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Paper Talk
Barcelona sent a scout to watch John Stones at Stamford Bridge on Saturday as they step up their bid to sign the Everton defender.
Leicester are hopeful of sealing a deal for Copenhagen's 21-year-old defender Daniel Amartey by the end of the week.
Arsenal defender Mathieu Debuchy says Aston Villa and German side Bayer Leverkusen are options for him this move.
Chelsea have beaten Manchester United to the signing of 16-year-old Ajax prospect Juan Familia Castillo.
Ashley Cole has agreed a deal to join LA Galaxy from Roma.
Southampton have turned down a Liverpool approach for striker Shane Long - despite their signing of Charlie Austin on Saturday.
Watford expect to tie up a club-record £6.7m deal for Malaga's Moroccan winger Nordin Amrabat in the next 24 hours.
Arsenal right-back Mathieu Debuchy has spoken to Aston Villa boss Remi Garde about a move to Villa Park.
Everton's Steven Naismith has agreed an £8m move to Norwich.
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini is considering a move for exciting West Ham youngster Reece Oxford.
Sunderland are preparing a £9m bid for Swansea forward Andre Ayew.
Pablo Zabaleta could leave Manchester City for a move to Italy at the end of the season.
Pablo Zabaleta has dismissed reports that he could quit Manchester City for a move to Inter Milan this month but has not ruled out a summer switch.
Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink is to tell owner Roman Abramovich that veteran defender John Terry should be handed another contract.
Arsenal have appointed the Leicester scout who helped the club sign Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante.
Diego Costa's shin injury may hasten Alexandre Pato's move to Chelsea.
Sam Byram will be presented as an Everton player today.
BBC
Southampton have rejected an £8m offer from Liverpool for their 29-year-old Republic of Ireland striker Shane Long. (Daily Mirror)
Arsenal right-back Mathieu Debuchy says he regrets moving to the club and plans to leave this transfer window. (L'Equipe - in French, subscription required)
Debuchy says he has already spoken to Aston Villa manager Remi Garde about a potential move to Villa Park. (Daily Mirror)
Arsenal have appointed the Leicester scout who helped the club sign players such as Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante. (Daily Telegraph)
Atletico Madrid want to bring Chelsea striker Diego Costa back to the club. The 26-year-old Spain international left Atletico for Stamford Bridge for £32m in July 2014. (Fichajes.net - in Spanish)
Costa's bruised shin, sustained against Everton on Saturday, may prompt Chelsea to speed up a move for Corinthians forward Alexandre Pato, 26. (Daily Telegraph)
Newcastle have been offered the chance to sign former AC Milan playmaker Pato and Swansea's 30-year-old French forward Bafetimbi Gomis, 30. (Evening Chronicle)
Gomis is unlikely to join Newcastle because Swansea do not want to sell to a relegation rival . (South Wales Evening Post)
Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink says that, if it were down to him, he would give a new contract to captain John Terry, 35. (Independent)
Terry, meanwhile, is confident he will earn a one-year contract to extend his stay at Stamford Bridge beyond the end of the season. (Guardian)
Tottenham plan to step up their pursuit of Fulham's 19-year-old striker Moussa Dembele, but Whites boss Slavisa Jokanovic is unwilling to sell. (London Evening Standard)
Former Chelsea and Arsenal left-back Ashley Cole, 35, has agreed a deal to join MLS club LA Galaxy from Roma. (Daily Mail)
FC Porto are not planning to sell forward Yacine Brahimi to Crystal Palace. Reports had linked the 25-year-old Algeria forward with the Premier League club. (A Bola - in Portuguese)
Leicester City have agreed a £5m deal with FC Copenhagen for their 21-year-old defensive midfielder Daniel Amartey. (Leicester Mercury)
Leeds United's 22-year-old full-back Sam Byram has passed a medical at Goodison Park and will be presented as an Everton player on Monday. (Daily Star)
Everton's Steven Naismith has agreed to join Norwich in an £8m deal. Selling the 29-year-old Scottish forward will free up funds to bid for Dynamo Kiev's 26-year-old winger Andriy Yarmolenko. (Daily Mirror)
Southampton's Italian striker Graziano Pelle, 30, is set to leave the club following the signing of Charlie Austin, 26, from QPR. (ESPN)
Sunderland remain in talks with Lorient over the signing of their 26-year-old defender Lamine Kone. (Sunderland Echo)
A former Barcelona sporting director says the Spanish club had wanted to sign Sergio Aguero from Manchester City, but had to settle for Luis Suarez instead. (Marca - in Spanish)
West Ham joint-chairman David Gold has suggested Southampton's signing of striker Charlie Austin for £4m should not be considered a bargain "if his wages are £100,000 per week". (Daily Mail)
Real Betis want to appoint former Real Madrid and Tottenham manager Juande Ramos as their new manager, after firing former West Brom coach Pepe Mel. (AS - in Spanish)
Manchester City right-back Pablo Zabaleta, 31, has indicated he could leave at the end of the season, with Italy a potential destination. (Sun)
City are ready to bid for West Ham's 17-year-old defensive midfielder Reece Oxford. (Sun)
The other Premier League game on Sunday was a 0-0 draw between Stoke and Arsenal - the best performers there were the goalkeepers. But equally impressive is the state of Mesut Ozil's living room - that's where the Gunners midfielder was watching what drama did unfold.
