Premier League rivals Manchester United and Chelsea look set to miss out on signing a promising young player in Danish forward Viktor Fischer for the time being at the very least.

Fischer, whose market value has risen in the wake of his recent performances, has attracted attention of a number of clubs, most notably Manchester United, Chelsea, AC Milan and Bayern Munich, for a potential transfer this summer.

The 2^nd leg ties in the Round of 32 in the Europa League was the cynosure on Thursday night as a host of big names desperately attempted to squeeze through to the next round. English giants Liverpool couldn’t manage that feat as they crashed out on away goals despite defeating Zenit 3-1 at Anfield. The other three English participants also secured their place in the next round with narrow victories. Chelsea drew 1-1 at home with Sparta Prague but Eden Hazard’s injury-time equalizer meant that the Blues went through with a 2-1 aggregate scoreline.

Tottenham went through the same set of emotions as Moussa Debmele’s dramatic late goal secured a 1-1 draw at Lyon and with it a 2-1 victory in the tie. Newcastle United headed into the unknown in Kharkiv but emerged with a 1-0 victory to seal their place in the last-16. Holders Atletico Madrid were sent packing by Rubin Kazan, who won the tie 2-1 on aggregate despite losing to a solitary Radamel Falcao goal last night. Ajax and Napoli were the other big names to be sent crashing out on the night, with Inter Milan and Lazio holding the Serie A flag aloft with their progress.

Liverpool 3-1 Zenit (3-3 Aggregate, Zenit through on away goals)

Liverpool’s hopes of a trophy this season have vanished after they were sent packing from Europe’s 2^nd tier competition by Zenit. Coming into Anfield with a 2-0 lead, Zenit immediately set about increasing their advantage and they were gifted that opportunity by Jamie Carragher, who lost the ball in his own half 19 minutes in to allow Hulk a clean run on goal. The Brazilian unsurprisingly made no mistake as he clinically finished past Pepe Reina to give the Russians the vital away goal.

Ajax have announced that star midfielder Christian Eriksen has turned down a new contract with the club and the Dutch champions could consider offloading him this summer before he enters his final year of contract. This news has drawn the attention of Premier League elites Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham and there could be a big fight to bring the midfielder to England at the end of the season.

21 year-old Eriksen has drawn significant interest since playing a major role in Ajax’s Eredivisie title last season. A number of clubs had shown an interest in signing the Danish international last summer but Eriksen had himself refused a switch. However, the player is now interested in exploring his options this summer and he could be in line for a Premier League move at the end of the season.

Chelsea and Manchester United had been scouting Ajax starlet Viktor Fischer for quite some time, but the forward has shut the doors on a move to England this summer by agreeing to sign a new long-term deal to stay at the Amsterdam Arena.

Fischer played with the youth sides of Danish clubs AGF and FC Midtjylland before Ajax snapped up the talented youngster in 2011. After a little over a year with the academy, the 18 year-old made his debut in October and went on to face Manchester City in the Champions League in the following month. The young forward has already established his place in the first team, with 8 goals in 18 appearances so far.

AZ Alkmaar boss Gertjan Verbeek had tipped rising young Dutch international Adam Maher to join Arsenal over the summer. The 19 year-old has also voiced his desire to leave over the summer although Arsenal are not on his list of preferred destinations. Maher is understood to want a stay in Netherlands with a switch to either PSV Eindhoven or Ajax, revealed TalkSPORT.

Maher is a youth product of AZ and established himself as a first team regular last season, netting 11 goals in 36 appearances. The midfielder has been equally impressive this season, scoring 7 times in 14 appearances for the Eredivisie side.

Andre Villas-Boas could launch a summer bid to sign Ajax defender Toby Alderweireld after the player admitted a desire to move up in his career by joining a ‘nice club’. The 23 year-old’s contract with Ajax expires in 2014 and the centre-back opened up the possibility of a move revealing the lack of progress on contract negotiations.

Alderweireld said on the subject of his contract renewal, “My agent has not heard anything yet. I am waiting patiently. My father sorts these kinds of things out, takes care of it, protects me so that I can concentrate on the football.” However, Alderweireld did alert interested clubs by adding, “Many players want to take a step up and if I do that this summer, Ajax will bring in funds. I am ready for that step up when there is a nice club, but I could also stay for another year. Perhaps there is an offer on the way.”

Invariably Matchday 6 doesn't quite offer the kind of excitement that one would usually expect from the final round of Group stage matches in the world's leading club competition with most teams having already booked their places in the knock-out rounds of the UEFA Champions League. The case of Tuesday's fixtures was that all three qualifiers from Groups A and B were already decided, though top spot in both groups was up for grabs. The Champions League qualifiers from Groups C and D were also in, but Europa League spots were still on offer.

Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg finally fulfilled their promise by picking up a rare win at the San Siro to take third place in Group C at the expense of Anderlecht, while former Champions League winners, Ajax were hammered 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu by Real Madrid, but still it made it through to the Europa League as English champions Manchester City were soundly beaten 1-0 by Borussia Dortmund to end their European sojourn far sooner than they would have liked.