Paper Talk
DAILY MIRROR
Cesc Fabregas has been left battling for his future at Chelsea amid serious interest from Juventus and Inter Milan.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy wants £14m to part company with Andros Townsend with West Brom, Watford, Aston Villa and Newcastle all interested.
Victor Anichebe admits he could quit West Brom when the transfer window opens despite a starring role in the win over Newcastle.
Liverpool starlet Jerome Sinclair could be a shock target for Manchester City. He is out of contract in the summer.
Belgium international Axel Witsel wants to leave Zenit St Petersburg next month.
Leicester City have enquired about PSV Eindhoven defender Santiago Arias.
DAILY MAIL
Norwich are closing on a £2.2m deal to sign Dinamo Zagreb defender Ivo Pinto and have offered £8m for Everton striker Steven Naismith.
Manchester United are monitoring Everton's emerging midfielder Joe Williams. The 19-year-old is an integral member of the Toffees' Under 21 side having joined the club as a seven-year-old.
Swansea City are ready to turn to Chelsea's Patrick Bamford to solve their goalscoring woes.
Leicester City's £9m striker Andrej Kramaric is wanted by Torino. The 24-year-old joined a year ago from Rijeka after rejecting the chance to go to Chelsea.
Stevan Jovetic has no regrets about his exit from Manchester City, and is enjoying life at Inter Milan following his £14m move to Serie A.
Crystal Palace co-chairman Steve Parish says he would not stand in the way if Real Madrid came calling for manager Alan Pardew.
Mohamed Elneny will undergo a medical on Tuesday in Paris ahead of signing his Arsenal contract on Wednesday. The FC Basel midfielder will join in a deal worth £7.4m.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is considering a £4m bid for Leicester's England under-20 international Ben Chilwell.
Saido Berahino could be finally off with Spurs lining up another bid as the West Brom striker receives a warning over persistent lateness by his manager Tony Pulis.
Chelsea are seeking talks with Crystal Palace about Patrick Bamford's future but the striker is not part of Guus Hiddink's immediate plans despite announcing that he will end his loan spell at Selhurst Park.
Celtic might have to bring in stop-gap January signings as cover for their lengthy casualty list.
THE SUN
Norwich look set to land Everton striker Steven Naismith in January for an £8m fee.
Manchester City are preparing to poach Liverpool starlet Jerome Sinclair away from Anfield.
Crystal Palace will try and sign Chelsea striker Loic Remy after Patrick Bamford cut short his loan spell at the club.
DAILY EXPRESS
Sergio Aguero has revealed it will be almost impossible for Manchester City to sign his international team-mate Lionel Messi.
Juventus are in pole position to sign Rolando Mandragora from Italian club Genoa, beating Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool to the 18-year-old's signature.
Arsene Wenger is hoping to secure his second signing of the January transfer window before it even opens by adding Honduran winger Andy Najar to the Arsenal squad.
Barcelona forward Sandro Ramirez has emerged as a shock target for Tottenham in January.
Arsenal have been told to fork out £18m if they want to sign Inter Milan midfielder Marcelo Brozovic.
DAILY STAR
Newcastle boss Steve McClaren is readying a £10m bid for Russian international Alan Dzagoev as he looks to add more quality to his squad in January.
Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford has revealed there are Premier League clubs interested in signing him next month.
Manchester United have confirmed goalkeeper Joel Castro Pereira has arrived back at the club following a loan spell at Rochdale.
Sam Allardyce has threatened to clear out his flops as Sunderland continue to struggle at the bottom of the Premier League.
THE GUARDIAN
Norwich City have agreed a deal in principle with Everton for the £8m purchase of Steven Naismith having revived interest first expressed in the summer.
Manchester City have categorically ruled out signing Jamie Vardy or Neymar in next month's transfer window following recent reports linking the players with a move to the Etihad Stadium.
DAILY RECORD
Dundee United have finally secured the signature of Eiji Kawashima following a protracted pursuit of the Japan goalkeeper.
