Leipzig reportedly have a summer agreement with Simons, allowing him to leave, and the club is now prepared to cash in.
According to Bild, Leipzig need to sell players to raise funds and are aiming to bring in around €100 million (£85m/$114m) — a target they’re confident of surpassing by offloading both Simons and 21-year-old Benjamin Sesko.
There’s also a feeling within the club that Simons’ €12 million (£10m/$14m) salary doesn’t match his inconsistent performances.
Manchester United have been heavily linked with Simons lately, but according to insider Duncan Castles, Liverpool might now be in the running to sign him too.
“I’m also told that Liverpool have asked questions about the player, and again, you look at the style of his play, and you could see why he would be a fit to the way Liverpool play,” Castles said on the Transfers Podcast.
“So top-level clubs, at least in terms of budget – I don’t think we can call Manchester United a top-level club in terms of performance anymore – and again, summer after summer, Simons is the focus.
“But I think everything is set up for a sale this summer, if they can convince one of those clubs to come in and spend the money that Leipzig want for him.”
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Manchester United have held exploratory talks with Crystal Palace over a move for highly-rated defender Marc Guehi Manchester United have already spent more than £200million on Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko to transform their forward line, and new head coach Ruben Amorim wants to strengthen the other areas of the pitch. The midfield unit appears to be the next priority amid ongoing concerns over Casemiro’s waning powers and inconsistent performances over Manuel Ugarte. Kobbie Mainoo is also yet to cement his place in Ruben Amorim’s XI, which makes the addition of a defensive midfielder extremely vital. Alongside a No.6, it looks like the Portuguese tactician also wants to bring in a new centre-back. This is because the Red Devils have also released Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans, while Lisandro Martinez remains out for the foreseeable future with an ACL injury sustained at the start of February. Leny Yoro, Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt also struggled with injury issues last season, while Ayden Heaven still lacks the bit of experience to start league games week in, week out. Manchester United make approach for Crystal Palace skipper According to an exclusive report from Football Transfers, Manchester United have made an official approach for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi. It was an exploratory approach at this stage done to understand the financials over a deal and whether the player would be willing to join Amorim’s forces this summer. Marc Guehi has now entered the final 12 months of his deal at Selhurst Park, and appears no closer to extending his contract. The centre-back is understood to be open to remaining with Crystal Palace until 2026, at which point he can leave on a free transfer. The England international has been heavily linked with a move to Liverpool in recent weeks and months, and Palace chairman Steve Parish stated last week that the club will sell their star defender this summer to avoid losing him on a free transfer in 2026. Newcastle United failed with multiple bids in excess of £50m for Guehi last summer, while Tottenham Hotspur had an offer worth up to £70m rejected during the 2025 January transfer window. The aforementioned report adds Man United have identified Dayot Upamecano of Bayern Munich as an alternative option to Guehi, with the France international out of contract at the end of 2025/26 season. Guehi would be a brilliant signing for Man United Guehi has seen enhanced his stock in recent times, featuring for England at the 2024 European Championship and playing a key part of a rock-solid defence that only conceded four goals en route to the final, whilst also making Palace history by captaining them to the FA Cup after beating Manchester City back in May. He also led Oliver Glasner’s side to Community Shield victory over Liverpool last weekend, with the Eagles winning on penalty shootout. At 25, the England international is at the perfect age to walk into United and improve the spine of our defence. He has been playing in Glasner’s back-three system for over a year now, and before that, also marshalled the troops under Patrick Vieira. This would make it easy for him to adapt to Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 system and hit the ground running at Old Trafford if a deal goes through. With Liverpool holding fresh talks with Palace over a move for Guehi, INEOS must up their ante and make a bid if we are concretely interested in signing him.
