Dwight McNeil could return to the Premier League this summer after Burnley’s relegation from the English topflight last season. The winger has been one of the finest attackers in the Premier League over the years and Everton have targeted him for some time now. Burnley has managed to keep hold of him until now, but their relegation from the top flight means the England under21 international is likely to leave. Everton managed to survive relegation from the top flight last season and has lost Richarlison in this transfer window. Frank Lampard is keen to strengthen his squad with new attackers and a move for McNeil is one of his priority. Matchplug understands that Everton has entered talks with Burnley to sign the winger whose current deal expires in 2024. The Toffees don’t have plenty money and they hope the Clarets will agree to allow him leave for an agreed fee that would be paid in instalments.

Cristiano Ronaldo has asked Manchester United to allow him to leave the club for free this summer after returning late for preseason. The attacker missed the club’s preseason tour as they gave him permission to delay his return to training after stunning them with a request to leave the club. Ronaldo has now returned and held showdown talks with United yesterday. Matchplug understands that he requested to leave the club. He reiterated that he wants out because he wants to keep playing in the Champions League, but United has not received any offers yet and insist he is a part of their plan. The attacker is willing to take a pay cut to join another club, but he has to get United to allow him leave for free before that can happen. At the moment, Erik Ten Hag is counting on him and it would be interesting to see how this saga eventually ends.

Chelsea is now interested in a move for  Denzel Dumfries after missing out on their long-term target Jules Kounde. The Blues reached an agreement to sign Kounde from Sevilla after pursuing him for over a year, however, Barcelona has hijacked their move for him and he is not coming to London. It is a huge blow to their summer plans, but they have now turned their attention towards Dumfries of Inter Milan. The Italians need to sell some players to balance their books and they consider Dumfries one man who can leave them for the right fee. Chelsea wants to take advantage of that to add the wing-back to Thomas Tuchel’s squad for this campaign. Matchplug understands that they are now looking to make him one of their summer signings as they desperately try to bolster their defence ahead of an important season.

Patrick Vieira is overseeing an exciting time at Crystal Palace as he continues to sign very young players for the Eagles. They have been signing some very fine youngsters since last season and that has continued in this summer’s transfer window. Chris Richards is the latest young player to join their ranks after they signed him from Bayern Munich, Matchplug reveals. The 22-year-old plays for the USA national team as well and spent the last campaign on loan at Hoffenheim. He had been very hopeful that he will build a career for himself at Bayern, but that is a tough task and they just added Matthijs de Ligt to their squad. He would now look to achieve that objective in the Premier League with Palace. They have a very young and exciting squad which makes them one of the best clubs to watch. The Eagles achieved some huge results last season and will look to replicate that in this campaign.