BBC
Newcastle boss Steve McClaren is planning a £10m bid for CSKA Moscow's Russia midfielder Alan Dzagoev, 25, as he looks to add more quality to his squad in January. (Daily Mirror)
Liverpool are considering making a £4m bid for Leicester left-back Ben Chilwell, 19. The England Under-20 international, who was targeted by Arsenal in the summer, is on loan at Huddersfield. (Telegraph)
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal would be the ideal candidate to take over as technical director of the Netherlands national team, says current coach Danny Blind. (Algemeen Dagblad, via Independent)
United are preparing a £33m bid for Lazio and Brazil winger Felipe Anderson, 22. (Calciomercato - in Italian)
Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano has been in Spain to hold talks over the potential transfer of midfielder Isco, 23, from Real Madrid. (Fichajes - in Spanish)
Tottenham are targeting 22-year-old West Brom striker Saido Berahino in a swap deal that would see Spurs winger Andros Townsend, 24, join the Baggies. (Times - subscription required)
Berahino has been warned over persistent lateness by current manager Tony Pulis. (Daily Telegraph)
As well the Baggies, Townsend is also being targeted by Watford, Aston Villa and Newcastle, with Spurs valuing the England international at £14m. (Mirror)
Barcelona forward Sandro Ramirez, 20, has emerged as a target for Tottenham in January. (Sport - in Spanish)
Swansea City's French striker Bafetimbi Gomis, 30, could be a January target for Qatari club Lekhwiya. (South Wales Evening Post)
The Swans are ready to sell Gomis for £6.5m if they can secure a loan move for Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford, 22. (Daily Mail)
Bamford is seeking to stay in the Premier League despite confirming he wants to leave loan club Crystal Palace. (Times - subscription required)
Palace will attempt to sign either Chelsea striker Loic Remy, 28, or QPR's Charlie Austin, 26, in the January transfer window. (Sun)
Alan Pardew's side are considering making a bid for 24-year-old QPR defender Steven Caulker, who is currently on loan at Southampton. (Croydon Advertiser)
Sunderland striker Fabio Borini, 24, says he wants to score against former club Liverpool "more than anyone else" as the Black Cats prepare to host Jurgen Klopp's side on Wednesday. (Sunderland Echo)
The atmosphere at Chelsea has improved since Guus Hiddink was appointed interim manager, says 28-year-old midfielder John Obi Mikel. (Guardian)
Blues midfielder Cesc Fabregas, 28, remains in Hiddink's plans for now. (Daily Mirror)
Chelsea have made another approach for Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba, 22. (Calciomercato)
Italian club AC Milan would like to sign the Blues' 31-year-old defender Branislav Ivanovic. (Gazzetta World)
Swansea City's players have given their backing to the prospect of caretaker manager Alan Curtis staying in charge until the end of the season. (Wales Online)
Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce will make a move for Bayern Munich's 6ft 5ins centre-back Jan Kirchhoff, 25. ( Daily Mail)
Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez, 27, wants his manager Arsene Wenger to sign former Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez, 27, from Bayer Leverkusen. (Don Balon - in Spanish)
And finally
Players had to comfort a Tunisian referee after he was reduced to tears after abuse from the crowd. (Metro)
Old Trafford is officially the most boring place to watch football - Manchester United have seen the fewest league goals in English league football so far this season. (Sun)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Gerard Meagher
The Mill set its alarm early, laid out its clothes the night before, had a bumper bowl of porridge … and waited. And waited and waited and waited, but it did not come. Eventually, the Mill called it a day, late into Tuesday evening and slumped on to the couch. Louis van Gaal had lived to fight another day. And that’s not all folks. Not only is King Louis set to make it to 2016, he is not going quietly into the night. A man in his position may expect short shrift when it comes to January transfer dealings but not King Louis. Not by a long shot. First on his wish list is Lazio’s Felipe Anderson for a cool £47m. Nothing screams panic buy quite like an over-priced Brazilian midfielder who has had a couple of decent games but when Louis says the word, Ed provides the dollar.
The joys of January will also press play on the David de Gea saga, on pause since the window shut at the end of the summer, with Real Madrid coming back in for the one man responsible for keeping Louis in job but it is not all doom and gloom at Old Trafford because Adnan Januzaj is on his way back after failing to impress on loan at Borussia Dortmund. He just can’t catch a break.
The Mill brought you news of Arsenal’s recent interest in Javier Hernández and Alexis Sánchez has added fuel to the fire with a come-and-join-me plea. But Arsenal, perhaps buoyed by Leicester and Manchester City’s goalless draw, are setting their sights higher. PSG’s Edinson Cavani is a target for, wait for it, £47m – seemingly the going rate these days.
Of course, January will not be January without Arsenal in the market for a midfielder and the latest the crop up on their radar is Marcelo Brozovic, the Croat who belongs to Dinamo Zagreb but has been impressing on loan at Internazionale.
