Zinedine Zidane against move for €200m superstar, Barcelona to battle Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Bayern Munich for Bundesliga star, and more: Transfer Roundup, 9th April 2019
Welcome to Sportskeeda's daily transfer roundup.
With the summer transfer window just a few months away, teams across Europe's top five leagues already seem to be preparing for next season. As usual, there has been plenty of transfer talk and speculation today.
Today's top transfer stories feature giant clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, and Chelsea, among others. They also feature some high-profile stars who are being linked with moves away from their current clubs.
On that note, here is a look at the top transfer news, rumours, and updates for the day:
Matthijs De Ligt's Ajax exit is reportedly inevitable
Ajax's 19-year-old Matthijs de Ligt's rise to prominence has taken the football world by storm, subsequently attracting attention towards the young star from several top clubs across Europe.
Now, according to Ajax legend, Ronald de Boer (via reports from Goal.com), de Ligt's departure from Ajax is reported to be “pretty much unstoppable”.
The solid centre-back is believed to be the top target for giant clubs like Barcelona and Juventus, among others, and de Boer believes that it's just a matter of time until one of them successfully snaps him up.
Gonzalo Higuain seeks Chelsea stay next season
Gonzalo Higuain, who joined Chelsea from Juventus on a loan deal till the end of the season, reportedly desires to extend his stay at the London-based club, as per the latest reports from Sky Sports.
Speaking to Chelsea's official website about his future, Higuain reportedly said:
"From a personal point of view, I want to do as well as I can, so I can be here for next season. That's my intention. I came here, and I wanted to stay.”
Notably, Chelsea can either choose to extend the loan deal by a year or buy the 31-year-old for a reported fee of £31 million.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City and Bayern Munich interested in Luka Jovic
21-year-old Luka Jovic seems to be enjoying his time in the Bundesliga, where he is currently on a two-year loan deal from Benfica. Having scored 23 goals from 38 matches across all competitions, the striker has naturally begun to draw attention from some massive clubs.
Several reports from across Europe have claimed that he is being eyed by the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Now, according to Goal.com, these reports have been corroborated by Eintracht Frankfurt coach, Adi Hutter, who spoke to a German publication about the matter and said:
“Sure, top clubs like Real, Barcelona, Bayern or Manchester City have thrown the fishing line at him. It's normal for us to find ourselves in this pool.”
Zinedine Zidane against move for Kylian Mbappe
After what has turned out to be an exceptionally disappointing season for Real Madrid, the club is reportedly set to make amends in the summer transfer window, and have been linked with a plethora of top superstars.
Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe is among the players linked with potential moves to Madrid, but the latest reports from Don Balon (via Goal.com) claim that Zinedine Zidane is, in fact, against moving for the young superstar.
Zidane reportedly seeks to sign multiple targets in the summer, and believes that signing Mbappe would significantly drain his transfer budget, owing to the fact that Mbappe would cost an astronomical fee - which would prevent Zidane from signing any other targets.