Arsenal have submitted a second official proposal to Ajax, in order to get a deal for centre back Jurriën Timber completed this week.
Talks have progressed between the clubs after Arsenal’s opening bid of £30m was rejected. Personal terms have already been agreed with Timber, with the 22-year-old expected to sign a five-year contract if a transfer fee can be negotiated.
An Ajax youth academy product who can also play at right-back, Timber has won 15 caps for the Netherlands and will provide necessary defensive depth for Mikel Arteta’s side as they prepare for their Champions League return next season.
Brentford have announced the signing of the highly rated South Korean centre back, Kim Ji-soo, on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee.
Kim joins Brentford from K-League Two side Seongnam and will initially link up with the club’s B team. “Ji-soo is an excellent prospect who was in demand from many teams in Europe this summer,” said the club’s director of football, Phil Giles.
“We will give Ji-Soo all the time he needs to learn English, adapt to life in England and grow into our club in the B team,” Giles added. “Like all of our B-team players he will earn the opportunity to train and play with the first team based on his performances.”
After breaking into the Seongnam first team in January 2022, Kim was selected in a K League all-star team to face Tottenham in a friendly game last summer. The 18-year-old impressed at the recent Under-20 World Cup finals in Argentina as South Korea finished fourth, and had attracted interest from Bayern Munich and Sporting.
Nicolas Jackson will join Chelsea from Villarreal for €37m (£31.8m) on an eight-year deal after completing his medical with the club on Sunday.
Jackson scored 12 goals in 26 appearances in La Liga last season and came close to joining Bournemouth in January but failed a medical because of a hamstring problem.
The 22-year-old Senegal striker finished the season by scoring eight goals in as many games, attracting interest from Aston Villa and Everton, but Chelsea have won the race for his signature. They have paid more than Jackson’s release clause in order to get more beneficial payment terms within the structure of the deal.
Jackson moved to Villarreal from Senegal in 2019. He was sent out on loan to Mirandés a year later to play in the second tier. After impressing for the club’s B team, he was given his La Liga debut in October 2021.
He will become the second striker to move to Chelsea in a short space of time after the arrival of Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig for £51m on Tuesday. The new manager, Mauricio Pochettino, made it a priority to bolster his frontline options after Chelsea averaged a goal a game last season in finishing a disappointing 12th and subsequently missing out on European football.
The length of Jackson’s contract is typical of those handed to players under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital as part of the policy of using amortisation to spend large sums on transfer fees while not breaching financial fair play regulations. – Guardian
