Five names to watch in the Premier League transfer window
AFP Sports looks at five names to watch as the transfer window kicks into gear.
Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)
Liverpool have shown no sign of resting on their laurels as English champions.
After a quiet first year for Arne Slot in the transfer market, the Reds have moved quickly to back the Dutchman heavily this summer.
The darling of German football, Wirtz looks set to smash the Premier League transfer record should he get his wish of a dream move to Anfield.
Liverpool have reportedly had a bid worth up to £109 million ($147 million) rebuffed as Leverkusen hold out for a £125 million fee.
That would break the record set by Chelsea's £115 million capture of Moises Caicedo from under Liverpool's noses two years ago.
Wirtz was instrumental in Leverkusen's stunning German league and cup double in the 2023/24 season, plus a run to the Europa League final under Xabi Alonso.
The two clubs have already agreed one deal as Jeremie Frimpong has joined Liverpool as a replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Bruno Fernandes (Man Utd)
Selling Bruno Fernandes could fund a rebuild for Man Utd
© Oli SCARFF / AFP
Fresh from the club's worst season since they were relegated 51 years ago, losing their inspirational captain would appear to be the worst possible news for United.
However, selling Fernandes to Saudi side Al Hilal could provide much-needed funds for Ruben Amorim to rebuild a squad in his image at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils could land £100 million for the 30-year-old, who would become one of the world's highest paid players should be move to the Gulf.
"If the club thinks it's time to part ways because they want to do some cashing in or whatever, it is what it is and football sometimes is like this," said Fernandes after United lost the Europa League final to Tottenham last month.
Fernandes would leave enormous shoes to fill for a side already lacking in creativity and a goal threat.
Despite a miserable campaign collectively, only Liverpool's Mohamed Salah provided more goal contributions last season among Premier League players in all competitions than Fernandes' 19 goals and 19 assists.
Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford)
Bryan Mbeumo scored 20 Premier League goals for Brentford this season
© JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP
Mbeumo is one of United's key targets to end their woes in front of goal.
The French-born Cameroon international enjoyed a stellar season with Brentford, scoring 20 times.
Mbeumo revelled in becoming the Bees' star man since the departure of Ivan Toney and his partnership with Yoane Wissa carried Thomas Frank's men to an impressive top half finish.
Despite interest from Arsenal, Newcastle and Tottenham, Mbeumo's preferred destination is reportedly Old Trafford if United can reach an agreement with Brentford.
United have already added Matheus Cunha to bolster a misfiring forward line.
Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting Lisbon)
Viktor Gyokeres scored 54 goals for Sporting Lisbon this season
© PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP
A remarkable 54-goal season for Sporting has made the Swede a target for a series of clubs seeking more firepower.
Arsenal have been strongly linked with bringing Gyokeres back to England as Mikel Arteta seeks a clinical finisher to end the Gunners' five-year trophy drought.
The 26-year-old has a 100 million euro (£84 million) buyout clause in his Sporting contract, but it is expected the Portuguese champions would settle for around 70 million euros.
Despite six goals in eight Champions League games, there are doubts over Gyokeres' ability to transfer his prolific form in Portugal to the Premier League.
He joined Sporting just two years ago from English second tier side Coventry after failing to make the grade at Brighton.
Arsenal also have a long-standing interest in RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko, while Newcastle's Alexander Isak appears an unattainable target after the Magpies qualified for the Champions League.
Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace)
Eberechi Eze scored Crystal Palace's winner in the FA Cup final
© Adrian Dennis / AFP
Eze will forever be a Palace legend after scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup final victory over Manchester City to deliver the Eagles' first ever major trophy.
The England international's eye for goal and a defence-splitting pass has seen him targeted by a plethora of the Premier League's best.
City eye the 26-year-old as a potential replacement for Kevin De Bruyne, while Arsenal and Tottenham are also interested and could easily trigger his £68 million release clause.
