Spurs are down bad. Chelsea are up good? And United are everywhere.

First of all, if everything goes as planned, season previews are scheduled to drop TOMORROW. It includes all 20 Premier League teams, painstakingly crafted by a variety of brilliant writers, and analysis you simply won’t get anywhere else. It’s also a great way to support our efforts here at The Transfer Flow, because you should pay people whose work you know and love and we’re only charging you a tenner.

For those who appreciate gambling content, the Championship kicks off this weekend, so expect my preseason outright bets to arrive on Wednesday for that league, and Thursday for the Premier League. The model suggestions did very well last year, and we’re hoping for more of the same in 25-26. You can sign up at this link. [Disclaimer: Past results are not predictive of future results, etc etc.]

For those of you here for the transfer content, things be busy! So many swap deals are being mentioned now, as clever/broke teams attempt to replace cold, hard cash with players of dubious value. For those of you who are new around here, we love a swap deal, because the vast majority are ridiculous and impossible.

This summer has been a lot of fun!

• Spurs legend and every South Korean’s favourite player Son-Heung Min is moving to LAFC for £15M, which feels like a lot for both MLS and Son’s age. I’m an Arsenal fan, but if pressed, I kinda loved Son as much as I hated Harry Kane. Imma pour one out on Twitter/X later for one of the Premier League’s GREAT two-footed finishers.

• Speaking of Spurs… 😬James Maddison blew his ACL in a friendly this weekend. Madders was probably Spurs’ most important attacking player last season when healthy. And now he’s not going to be healthy for the entirety of this year.

• Jorrel Hato signed for Chelsea this weekend. £37M is A LOT for an Eredivisie defender, but if you had to buy one and feel like it will probably work out, it's him. He’s only 19 now and has been competent in the Dutch league since age 17. I think he'll get punished at times in year 1, but should be a great Champions League-level hybrid LB for a decade.

• Xavi Simons to Chelsea is now less certain than last week, which is not helping me finish my Chelsea season preview AT ALL.

• The Athletic floated a possible swap deal involving Rasmus Hojlund and Benjamin Sesko at the end of last week. For Hojlund’s part, the 22-year old insists that he wants to stick around United, but at this point basically anywhere else would likely be better for his career. United seem to think so too?

• Regarding Sesko, the press are describing the current situation as a tug of war between two Uniteds, one in red and the other in black and white stripes. One of whom plays in the Champions League, and the other of whom pays more money. And somehow Leipzig are said to be negotiating for a sell-on into the deal, which seems banoners for a fee weighing in at £65M+. Given Sesko’s performances last season, I think Leipzig have absolutely lucked out with how the market developed this summer.

• Newcastle are making sexy eyes at PSG’s backup striker Goncalo Ramos in case Sesko falls through. It’s hard to tell exactly how good Ramos is because he’s played with absurd talent, and my opinion on the deal would come down to price, but it makes a lot of sense. I’m mentioning it so Newcastle fans can get a ray of sunlight in what has been a weirdly bleak summer up there so far.

• You might not remember it, but Kim was hot on a Garnacho-for-Nicolas Jackson swap deal back in January. Chelsea are still “expected” to be in for Garnacho before the transfer window shuts, after allegedly doing background checks on his character. This feels slightly far fetched and totally believable at the same time (but is also probably an agent plant).

• Staying with United but switching to Spain, the Red Devils are supposedly mooting a bid in the range of £60M for Barcelona midfielder Fermin Lopez. Now, if Lopez were a defensive midfielder or all-around 8, this deal might make a lot of sense. But Lopez is almost exclusively an attacking mid, a position United have filled to the brim, so I’m baffled.

• Lots of “rumours” around Manchester City players to Girona, which is the functional equivalent of Chelsea to Strasbourg. Ignore them unless you are either a Girona fan or a City academy social media account.

• Reports from Sky Italy inform us Italian teams are all aware Brighton’s AM Matt O’Riley exists. They do love midfielders who can score in Italy, especially if they are Scottish (though that’s a more recent fad). It was unfortunate that O’Riley’s start in the PL was hampered by surgery on his ankle, but maybe the gentler Italian climate will prove kinder on his joints than random Crawley Town tacklers?

• The weekend saw either PSG or Kolo Muani’s agent swing into action, telling us that Premier League teams are monitoring the player’s situation now that his Juve move has stalled. I don’t see anything positive in a move to England, but I don’t run any of these teams, and obviously I could be wrong.

• Norwegian left back David Moller Wolfe has moved from AZ Alkmaar to Wolves, for £10M. Because in the end, nominative determinism comes for us all.

It’s rare that I get to do the full “okay, but why?” bit these days, because teams have gotten a lot smarter about transfers, especially in the Premier League. But in Wolfe’s case, who is a 23-year old fullback with the above output in the Dutch league, I really am questioning what they saw to spend eight figures on a fee other than a warm body and a good name.

—TK

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