And finally
Former Stoke, York and Macclesfield full-back Graham Potter - now the manager of Swedish side Ostersunds - led his players in a performance of the ballet Swan Lake as part of an end-of-season team bonding exercise. (Times - subscription required)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Barry Glendenning
Shane Long has come a long way in his 28 years. He grew up in Gortnahoe, a small Tipperary village named after a ploughed field in a cave (no, really). As a boy he spent his formative years running around some marginally less ploughed fields that were outside caves, excelling at the Irish national sport of hurling before becoming a professional footballer kind of by accident. As you do.
Shane Long, it seemed, can not put a foot wrong and he has since made his fortune gadding around some of the most famous fields in England, Europe and beyond ... rolling up his sleeves, putting in the hard yards, working those channels and occasionally scoring a lot of very important goals. His heroics haven’t gone unnoticed at Liverpool, who have tabled a bid of £8m for the boy Long only to see his current club Southampton laugh it out the gate. Perhaps Saints don’t want to let him go? Perhaps Saints are holding out for the £12m they paid Hull for his services 18 months ago? Perhaps Saints have noticed a hint of desperation from the Liverpool suits who came inquiring about Long, what with the club’s current strikers Divock Origi, Danny Ings and Daniel Sturridge all being injured? Perhaps Saints have noticed Christian Benteke being Christian Benteke and clocked the general look of befuddlement that clouds the features of defending’s Steven Caulker as he is once again used as a make-shift centre-forward. This one isn’t over and like Shane Long himself, one gets the feeling it could run and run. Curiously, Liverpool are also being linked with a move for Javier Hernandez, who - unlike Long - has never hurled in Croke Park for Tipperary but is nicknamed after a common garden vegetable ... which is almost as good.
L’Equipe report that Arsenal right-back Mathieu Debuchy regrets moving from Newcastle to Arsenal. Regrets it so much, in fact, that he’s prepared to move to Aston Villa just to prove his point. If the one goes through, the Rumour Mill foresees more Debuchian regret in the future. Closer to home, the Leicester Mercury reports that their local team of Premier League table-toppers have agreed to sign 21-year-old defensive midfielder Daniel Amartey from FC Copenhagen for £5m. Assuming personal terms can be agreed, Amartey will find himself just a couple of coughs from the doctor from being a Premier League title contender.
PSG defensive midfielder Adrien Rabiot could find himself the subject of a tug-of-love between Arsenal and Manchester United, unlike Brazilian striker Pato who is struggling to find a top flight club in England despite the best attempts of his “people”. Chelsea might be interested, but Newcastle are understood to have rejected an opportunity to take him on board. The north-eastern club might prise Bafetimbi Gomis away from fellow relegation-strugglers Swansea City instead. Edinson Cavanai may also find himself back on the market before too long, as reports from France suggest PSG manager Laurent Blanc is tiring of the Uruguayan’s diva tendencies. The striker is - depending on who you believe - wanted by Real Madrid, Arsenal and Manchester United.
Gazzetta dello Sport have reported that Cavani is just one of three players being targeted by Real, with the Spanish club plotting a textbook end-of-window triple-swoop for him and the Bayern Munich duo David Alaba and Mario Götze. Malaga winger Nordin Amrabat is in for something of a culture shock when he leaves the picturesque environs of the culture-soaked Andalucian town to rock up at Watford for the thick end of £6.7m.
And finally, following the slapstick debut of their new central defender Jan Kirchoff, Sunderland will be hoping for better from Ivorian stopper Lamine Kone, should he arrive from French side Lorient.
C&H
Hammers make Oxford position crystal clear
Seventeen year old Reece Oxford has yet again been linked to a move to four of the so called top six clubs in the Premier League.
The London Evening Standard has this morning recycled an old story to claim he is on the short list of Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.
West Ham Chairman David Sullivan told Sky Sports earlier this year: “We would only let fringe players go or if someone made an offer we couldn’t refuse. We are not going to selling players for £10m or £20m, we are a non selling club.”
And ClaretandHugh was told again this morning: “It’s the usual silly season stuff. There is no question of Reece being allowed to leave.”
The highly-rated centre-back joined West Ham United as an U13 after Spurs rejected him and was named among the substitutes for the League Cup second-round defeat by Sheffield United on 27 August 2014, aged 15.
He was capped by England at U17 level, captaining the side at the Nordic Tournament in Denmark in July/August 2014. He became West Ham’s youngest ever player when making his debut against FC Lusitans on 2 July last year. He was in the starting line-up for the Hammers’ opening day Barclays Premier League 2-0 victory at Arsenal.
OS
Manager on Monday
Slaven Bilic has reflected on Saturday’s disappointing Barclays Premier League defeat away to Newcastle, and said his team must put it behind them and put the lessons learned to good use in their upcoming encounters.
