Predicting the next £100m midfielder: the World Cup star Liverpool ‘might’ sign and the captain Arsenal want | OneFootball

A World Cup star, an Arsenal target and three players linked with Manchester United are in competition to become the next £100m midfielder.

With the current average cost of a halfway decent central midfielder reaching unsustainably ludicrous levels, it is time to predict which might become the next £100m signing.

Ayyoub Bouaddi

The teenage sensation of the 2026 World Cup insisted there was “absolutely no regret” at his call to represent Morocco over their quarter-final conquerors – and the country whose youth teams Bouaddi played for 27 times – France.

His opinion might well have changed after witnessing Spain’s trouncing of a particularly bleu midfield in the semis. There were absurd chasms on show which could well have been filled by his skillset for the next decade and a half.

But national identity and a decision over official allegiance must be governed by the heart; Bouaddi’s Choose Your Own Adventure-style gilded career crossroads is a matter best dealt with by the head this summer.

The interest from Manchester City seems most intense as part of a continued engine room rebuild. As the gospel of Ornstein has it, Enzo Maresca’s side ‘are pushing hard’, it “might happen” for Liverpool “if somebody leaves”, and Manchester United “would love to do it”.

Going by the efficiency of their recent recruitment, it might well be announced within hours.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid provide some familiarity to the rest of the usual elite prodigy chasing transfer pack, the emerging winner from which will be paying handsomely for the privilege.

A Lille auction is likely to attract close to nine figures. A discount could be secured if Bouaddi is allowed to remain on loan in Ligue Un for another year as part of any move. But at the levels of investment being discussed, most teams might expect a more immediate return.

Bruno Guimaraes

Arsenal are not a particularly daft institution currently and thus it is difficult to envisage them actually thinking Newcastle might sell one of their best and most important players for £50m this summer.

Even Spurs didn’t mess around, knowing full well it would take twice as much to extract Sandro Tonali from Tyneside, and Barcelona had to find some more economic levers in the back of some Camp Nou cupboards to afford Anthony ‘Hey, F*** You’ Gordon.

Newcastle would probably rather not sell their entire team and just pack this Saudi project up, so the club captain who has two years remaining on his deal and over five years of Premier League experience to his name will not come cheap.

There is, however, a certain inevitability to Arsenal signing Guimaraes. The champions’ increasing desperation to find enough players to field a fit and available XI at the start of next season should expedite negotiations.

Alex Scott

If there aren’t any interns in professional football being asked to clandestinely monitor communications between Bristol City and Bournemouth as part of a transfer hijacking operation then no-one has learned a thing.

The Cherries have already made a fortune out of polishing, platforming and preparing Antoine Semenyo for life further up the food chain; it seems certain that Scott will follow that same trophy-laden path to the top.

Another season of south-coast seasoning could do no harm. The biggest gaps on Scott’s CV are European football and England recognition, both of which seem inexorable in the coming months.

Manchester United could act before then at a price point of around £80m, but a better bet might be to figure out who Bournemouth plan to target as Scott’s eventual replacement and just cut out the middle man.

Adam Wharton

Another England World Cup squad exile with vague Clamour vibes, Wharton might not have minded his omission after watching the entirety of Euro 2024 from the bench.

The minute-less midfield presence in the Three Lions camp has instead been provided by Kobbie Mainoo, while Wharton enjoys a hard-earned break after two silverware-laden Crystal Palace seasons. Which is an absurd end to a sentence.

There was, of course, no need for a major international tournament shop window to showcase what Wharton brings: an exceptional range, weight and consistency of incisive passing, ball-winning excellence and a surprisingly phenomenal backflip.

Real Madrid are sniffing around. All that’s left is for Crystal Palace supporters to spend the next few weeks painstakingly explaining that the club’s reported valuation of £100m is a reflection of Wharton’s worth to them and how little they want to sell him, rather than a preposterous asking price that must be lowered for the convenience of an unthinkably rich ‘bigger’ club.