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Paper Talk
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Arsenal are resurrecting their interest in Portugal international William Carvalho as they try to solve their central midfield injury crisis, but the lack of major targets in January means Arsene Wenger may have to focus on loan options.
Manchester United are facing competition from Bayern Munich for Southampton forward Sadio Mane.
DAILY EXPRESS
Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has warned Chelsea they need to back Diego Costa or sack him.
Carlo Ancelotti could replace Louis van Gaal as manager of Manchester United when the Dutchman's contract comes to an end in 18 months.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is weighing up his first raid on former club Borussia Dortmund in January, with Neven Subotic topping the list.
Manchester United defender Paddy McNair is set for a January exit, with the Northern Ireland star keen to boost his chances of playing at Euro 2016.
DAILY STAR
Tottenham are set to bid for West Brom star Saido Berahino in January.
Diego Costa and his Chelsea team-mates had the full blessing of manager Jose Mourinho to go on their night out on Wednesday evening.
The players of basement club Aston Villa have been warned by manager Remi Garde that even though Christmas is just around the corner, they must not think about partying. He said: "Of course it's party time but not for us and that's it. We have a tough job to do."
Manager of struggling Newcastle United, Steve McClaren, admits he is fighting to keep his job at St James' Park.
THE SUN
Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Ince has launched a scathing attack on his former employers, criticising players and manager Louis van Gaal.
Ex-Tottenham and QPR boss Harry Redknapp is close to agreeing a £10m deal to take over United Arab Emirates club Al Jazira.
Blackburn, Burnley and Wolves are keen to take young Manchester United defender Paddy McNair on loan.
DAILY MIRROR
Manchester City star Yaya Toure has escaped a driving ban. After being caught doing 101mph, his solicitor declared his client's speedometer shows kilometres - leaving the dashboard figure at 162kph.
Sunderland's Sam Allardyce says his feud with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is over.
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic believes Andy Carroll should now be fit enough to complete 90 minutes - instead of just being a substitute much of the time. The Croatian said: "So far he has showed his class as an impact player. He has to do it when he plays from the start."
DAILY MAIL
Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha has given YouTube viewers a glimpse into his life and revealed that he donates 10 per cent of his wages to charity.
Manchester United's players remain unhappy with Louis van Gaal's rigid style of management, with some complaining privately over the Dutchman's 'supper-club' routine before matches.
THE GUARDIAN
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic has rejected suggestions Manchester United are boring by claiming they are "different" from the Sir Alex Ferguson era where they were "quicker, more electric and bombarding the box."
THE TIMES
Manchester United are preparing an £8m bid for 16-year-old West Ham defender Reece Oxford.
DAILY RECORD
Rangers manager Mark Warburton has furiously rejected reports linking him with the vacant seat at Championship club Fulham.
BBC
Manchester United are planning a January bid of £8m for West Ham's 16-year-old English defender Reece Oxford. (Times- subscription required)
German champions Bayern Munich have joined United in trying to sign 23-year-old Southampton forward Sadio Mane. (Daily Mail)
Former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is high on Manchester United's shortlist as they begin to think about Louis van Gaal's successor. (Daily Express)
However, Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has played down reports linking him to the Red Devils job. (Guardian)
Tottenham are attempting to get Mousa Dembele, Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Nacer Chadli to sign new contracts. Belgian midfielder Dembele, 28, has 18 months remaining on his deal while Denmark midfielder Eriksen, 23, Argentina winger Lamela, 23 and Belgian winger Chadli, 26, all have two and a half years remaining on their five-year contracts. (Independent)
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, 27, says he wants to rejoin boyhood club Independiente when his Blues contract expires in 2019. (Sun)
Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla, 30, has been ruled out for four months with a knee ligament injury. (Daily Mail)
The Gunners may move for Sporting Lisbon's Portuguese international William Carvalho, 23, to solve their midfield injury crisis. (Daily Telegraph)
Newcastle head coach Steve McClaren has two matches - Sunday's home game against Liverpool, followed by a trip to Tottenham - to save his job. (Daily Mirror)
Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, 68, is close to agreeing a £10m deal to take over United Arab Emirates club Al Jazira. (Sun)
Aston Villa's players have been warned by new manager Remi Garde that Christmas is not a time for them "to party". (Daily Star)
Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha, 23, says he donates 10% of his monthly salary to charities. (London Evening Standard)
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has refused to rule out making another bid for West Brom striker Saido Berahino, 22, in January. (Daily Express)
And the Spurs boss has said that England winger Andros Townsend, 24, could leave the club in January. (Daily Mirror)
Sunderland and England Under-21 winger Duncan Watmore, 21, will graduate from Newcastle University next week with a first-class honours degree in economics and business management. (Times)
Manchester United midfielders Ander Herrera, 26, and Marouane Fellaini, 28, are not suited to the club and should leave Old Trafford, says ex-Red Devils midfielder Paul Ince. (Manchester Evening News)
Teenage Bury defender Matty Foulds, 17, is already training with Everton before a £225,000 move to the Premier League side in January. (Liverpool Echo)
Bournemouth keeper Artur Boruc, 35, could miss the Christmas period with a knee injury, but may delay having surgery. (Bournemouth Echo)
Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri says he wants to stay at the club for "a long time" and lead the team into Europe. (Leicester Mercury)
Best of social media
England captain Wayne Rooney and his wife Coleen spread some Christmas cheer by visiting patients at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.