© 2025 AFP
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Trump said people are fleeing the country because of violence against white farmers, played television videos and handed over a pile of newspaper articles to his counterpart. The claim was rejected by President Ramaphosa, who said the majority of victims of violence in the country are black, adding that there is no genocide in South Africa. President Ramaphosa did manage to hit back at Trump afterwards, when he lamented not having a plane to give Trump, a reference to Qatar's offer of a $400 million aeroplane to the US president. In May the US officially accepted a Boeing 747 airliner from Qatar to serve the famous Air Force One fleet of the president. The presence of cameras inevitably shift the nature of any diplomacy on display. "One of the characteristics of Donald Trump is that he's always unfiltered. He says whatever he thinks at the moment, for good or bad, right, and that obviously is not the way diplomacy between countries is normally conducted," said Kirkegaard. Mostly such conversations are kept well away from media scrutiny, according to Kirkegaard, who added: "Perhaps he feels that having a camera throws other leaders off balance." The next advice for those braving the Oval office is to shower Trump with gifts and gestures - such as that Qatari plane. The gift sparked debates and legal concerns in the US, but the Trump administration never backed down from accepting the gift. Brett Bruen, the president of the Global Situation Room and a former US diplomat told Euronews that European leaders should keep in mind that Trump is out for a prize, something that he can hold up. "It can be a flashy object and say, look, I got the biggest, the best deal, the substance doesn't really matter. Quite frankly, the strategy doesn't seem to matter very much. So this is ultimately like, how do you deal with a toddler? A toddler is constantly going to come back and say I want more, I want this new toy. Well, if I were advising European leaders, I would say have a bunch of small, shiny objects lined up and every time Trump comes and says, well, I want something else, you dole out that next shiny object to him," Bruen said. Bruegel's Kirkegaard agreed that Trump should sometimes be treated like a child. "I think you have to certainly deal with him, expecting a possible tantrum. He can be very unpredictable in a way that a child is. You clearly know he is a narcissist. So you have, if you want, to play to his ego," said Kirkegaard. Witness Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Oval office handing the president a cartoon-sized invitation for a state visit to the UK from King Charles. "This is really special, this is unprecedented, this has never happened before," Starmer told Trump in an attempt to charm him. A strategy that can pay off, according to the expert. "Obviously, if you are the British Prime Minister, you know that Donald Trump likes the royal family, has a fondness of the UK in general, of course, you would want to exploit that. In the same way that, for instance, a former Japanese Prime Minister who was a pretty keen golfer exploited that with Donald Trump as well, who's well known for his fondness for golf," Kirkegaard said. After the disastrous Trump-Zelenskyy meeting back in February, many foreign dignitaries decided not see Trump. Asian leaders are particularly keen to avoid any nasty surprises that might spring from an encounter with the US president. Trump's temper might cause China to think twice about accepting a bilateral meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping anytime soon. "In the case of Asia, political cultures or systems have a low tolerance for the unexpected, which requires a certain formality around their political leaders. One example is China. There's no doubt that the possibility of a Xi Jinping-Trump meeting is close to zero, or probably is zero under these circumstances. Because there's simply no chance that the Chinese government will risk putting Xi Jinping in this position where something not scripted could happen. I think that applies similarly to many other Asian countries," Jacob Kirkegaard said. An exception to this rule is Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba, who had a fruitful meeting with Trump back in February, where they talked about a possible trade deal and more LNG transfer from the US to Japan. But the expert recalls that even those positive meetings will not bring results, questioning the necessity of those highly risky visits. "The reality is that there has been no breakthrough on trade deals with Japan. So the question is, why would anybody want to come? Whatever Trump agrees to, maybe or maybe not, in a bilateral meeting in the White House, might be forgotten the next day," according to Kirkegaard. "Again, go back to what happened to Keir Starmer. He thought he had a trade agreement with Donald Trump that exempted British steel exports to the US. Well, clearly he didn't have that. So, you know, it's very much for, especially countries like that in Asia, it is very high risk and essentially maybe no reward," Kirkegaard said. Visits of President Macron and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte went relatively well. In the case of Rutte this is because the US is main force in the alliance. "De facto Rutte works for Donald Trump, let's not forget that. He came, and he's basically done everything that the president would want him to do. They're working towards a 5% target for NATO defence expenditure for example," according to the Bruegel analyst. For Merz's visit on Thursday, the stakes are high. The Trump administration is highly critical of Germany. Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk supported the far-right Alternative für Deutschland in the German election campaign, and accused Germany of suppressing free speech. And Trump is also critical of the record German trade surplus. So far its not clear which attitude Merz will take towards Trump. But standing up to him might be popular in Germany. "If you're the German Chancellor, you go to the Oval Office and you hold your ground. You take a public confrontation with Donald Trump over issues, it might play well for Friedrich Merz domestically, to stand up to Donald Trump's bullying or perhaps refuting his fake news," said Kirkegaard. He said that when Macron interrupted Trump back in February, correcting the US president over European funding to Ukraine, it did him no political damage. And in the case of Zelenskyy, he even benefited domestically for not backing down. This could also be working on Friedrich Merz's mind. Competing narratives have emerged following a series of deadly incidents which reportedly took place in the vicinity of the US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's (GHF) food aid distribution sites in south-west Gaza. According to accounts from local Hamas-run authorities, as well as eyewitnesses and medical professionals, troops from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) shot at and killed a number of Palestinians who were seeking to access the GHF sites in recent days. While shootings were reported near all three GHF hubs in southern Gaza, the heaviest occurred on Sunday and Tuesday at the Flag Roundabout, which is situated on a designated access route to a hub in the Tel al-Sultan district of Rafah. The UN has called for an independent investigation into the incidents, reminding Israel that it is required to facilitate humanitarian aid under international law. EuroVerify takes a look at the facts in order to build up a timeline of what we know. On Sunday, 31 Palestinians were reportedly killed by IDF shots as they attempted to access GHF distribution sites, said local Hamas-run authorities. To reach the GHF's sites in Rafah, Palestinians must walk for kilometres along a designated route, which the GHF says the Israeli military keeps secure. In statements to the public, the GHF has warned that people should stay on the road, stating that leaving it "represents a great danger." Before dawn on Sunday, thousands of Palestinians massed at the Flag Roundabout, approximately one kilometre northwest of GHF's site. By 3am, thousands had gathered and according to Palestinian witnesses, it is around this time that Israeli troops started firing at the crowd with guns, tanks and drones. NGO Médecins sans Frontières has stated that patients — who said they had been shot by Israeli forces near GHF distribution sites — began to stream into Khan Younis' Nasser hospital on Sunday morning. Another international organisation, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), declared that on Sunday, 179 adults and children bearing shrapnel and gunshot wounds arrived at the organisation's field hospital in Rafah. According to the ICRC, its medical teams declared 21 individuals dead upon arrival. Israel has denied allegations its forces opened fire on locals queuing for aid in Rafah. On Sunday the IDF branded such reports "false" in a post shared on X, stating that an initial inquiry found that its forces "did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site." The GHF told EuroVerify that no incidents occurred at or in the surrounding vicinity of their distribution site on Sunday, adding that there were "no injuries, no fatalities." On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry said Israeli forces had shot and killed at least 27 people near the GHF distribution centre. Civilians were fired at by tanks, drones and helicopters near the Flag Roundabout close to the distribution hub. Israel denies that such an incident happened and claims that it only fired warning shots at people it suspected were deviating from designated access routes to the GHF centre. "The troops carried out warning fire and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near individual suspects who advanced toward the troops," the IDF said in a post on X. It added that it was aware of reported casualties and that it was investigating the incident. "IDF troops are not preventing the arrival of Gazan civilians to the humanitarian aid distribution sites," the IDF said. "The warning shots were fired approximately half a kilometre away from the humanitarian aid distribution site toward several suspects who advanced toward the troops in such a way that posed a threat to them." The GHF itself said that the distribution of food was carried out without any issues within its perimeter and that it was aware of the Israeli investigation into the reported injured civilians. On Wednesday, the GHF said it had paused aid distribution and discussing measures to improve civilian safety with the Israeli military, including changes to traffic management and troop training. The body began distributing aid on 26 May, after a three-month Israeli blockade on aid entering Gaza pushed the population of more than 2 million to the brink of famine. The GHF system limits food distribution to hubs guarded by armed contractors. Of the three hubs that are open, one is in central Gaza and two are in the far south on the outskirts of the mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah. Israel's ban on international media access to Gaza — which means that journalists must partake in an organised army press tour to enter the territory — has fuelled online speculation and renders independent on the ground verification a major challenge.