The Phoenix Suns are set to enter next season with an almost completely different roster than what they had last season after making major changes to it this offseason. Of course, the Suns broke apart their star trio of Devin Booker, Keivn Durant and Bradley Beal as they traded Durant to the Houston Rockets and bought out Beal’s contract, allowing him to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers. Now Booker is the only remaining star from their big three and he is set to be the centerpiece of Phoenix’s future after they signed him to a massive contract extension this summer. For the Suns, they have done a solid job of building a younger roster as they landed Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and Mark Williams via trades and also selected Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming and Koby Brea in the 2025 draft. While the Suns have made some major moves this offseason, more could be on the way before the start of next season as multiple players continue to be in trade rumors. Suns predicted to send Dillon Brooks to Lakers With this in mind, SB Nations’ Jacob Rude recently released a mock trade that would see the Suns send Brooks to the Los Angeles Lakers for two players. In the trade, the Suns would send Brooks to the Lakers in exchange for Gabe Vincent and Maxi Kleber. This would be an interesting trade for both teams involved and one that does not make a ton of sense for the Suns to make. Of course, the Suns could look to trade Brooks at some point before next season’s trade deadline as they may try to add more young talent to their roster but to swap him for two veterans who struggled last season does not make a ton of sense for Phoenix. For the Lakers, adding Brooks to their roster would be a massive upgrade after losing Dorian Finney-Smith in free agency as the veteran forward would give them a solid scorer and great defender alongside Luka Doncic and LeBron James. Despite this, the Suns would likely want more in return in a potential trade for Brooks that would likely require Los Angeles to include draft capital and a young player. Because of this, it is highly unlikely that the Suns would consider this offer for Brooks, especially before he even suits up for their franchise.
We all know Scottie Scheffler is the best golfer on the planet by a fairly large margin, but what makes him so much more consistent than other stars in professional golf? Bryson DeChambeau, one of Scheffler's biggest rivals in major championships, thinks he knows the answer. In Tuesday's appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show," DeChambeau detailed how Scheffler dominates the PGA Tour weekly. "He's got the best spin and distance control I've ever seen," DeChambeau said. "He controls the golf ball from a spin perspective so much better than everybody else. Like, if you're 175 yards out, and it's 10 miles [an hour] into the wind, he knows how to control the flight and spin to get that ball to land right next to the hole every time. Probably since Tiger [Woods], he's the best that we've seen." The stats confirm DeChambeau's breakdown. Scheffler has ranked first on the PGA Tour in strokes gained on approach in three straight seasons. He also ranks first in proximity to the hole and greens in regulation percentage over the last four years. Iron play is Scheffler's superpower, but it wasn't always that way. "I played with him in college a bunch, and I've said it before, but he's definitely improved since college for sure," DeChambeau said with a chuckle. "It's impressive to see what he's done, and we're all aspiring to do that. That's something I've gotta get better at. I can hit it farther than him. I can hit it probably straighter than him. I can make just as many putts as him, but, really, it's about my iron play right now and wedges to get a little more consistent." Iron play is the biggest indicator of success in professional golf. If you're giving yourself more birdie chances from close range than anyone in the field, you're going to have the best chance to win by Sunday afternoon. No one is better at hitting specific distances more consistently than Scheffler. Just look at how accurate he is. DeChambeau has the best chance to catch Scheffler as the best player in the world because he's elite off the tee and on the greens, but that won't happen unless he makes a major improvement to his iron game.
The Dallas Cowboys receiver room right now is giving head coach Brian Schottenheimer and the personnel department a lot of headaches - but in a good way, if there is such a thing. Yes, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens are top of the pile, but behind them, it is rather jumbled. KaVontae Turpin could easily be seen as the third receiver, so too Jalen Tolbert. But behind them are Jonathan Mingo, Jalen Brooks, Ryan Flournoy, and Traeshon Holden. Will the Cowboys carry five receivers? Or six? Either way, players are going to miss out and might even land on the practice squad. You can see the crowd in the new depth chart released on Tuesday ... And for offensive coordinator Klayton Adams, he is loving the competition. ... at receiver (and beyond) ... “It's been fun to watch that group," Adams said. "That's really what you're trying to build in every room is a lot of really difficult decisions for the personnel guys and the coaching staff and incredible amounts of competition. So that being what we want this team and organization to be 100% about is competition, that's our calling card, is what the receiving room is doing right now, and making it very difficult for people to figure out who's going to be what number, whatever. I love it, I think it's great." For most, it is Turpin and Tolbert occupying the third and fourth receiver spot (in any order), with Mingo and then possibly Brooks making up the group as part of special teams. Still, that will mean Flournoy and Holden will be the ones to miss out, which is why the next two weeks of practice and the preseason games are going to be vital to the final outcome of the room. Who will see their stock rise and who will fall? Schottenheimer wanted competition, and when it comes to the receiver room, boy, he got it.
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