Just up the road, behind the all the “nothing to see here” signs erected outside Spurs Lodge, Mauricio Pochettino and Daniel Levy are hatching a plan. Surely. They must be. For Tottenham are in the title race whether the White Hart Lane faithful care to admit it or not. The main hitch is a threadbare squad so who better than Saido Berahino to come in and disrupt the harmonious dressing room? Tony Pulis says he was lucky to be on West Brom’s bench on Monday, so he can count himself fortunate indeed when it finds himself riding the Tottenham pine for the rest of the season. Andros Townsend, out of favour at Spurs after a verbal volley at a physio in a warm down after a Europa League match, will head the other way.
Tottenham are also sniffing around Barcelona’s Sandro Ramírez. Sounds fanciful but they did once nearly sign Rivaldo, only for the Brazilian to decline Glenn Hoddle’s offer with a hand-written letter. The Mill awaits word from the postman.
Still want more? Well Newcastle are in the market for a play-maker to turn their season around and Steve McClaren has identified CSKA Moscow’s Alan Dzagoev, just three and a half years after everyone else – some stellar performances at Euro 2012 put Dzagoev on the map but McClaren believes now is the right time to cough up £10m for the Russian international.
Finally, spare a thought for poor old Patrick Bamford. A ‘terrible’ loan spell at Crystal Palace has finally come to an end but the scars will take a while to heal. Just 119 minutes in the Premier League and a couple of League Cup appearances meant he had a considerable funk on at Selhurst Park. He must now return to Chelsea and he’ll probably go out on loan to either Norwich or Bournemouth but can he ever be the same player after such an ordeal?
C&H
Exclusive: Payet Liverpool plan revealed
ClaretandHugh has this morning been told exclusively that Dimi Payet is set to play for half an hour or so in the Saturday lunch time match against Liverpool.
Payet – ruthlessly hacked down by a member of the other Merseyside team, James McCarthy – has made a faster than expected recovery and is set to parade his mesmerising skills as the New Year gets off to the best possible start for the Irons.
And we have also been told that both James Collins and Enner Valencia – who were reported to be limping as they left Upton Park after the Southampton victory – are both fine and available.
Payet’s recovery is the best New Years news possible and he is set to renew his partnership with Manu Lanzini who will be joining the Irons permanently in February or March according to chairman David Sullivan.
And both Winston Reid and Victor Moses are reported on schedule to join training in early January.
A senior source told us: “Dimitri is recovered and the plan at the moment is that he will play 30-45 minutes.”
HITC
West Ham United one of four teams chasing out-of-sorts Benfica forward Anderson Talisca
The Brazilian talent has scored just twice in 2015.
Mathew Nash
West Ham United are being linked with a move for Benfica's impressively talented forward Anderson Talisca in the January transfer window, as per reports in Brazil.
The Brazilian has been linked with big moves to the Premier League before. Just a year ago he was linked with Arsenal and Liverpool by The Daily Mirror in an £18 million deal - his release clause with Benfica.
That came after his impressive start with the Lisbon club. He scored nine goals in his first 13 games for Benfica - leaving him one of Europe's top talents.
But 2015 has been tough for him. Since the turn of the year Talisca has scored just two goals in 29 appearances since January and the Brazilian Under-23 forward is now being linked with a loan move away from the club.
O Dia in Brazil is reporting that West Ham are in hot pursuit of the player. They are battling with Flamengo, Cruzeiro and Corinthians in his Brazilian homeland for his signature.
West Ham face an uphill battle to sign the talented 21-year-old who has been dubbed the 'next Rivaldo' in the past.
But with West Ham wanting to bring in another attacking option this winter they might just sneak the deal.
Talksport
Manuel Lanzini to seal permanent West Ham switch for £7.4m, says Al-Jazira chief executive
West Ham WILL buy on-loan Manuel Lanzini for just £7.4million, according to the chief executive of his parent club Al-Jazira.
Lanzini has been one of the stars of Slaven Bilic's new-look Hammers since arriving on a season-long loan from the UAE Pro League side in the summer.
The 22-year-old has scored four Premier League goals in 13 appearances and talk has already turned to making his move permanent.
And now Al-Jazira chief executive Ayed Mabkhout says he fully expects West Ham to shell out a fee of £7.4m to complete the deal.
Mabkhout told the National: "If they decide before April 30 to buy Lanzini then they have to pay €10m.
"If they pay it we will take it.
"There have been no discussions with West Ham until now, but I think they're going to do it.
"His performance has been very good up to this moment and they need the player, but we have to wait for something official."