West Ham found themselves two goals down within the first 15 minutes on Tyneside, and could never recover with that mountain to climb. And the Hammers manager admitted he was baffled by his team’s early setbacks.
“We prepared the game all week”, he said, “so I felt we were going to start better. We were the team that should have started with more confidence than them.
“We were unbeaten for a number of games, and we were counting on confidence to be on our side, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.”
Ayoze Perez and Georgino Wijnaldum scored for Newcastle during a whirlwind start at a wintry St James’ Park, and Nikica Jelavic’s early second-half strike was not enough to bring West Ham back into contention.
“We have to give them credit”, said the gaffer, “they started bright and good, but definitely we helped them in that, and when you are ahead at home, your confidence is sky high.”
After the downer of the opening period, the boss was pleased by his team’s second-half reaction, even if it was not ultimately enough to rescue a result.
“We needed the half-time talk and the 15-minute break to come back into the shape and condition that is required when you play in the Premier League,” he revealed.
He admitted the West Ham players themselves were shocked at the outcome of the first half, and did not need telling that they had to come out fighting.
“In the second half, we can talk about positive things: good spirit; turning the game a little bit around; scoring a goal, putting them under pressure, and having a great chance to equalise.”
But ultimately, the manager said, there could be no complaints about the result.
“We could have nicked a point, and it wouldn’t have been the first time, but we have to admit that they were better. They deserved to beat us, especially with their performance in the first half.”
However, the manager struck a determined note when looking ahead to the rest of the season, and said that his team must not be deflected from their goals by one bad result.
“Nothing has changed”, he said. “The season so far is very positive. You have to win as many games as possible, but you can also lose games – we are not Real Madrid.”
Nevertheless, the message from the manager to his players is clear: they will not finish this season the way they deserve to if they start games as slowly as they did on Saturday.
He will expect them to start putting that right from the kick-off when Manchester City visit the Boleyn Ground on Saturday.
HITC
Aston Villa, West Ham and Leicester scout Anderlecht duo Dennis Praet and Youri Tielemans
West Ham, Aston Villa and Leicester City have all been scouting Tielemans and Praet.
Billy Hawkins
West Ham, Aston Villa and Leicester City have all been scouting Anderlecht duo Youri Tielemans and Dennis Praet, HLN reports.
The Premier League trio were in Belgium on Sunday, keeping an eye on their transfer targets in the match between Anderlecht and Gent, which was won by the latter team by a 2-0 scoreline.
Both players featured for the full 90 minutes, but neither had large impacts, with Tielemans being booked the most noticeable event in his game.
Despite their performance, Tielemans and Praet are considered two of the best talents in European football, and moves to the Premier League will surely occur before too long.
Tielemans, 18, already has over 100 games worth of experience to his name - and has played in the Champions League - whilst Praet has played 159 times for Anderlecht, and has already won his first Belgium cap at the age of 21.
Both midfielders, they are held in extremely high regard, and the likes of Atletico Madrid, Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen were also present to scout the duo against Gent.
It is stated that transfers this month seem unlikely, and that the three Premier League teams were keeping an eye on the duo ahead of making approaches for them in the summer.
The Daily Mirror reported last week that Everton also want Tielemans and Praet.
Turkish Football
West Ham prepare improved €8m bid for Galatasaray striker Burak Yilmaz
West Ham are preparing a new bid for Galatasaray's star striker Burak Yilmaz.
The Hammers have set aside up to €8 million for the Turkish international according to RadyoSpor.
The Sports radio station go onto say that West Ham are expected to table a bid for Yilmaz before the end of the transfer window.
Yilmaz is understood to be unhappy at Galatasaray after being jeered by fans over the weekend.
Hammers boss Slaven Bilic has openly stated in the past that he is a fan of the Galatasaray star who he knows well having coached in Turkey for two-seasons before joining West Ham.
"Burak Yılmaz is a player who has scored over 60 goals in his last two seasons of course I think he is a very good striker," Bilic was quoted as saying on Lig Tv.
Yılmaz has lifted the league title and the Turkish Cup twice since joining the club. Yılmaz has three-years left on his contract and is paid in the region of £2.5 million per-season.
Calcionews24 are reporting a possible swap of Fiorentina striker Giuseppe Rossi for Mauro Zarate
HITC
West Ham United defender Angelo Ogbonna has been offered to Roma, according to reports.
According to a report on Sky Sports, West Ham United have offered Angelo Ogbonna to Roma.
The Italian centre back has only been with the Hammers since the summer, and he has made a fairly impressive start to life at Upton Park.
The former Juventus man has come straight into West Ham’s starting line up, but reports suggest that he still could make a swift exit.
West Ham have little money to spend in January after they recruited a number of players in the summer, and he could be relinquished to make funds.
Roma are known to be on the hunt for defensive additions, and a move for a defender with experience of playing in Serie A could be tempting.
West Ham are well stocked at centre back, but an exit for Ogbonna would still harm the quality of their squad.
The 27-year-old seems to have established his place in the heart of Slaven Bilic’s side's defence, with Winston Reid and James Collins battling it out for another spot.
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