Al-Hilal closing in on Watkins - Thursday's gossip

Al-Hilal close in on a £50m deal for Ollie Watkins, Chelsea line up Bournemouth's Alex Scott, and Sunderland make an offer for Manchester City's Jack Grealish.

Al-Hilal have agreed a deal of about £50m with Aston Villa to sign England forward Ollie Watkins, 30. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Chelsea have lined up Bournemouth's English midfielder Alex Scott, 23, as a replacement for Argentina's Enzo Fernandez, 25, who might be on the move to Manchester City. (Sun), external

Aston Villa target Rafael Leao is close to agreeing a move from AC Milan, with Galatasaray set to pay about £38m for the 27-year-old Portugal winger. (Corriere dello Sport - in Italian), external

Sunderland have made Manchester City an offer to sign England winger Jack Grealish, 30, on loan. (Athletic - subscription required), external

Chelsea are also closing in on a £36m deal to sign Italy defender Honest Ahanor, 18, from Atalanta. (Sky Sport Italy - in Italian, external)

Barcelona and Spain defender Alejandro Balde, 22, remains on Manchester United's shortlist to reinforce their left-back position. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external

Newcastle have not yet walked away from a deal to sign Lille and Belgium winger Matias Fernandez-Pardo, 21, but will not do anything that causes problems in meeting Premier League and Uefa spending rules. (Mail - subscription required), external

Bayer Leverkusen's French striker Martin Terrier, 29, is being lined up by his former club Lille as a replacement for Fernandez-Pardo. (L'Equipe - in French), external

Fiorentina have turned down Nottingham Forest's initial bid of £6m for their Brazilian right-back Dodo, 27. (Sky Sport Italy - in Italian, external)

Marseille are confident of keeping Brazilian forward Igor Paixao, 26, despite interest from Arsenal and Sunderland. (Teamtalk), external

Aston Villa have asked about West Ham and France defender Jean-Clair Todibo, 26, as they search for a centre-back. (Mail), external

Bayer Leverkusen and Argentina midfielder Exequiel Palacios, 27, is close to completing a £23.5m move to Ipswich Town. (Sky Sports), external

Everton are lining up a deal to sign Guinea-Bissau forward Franculino, 22, from Midtjylland and are also prepared to sanction the sale of Republic of Ireland defender Jake O'Brien, 25. (Teamtalk), external