Sources: Liverpool have “held talks” over signing £75m Man Utd & Arsenal target in surprise move

It’s proving a difficult market for wingers this summer, but there have been some potentially significant developments on a £75m talent.

After links with other players that haven’t worked out, I’m reliably informed that all three of Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool could now get involved in this saga.

The player in question is Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye. I can confirm what others have reported, with the Senegal international not looking to progress with a move to Saudi Pro League giants Al Hilal after initial talks.

This story was first published on the Daily Briefing – click here to subscribe to get exclusives like this first, delivered straight to your inbox!

Ndiaye is not currently pushing hard to leave Everton, but privately the club are aware that the player and his entourage have held discussions with other clubs.

Arsenal have explored the 26-year-old as an alternative to Vinicius Junior, but are yet to decide on their priority now after also missing out on Morgan Rogers. There are unconfirmed murmurings that they’re ready to go back in for Bradley Barcola, so it will be important to see how that plays out.

Man United are also big admirers of Ndiaye and are keen to recruit proven Premier League players, though his £75m asking price could be an issue.

Want more CaughtOffside coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

Could Iliman Ndiaye make shock transfer to Liverpool?

Intriguingly, sources in the industry confirm that Liverpool’s interest in Ndiaye is genuine as well, even though it’s extremely rare for the Reds to do business with their Merseyside rivals.

This might suggest some concern from Liverpool about getting a deal done for Barcola, or it could be that their interest is slightly more geared towards putting pressure on PSG to lower their asking price for a player they know wants to leave.

While I can’t confirm the motives behind this, I am told that Liverpool are one of the clubs to engage in direct talks with those around Ndiaye, so there’s every chance that this could develop into something more concrete.

“Liverpool, Man United, and Arsenal have all held talks with Ndiaye’s camp,” one source said. “Everton want £75m, which is too high, but it’ll be one to watch because the player is really keen to get a move. He’s decided against the Saudi option as he wants to keep playing at the highest level. I highly doubt Everton would sell to Liverpool, and there have been no club-to-club talks yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the asking price ended up being far higher for them.”

That’s about all I can give you on this for now – it’s gone a bit quiet on Barcola, which explains why this story has surfaced a bit more, but I’d imagine the Barcola saga will still be key to this one moving into something more concrete.