Rocking all over the Etihad? The Manchester City dressing room might have some new pre-match music if Pablo Zabaleta has his way. The Argentine defender was given a free CD by Status Quo when he met the band following a recent gig.
And finally
Acting Fifa president Issa Hayatou appeared to fall asleep during his own news conference at the Fifa ExCo meeting in Zurich. (Independent)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Nick Miller
So who’s a fan of Zlatan? No? But he does and says all that crazy stuff! He did that overhead kick that time! And swaggers around saying how dead good he is! And what about that story in his autobiography where he went to play on his Xbox instead of staying in the hospital with his poorly kid? What a card! Still, it would be quite entertaining to have Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the Premier League, even if you think he’s a bit of a donk, and those dreams could be about to come true with José Mourinho apparently deciding that there just isn’t enough chaos in his Chelsea team. Word is he’s going to get the big Swede in at the end of the season, when his contract at PSG expires, Ibrahimovic in theory the man to solve all those goal-scoring woes and so forth. Hmm. We shall see.
Want a screeching, toe-curling, contrived link? Well strap in. Back in the 1970s, Chelsea were often linked with high fashion, the King’s Road and all that, but (wait for it) now it seems that Manchester United are the ones setting the trends (we did warn you), with Bayern Munich supposedly taking their lead and joining them in the hunt for a player. The player in question is Sadio Mané, scorer of three whole goals this season who, while a good player, apparently has an absolutely cracking agent too. Oh, and Chelsea are thought to be interested as well. On reflection, that would have been a better link. Ah well.
Mané isn’t the only player United have their eye on, mind – they’re also said to be keeping their beady ones on West Ham’s Reece Oxford, the whelp who impressed so many in West Ham’s win over Arsenal at the start of the season but who, perhaps sensibly, hasn’t really been seen much since. And should they sign both Mané and Oxford, those players could be doing their respective things for a new manager at some point, with United said to be putting the feelers out to Carlo Ancelotti and Max Allegri, although the latter reckons he’s perfectly happy where he is.
All of that is way in the future, problems for another day, but Arsenal have a rather more urgent issue to overcome. Specifically, that all of their midfielders keep falling over, with Santi Cazorla joining Francis Coquelin and half of their other players in the crocked pot. So, therefore, thusly, as a consequence, Arsène Wenger might have to reach those short arms into those long pockets and buy someone this January, and that someone could be William Carvalho, the Sporting midfielder and a man linked with the Gunners for quite some time but one that they might now have to get in out of necessity. They’re also said to be taking a good, hard, long look at Rúben Neves, also a midfielder and also playing in Portugal, but this time for Porto, with Wenger having sent his old mate Luís Boa Morte to give yer man the once over. Which is nice.
Just across town, Tottenham could be gettin’ busy this January too, as they might be set to take another swing at recruiting Saido Berahino, presumably so delighted with how their first try at buying the striker from West Brom went. Tip, lads: don’t slap £20 on the table, stare Jeremy Peace in the eye and say “Final offer, take it or leave it” then wait until the very last minute to come back in with £21. Just a bit of friendly negotiating advice for you there. Spurs are also looking at wrapping up their existing players and putting a big bow on them, with contract talks set to begin with Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembélé and Jan Vertonghen. Speaking of new contracts, Borussia Dortmund are looking to give Sven Bender a fresh deal, having been dead good and that in defence for them so far this season.
“It’s football so you never know,” said Steve McClaren this week about the prospects of him keeping his job at Newcastle. Well, seemingly some people do know, with reports suggesting – or, rather, stating quite explicitly – that he has two games to save his job, and that if they receive shoeings from Liverpool this weekend and/or Tottenham next, then he’ll be quietly given his severance package of one of those giant Sports Direct mugs and sent on his way.
