Fabrizio Romano Transfer News: Palestra hijack confirmed, Alvarez 'betrayed', Fernandes battle on

24 Jun 2026 07:01 BST |
8 min read

Football news expert Fabrizio Romano has provided an update on several major transfer stories, including the latest on Mateus Fernandes, Marco Palestra and Julian Alvarez.

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Chelsea to seal Palestra transfer

Romano confirmed that Chelsea are close to completing a hijack of Inter’s move for Marco Palestra after agreeing a deal with Atalanta, with the player also giving his ‘green light’ to a move.

“Chelsea are closing every detail of the deal for Marco Palestra,” Romano said on YouTube. “A ‘here we go’ is coming! Chelsea and Atalanta have an agreement in place for a transfer fee, a total package over €50 million plus a sell-on clause. So Chelsea have accepted to include also a sell-on clause as part of the deal.

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“Atalanta wanted this sell-on clause from Inter at the beginning and now also from Chelsea, because they believe that Palestra one day could be worth well in excess of €55m or €60m, and so they wanted this sell-on clause to be included. And now everything is in place on the transfer fee and on the sell-on clause.

“The player late night gave his green light to go to Chelsea. So basically, what he said to Atalanta is, ‘Sell me where you prefer, Inter or Chelsea. Both projects are appealing, attracting to me.’ This is what Palestra communicated to his agents, and Atalanta decided to send the player to Chelsea because they’re offering way more than Inter. Inter are not matching the Chelsea bid. For Inter, the deal was being closed at €45m plus €5m in add-ons.

“While Inter were closing the deal—they had a meeting just 12 hours ago in order to close the Palestra deal, to plan for the medical test, to celebrate the signing to replace Denzel Dumfries—well, in that moment, Chelsea entered the deal, hijacked the move, and went all-in for Palestra.

“So, congratulations to Chelsea because they’re about to add a fantastic player to their squad. He can play as a right wing-back, he can play as a left wing-back. I told you, if you remember, when Marc Cucurella got sold to Real Madrid, Chelsea were looking for that kind of player who can cover both wings, and Palestra is very interesting. He’s very young, very fast, very talented, so he could be an excellent addition.

“Also, Xabi Alonso got involved in this deal. Alonso had a direct conversation with Palestra, and so for Xabi, it’s for sure a very interesting addition.”

Gusto to Man City latest

Manchester City have not made contact with Chelsea over a move for Malo Gusto despite incoming manager Enzo Maresca’s admiration for the Frenchman.

Romano said: “Maresca has a very good connection with Malo Gusto and appreciates the player, but at the moment, I’m not aware of Manchester City opening concrete talks or negotiations for Gusto. My understanding is that Manchester City appreciate the player, but at the moment they have not reached out to Chelsea in order to ask for Gusto.

“Let’s see if a proposal comes, because now Chelsea have Palestra, who can play on the right and also on the left, but Chelsea also have Reece James and Gusto, and they are not playing European football. So, it’s going to be important to understand what they want to do. But for sure, the Gusto situation could be an interesting one to follow in the upcoming days and weeks.”

Anderson close to Man City move

Elliot Anderson’s move to Manchester City is in its ‘final stages’ and a deal is still on course to be sealed with Nottingham Forest, Romano has revealed.

“I know it’s gone a bit quiet in the media, but [Man City] keep working on Elliot Anderson as a new midfielder. Manchester City are on it,” Romano said.

“Manchester City are in negotiations behind the scenes with Nottingham Forest to try to unlock the final details of his deal. It’s already at the very final stages.

“The player wants to go to Man City; the player has been clear about that. So his desire is to play for Man City. He was a top target with Pep Guardiola as a coach, and he’s a top target with Enzo Maresca as a coach, so nothing has changed.

“Now Man City are working behind the scenes to close this deal for Elliot Anderson. It’s still ongoing, it’s still underway, and the story is absolutely on. So keep a close eye on this possibility.”

West Ham to sell Fernandes to highest bidder

West Ham have no preference who they sell Mateus Fernandes to and they are hoping to command an auction for their in-demand midfielder, with Tottenham, Man Utd and Real Madrid all at the table.

Romano said: “West Ham will sell Matheus Fernandes to the club offering the best money. So West Ham don’t care if it’s called Tottenham, Man United, Real Madrid, or whatever.

“Manchester United have been in talks with the agent of the player for a long time and have also had direct contact with West Ham. So Man United are working hard on this deal for Fernandes, and that remains my information—Man United are there.

“Tottenham are also there, because Tottenham are pushing in a separate story compared to Sandro Tonali. Tonali is still there, so Tottenham are working on it and Manchester United are working on it. Real Madrid—the name was indicated by José Mourinho, but at the moment it is still not advancing.

“But West Ham communicated to those close to the player: ‘Bring us the proposals. We start at £85 million.’ That’s the starting price. West Ham obviously hope to get more than this with so many clubs involved, and so the idea at West Ham is to get the best transfer fee possible for Fernandes. This is going to be the way to sign the player.

“Then obviously the player can have preferences—the player can have the opportunity of a very good contract on one side, and Champions League football on the other side—so every club can present their proposal and their project. But for West Ham, in a very clear way, it is ‘best offer wins.’ That’s what West Ham will do with Fernandes.”

Alvarez situation set to drag on

Julian Alvarez is in a ‘tense’ situation at Atletico Madrid and his transfer saga with Barcelona could drag on throughout the transfer window, according to Romano.

“Álvarez feels betrayed by Atlético Madrid, and Atlético Madrid feel betrayed by Julián,” Romano said. “It’s a very strange and tense situation because the clear position of the player is what he said in public, but also Álvarez in private told people from the Atlético board and Diego Simeone that he wanted to go.

“And when Álvarez says a transfer is the best solution for everyone, it’s because Julián believes that it was already clear to Atlético Madrid a long time ago that his desire was to leave in the summer transfer window. So Julián’s position is something like: ‘We already discussed about that, you know that I wanted to go, my agent told you that I wanted to go, why are you not letting me go now?’

“Atlético Madrid on their side are very clear: they don’t want to let the player go in general, but especially to Barcelona. With other clubs, they could be more open, for sure, but with Barcelona, they consider the doors closed. And they’re ready to go to FIFA, as has been announced, because of the relationship between the two clubs and because Atlético Madrid believe that Barcelona were pushing the player in order to arrive at this situation. So this is why Atlético feel betrayed and the player feels betrayed.

“The relationship with Simeone is really, really difficult. So this Julián situation is very tense, and it’s going to be once again one to follow. I don’t expect anything imminent, so I don’t think the Julián situation will get resolved by going to Barcelona or somewhere else this week. I think we have to be patient. It’s going to be a long saga, but for sure an interesting one.”

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Suraj Radia is an NCTJ-qualified journalist and editor with more than a decade of experience at some of the biggest sportsdesks and press agencies across the industry. He has been a regular freelance contributor to FootballTransfers since April 2022.

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