Thursday's Transfer Bulletin: Football rumours, gossip as Griezmann's odds of joining Man Utd drift

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2050: The Antoine Griezmann transfer saga appears to be over and we haven't even reached the end of the first day of June.

This story has all the details of an interesting tweet from the Frenchman tonight.

1805: Manchester City will need another cake, Yaya Toure is staying at the Etihad Stadium for another season - full story.

He told Manchester City's official website: "When I was first coming here [in 2010] I was trying to be part of a new story, of something special at this club. I am very lucky now to be part of a great club with great players around me who are helping me to achieve my targets.

"Of course I want to win trophies, that is very important to me. I want to enjoy it at this age still and remaining here is a massive, massive thing. It is a great club, going in the right direction with new players who are coming in. Our mentality is always to win week in, week out and I’m delighted with the fans as well.” 

1720: Confirmation through that 33-year-old Darren Fletcher has made the move from West Brom to Stoke on a two-year deal. Read the full story here.

1605: One player who is being backed to join Manchester United is defender Victor Lindelof, who is now 8/11 from 9/4 to switch the Estadio da Luz for Old Trafford.

The Benfica centre-back, who can also operate on the right, has been linked with a £35m switch in a summer in which the Portuguese champions look set to cash in on the Manchester spending.

They have already sold goalkeeper Ederson Moraes to City for £35m, while  right-back Nelson Semedo has also been linked with United.

Reports suggest that Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira has flown in to Manchester to finalise the deals for Lindelof and Semedo.

1315: On the back of the news that Atletico Madrid’s transfer ban has been upheld, Antoine Griezmann has drifted out to odds-against to join Manchester United this summer.

They had been just 1/10 to land the French star but are now 6/5, with a deal for Atletico to land Alexandre Lacazette as a replacement now on hold.

However, Jose Mourinho does have the option of activating a £86.7m release clause, although it remains to be seen whether Griezmann would be willing to leave his club in the lurch.

The Press Association understand that the interest is cooling, prompting attention to turn to Romelu Lukaku, who is 4/5 to join Chelsea and 3/1 to head to Old Trafford.

The ban also comes as a potential blow to United’s options if David de Gea departs, with Atleti goalkeeper Jan Oblak cited as a potential target.

De Gea is currently 4/5 to join Real Madrid, while Sky Bet also report seeing some business for United to sign Jordan Pickford from Sunderland, although Everton remain 11/8 favourites to secure his services.

Meanwhile, Manchester City have agreed a buy-back clause with Villarreal to re-sign Enes Unal before 2020, while Wolves managing director Laurie Dalrymple has denied super agent Jorge Mendes is in charge of the club's transfers. 

1100: For those of you who like a pub teaser, this is a world record fee paid in sterling, beating the £32.6m Juventus spent on Gianluigi Buffon, but not the world record fee recieved, as that coverted into 53m euros at the time. 

Benfica are also set to lose half of the fee to third parties, which is likely to require ratification from the Premier League.

1045: Manchester City have agreed a £35m deal to sign goalkeeper Ederson Moraes, Benfica have confirmed to the Portuguese stock exchange.

1035: It's safe to say Atletico Madrid are not happy and understandibly so, having seen rivals Real Madrid get their transfer ban reduced for a similar issue, registering players under age.

They have responded with the following on their club website: "We consider that the decision to support the prohibition of registering players in a second period, corresponding to the summer of 2017, poses an unfair disadvantage and discriminatory treatment to our entity, since recently and in a similar case, the penalty was partially lifted, allowing to register players starting on July 1st. This ruling is unfair and causes an irreparable damage to our club."

They also accuse CAS of failing to inform them by a deadline of May 31, signed by both parties, suggesting: "This shows a lack of respect for our institution".

And add: "We want to reiterate that we have been penalised despite strictly complying with the Spanish legislation, as we have always processed all our licenses with Madrid’s Football Federation, as the Sports Law indicates."

They will now focus their business on the January transfer window, but can still agree deals at any point with the view to registering players at the turn of the year.

0955: One bit of news likely to have significant repercussions on Manchester United’s pursuit of Antoine Griezmann…

Atletico Madrid’s transfer ban has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, meaning they cannot register players until the January transfer window.

The French star does have a buyout clause of £86.7m and it looks like the Old Trafford outfit will have to activate that to secure his services. 

Atletico were also odds-on to sign Alexandre Lacazette this summer, with Arsenal and Liverpool also linked to the Lyon striker.

Sky Bet have responded by pushing United’s odds on signing Griezmann out to 1/2, from as short as 1/10, while Liverpool are now 3/1 favourites to land Lacazette this summer.

0900: The early transfer talk is all about Real Madrid’s reported £60million bid for Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea. 

Real remain Sky Bet’s 8/11 favourites to capture the Spain international who is an even-money shot to remain at Old Trafford. 

After agreeing a new two-year deal at Arsenal, one of Arsene Wenger's first jobs will be to decide if striker Lucas Perez has a future at the Emirates. 

The £17million signing has said he wants to leave the FA Cup winners due to a lack of first-team opportunities. 

Sevilla are 1/2 favourites to sign the front-man with former club Deportivo La Coruna 8/1 shots to re-sign him.  

0730: Welcome to Thursday's Transfer Bulletin.

We'll round-up the latest major stories at around 0900, with updates at lunchtime, through the afternoon and again at around 1700.

Here's today's Paper Talk to get you started.

If you want to catch up on what happened yesterday why not read Wednesday's Transfer Bulletin, including the late news on a bid from Real Madrid for David de Gea being rejected.

There's also our new and improved Premier League completed deals story to enjoy with all of this summer's transfer rumours so far listed.