettino will rely on Walker-Peters and centre-back turned full-back Juan Foyth, Aurier now looks destined to leave White Hart Lane. AC Milan and a return to PSG have been mooted as possible moves for the Ivory Coast captain.
Liverpool
Dejan Lovren
There have many ups and downs in Dejan Lovren’s stint on Merseyside. While he is often cast in Virgil van Dijk’s shadow, the Croatian defender still has a Champions League winners’ medal to his name following the Reds’ heroics in Madrid earlier this summer.
However, it seems the 30-year-old is now surplus to requirements with Joe Gomez and Joel Matip firmly ahead of him in the pecking order and youngsters Sepp van den Berg and Ki-Jana Hoever coming through.
A move to Roma fell through last week after they failed to stump up the £15million Liverpool were asking for and it remains to be seen whether Lovren will get his move before September 2.
Xherdan Shaqiri
Following his £13m switch from Stoke to Liverpool last summer, Xherdan Shaqiri proved a decent bit of business by Jurgen Klopp as he added experience and depth to his already stacked frontline of Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.
However, just a year later, Shaqiri hinted last week that he is no longer happy as a fringe player for the Champions League winners after he told Swiss publication BZ Langenthaler Tagblatt that ‘no player is happy to sit on the bench’.
Shaqiri featured 24 times in the league last season but started just 11 games for Liverpool. Klopp may be unwilling to let him go following his quiet transfer window.
Chelsea
Kenedy
After an underwhelming campaign on loan at Newcastle last season, which saw him score one and assist one in 28 games, Kenedy’s future under Frank Lampard is unclear following his return to Stamford Bridge.
While he did get a brief run-out during pre-season, Lampard is unlikely to look to Kenedy when he needs a game-changer from the bench with the Brazilian lacking that end product in the final third.
A loan move looks to be the best option for the 23-year-old but it remains to be seen who will actually be in for him.
Tiemoue Bakayoko
One thing Chelsea don’t need any more of is midfielders. N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are all ahead of Tiemoue Bakayoko in Lampard’s plans despite the Frenchman’s resurgence at AC Milan last season. -DAILYMAIL
