I don't think any player is worth €200m, but if there's one...

While engaging in a very strange showman campaign to win re-election as Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez has been boasting about making a €150m offer for a big star player, while dropping hints about who.

It’s not a defender… it’s not a Premier League player… it’s not Michael Oli- ah crap you got me. It is Michael Olise.

Despite denying that he was the player in question, several outlets are now reporting that Olise was the star that Perez was hinting about all along. Unsurprisingly, Bayern Munich have pre-empted the bid by telling Perez to do one, with Uli Hoeneß saying that he would not even sell Olise for €200m.

I don’t think there’s any question that Olise was the most productive player in Europe this season, and should win the Ballon d’Or. Lamine Yamal might be the highest ceiling player in the world, and Premier League players probably do deserve bonus points for playing a harder schedule, but Olise’s all-around production was simply off the charts.

While selling Olise for €200m+ might benefit Bayern in terms of how many games they end up winning over a long period of time as a result of signing several good young players with that money, I think he’s right to dig his heels in and refuse to sell for any price this summer. The point of top level professional football is to win trophies, and Bayern is in a trophy-winning window. They’ve got the best goal-scorer in the world in Harry Kane, but he’s an injury-prone 32-year-old, and likely to start declining soon. There isn’t another team in the world that should be in more desperate win now mode.

But Perez can lay the groundwork for a future transfer, and he probably knows that’s what all this posturing is. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Olise in a Real Madrid shirt before his prime years are done, but it shouldn’t be this summer.

More transfer rumours

• Sunderland are interested in Charleroi midfielder Yacine Titraoui, who has an interesting profile. I assume the Black Cats have done their due diligence on whether his physical numbers check out vs. Premier League standard, because this guy looks cool.

• Newcastle are getting super active with that Anthony Gordon money. In addition to the Zadok Yohanna rumour we talked about earlier this week, they’re interested in Victor Munoz from Osasuna as a direct replacement, and they’re close to signing young French goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen. I’d say all of these guys look interesting but with some big question marks? I’m really curious to know how Newcastle profiles potential signings, something about their process feels very different to either traditional or data-oriented teams.

• AC Milan think they can beat Tottenham to Crysencio Summerville. Given how disappointing both of those teams are, this is probably a case of whether or not he can be bothered to move house.

• Eintracht Frankfurt and/or Can Uzun’s agent is having Florian Plettenberg tell the world he wants a transfer. He was really exciting in limited minutes 2 seasons ago, and didn’t quite make the leap forward many were expecting this year. He’s still a very talented young player, but I wonder if Eintracht feel he’s stagnating and want to sell before his value declines.

• Brentford had a bid accepted for Said El Mala, but his mom told them that her son does not want to go there. Womp womp.

• Lee Kang-in seems like he’s had enough of not being preferred at PSG, and has Atletico Madrid as his top choice for a move. It’ll probably cost €30m. I think this would be a win-win-win transaction for all parties. Lee is a very talented and productive attacking midfielder, but he’s just a touch short of Champions League winner quality.

• Mathys Tel’s time at Tottenham hasn’t gone great, and he’s probably looking for a way out. Bournemouth think they can fix him. But I’d be surprised if they could find a price that works for everyone.

• Tottenham are finally interested in Hayden Hackney, which should have been the case last summer. A lot of the other reporting around him suggests that he thinks he’d have more stability and better developmental opportunities at Everton, but Spurs can afford to pay a lot more.

• Dusan Vlahovic has broken off negotiations with Juventus and is going to leave. He makes a monster wage that I can’t imagine anyone wants to match, even without a transfer fee to pay. He’s so hot and cold, and makes zero contribution to his team when he’s not scoring. I wouldn’t risk offering him a long-term deal as one of my top earners if I was a Champions League club.

• Atalanta want €50m for Marco Palestra, who had a good season on loan at Cagliari. The 21-year-old wingback is another top athlete, meh other stuff fullback profile that seems to be all the rage these days. Call me old-fashioned, but if I’m paying €50m for a fullback, I want him to be elite at either passing or defending.

Also, some quick World Cup stuff. We’ve built a bracket predictor for you to play with, featuring market-implied probability based on current betting lines. Please check it out, tell your friends if you like it, and contact us with any bugs so we can get them fixed. We’ll be doing a lot of World Cup stuff over on Variance Betting, so subscribe if you’re interested in how to get better at gambling.

If you’re an FPL or any other type of fantasy player, there are also a variety of World Cup fantasy games to check out. A couple of them are being covered by LazyFPL, and I recommend subscribing to them if you’re into that. Their newsletter this week covered a couple of the popular games and the strategy you need to know.

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