A quick line from Italy, where Jürgen Klopp is supposedly getting creative about the whole Mario Balotelli situation, and will ask for keeper Diego López in a swap deal, despite Kloppo claiming that he was perfectly happy with his goalies, thank you very much.
Finally – and you’ll like this – Harry Redknapp is supposedly close to agreeing a £10m deal to get involved with Al Jazira in the United Arab Emirates. Bloody foreigners coming in at a club with whom they have no history, eh?
Mirror
Arsenal plotting £8million move for teenage West Ham star Reece Oxford
The 16-year-old impressed for the Hammers in midfield for the Hammers against Arsenal on the opening day of the season
By John Cross
Arsene Wenger is plotting a move for West Ham whizz kid Reece Oxford .
Arsenal boss Wenger and his scouts have been hugely impressed with Oxford this season and are considering making a bid for him next summer.
Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal were all interested in the teenager before he committed himself to West Ham. United could also come back next summer.
But Arsenal now believe they have made a mistake and are ready to go back for the versatile West Ham starlet who turns 17 on December 15.
It could cost them around £8m next summer because he would have two years left on his first professional contract at Upton Park.
Oxford came to prominence on the opening weekend of the season when he played a starring role in midfield at Arsenal as West Ham pulled off a shock 2-0 win at the Emirates.
The England under-17s captain is more likely to become a centre-half in the long term.
Hammers boss Slaven Bilic stopped Oxford going to the under-17s World Cup in Chile with England because he wanted him to stay with the first team.
Since then Oxford’s first team opportunities have been limited and now Arsenal are considering testing the water to see whether West Ham could be persuaded to sell.
C&H
Slav told: Get this kid out on loan FAST
Slaven Bilic has been urged to get young striker Jaanai Gordon out on loan to a decent club as soon as possible if he wants a top player on his hand.
The 19 year old has scored at under 18, under 21 and first team level (in a behind closed doors friendly against Millwall) for the Irons but was been given few chances to show what he’s got.
But earlier this week he scored two – the first in seven seconds against Exeter 21s – and looked a star in the making.
And his former Director of Football Barry Fry – talking exclusively to ClaretandHugh – said: “He will be a real star for you if he gets out on loan – at his age he needs to be playing Tuesdays and Satudays. They can’t get enough football but he has had so little at the club.
“He made his debut for us at 16 in the Championship and was been called into the England under 18 squad but for the last two years he has been given next to no chances.”
Fry originally did a deal with David Sullivan which Sam Allardyce – on a return from Dubai – refused to rubber stamp and after being sent back to London Rad, a revised deal was eventually hatched and the player became a young Hammer.
But Fry said: “Although he has fantastic potential he really hasn’t had a chance at West Ham but the club recruited superbly in the summer and have brought in a terrific manager who I believe will give him his chance.
“If he does then West Ham have a fantastic young prospect on their hands.”
HITC
Martin Keown highlights the big obstacle West Ham face against Manchester United
The pundit has been discussing West Ham's upcoming clash with Manchester United.
Tim Poole
Martin Keown believes Louis van Gaal's 'cautious' approach at Manchester United will help them against West Ham United this weekend, according to his regular 'Tackle Keown' Q & A on the Daily Mail website.
Indeed, West Ham face United in the Premier League knowing they have already claimed several big scalps this season.
But Keown told the Mail: "I know West Ham fans won't like to hear me say it but it [an away win] seems unlikely. They’re suffering hugely with the loss of Dimitri Payet to injury and Manchester United are far too cautious in their style to let West Ham beat them at home.
"Everybody wants United to be expansive and has called for Louis van Gaal to let his players off the leash, but this might actually be a game when you want the Dutchman to be cautious.
"That's purely because he knows what West Ham have done away from home this season, beating Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City."
It's a fair point and West Brom showed that West Ham can be stifled last weekend. It's intriguing that Manchester United can be compared to the Baggies but that's exactly what Van Gaal has built at Old Trafford.
It may be frustrating for neutrals and purists - while even the most practical football men would probably admit this United side are boring - but, ultimately, Van Gaal is sticking to the mantra that football is all about winning.
Slowing the game up and shutting West Ham's creativity down will certainly help Manchester United and, without the likes of Diafra Sakho and Dimitri Payet, it will be very difficult indeed for the Hammers to replicate their success on the road against Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City at Old Trafford.
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