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BBC
Gareth Southgate has been offered the England manager's job on a permanent basis, with an announcement set to be made before next week's Football Association board meeting. (Telegraph)
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger could move for long-term target Julian Draxler after speculation the 23-year-old Germany midfielder will leave Wolfsburg in the near future. (Sun)
Chelsea striker Diego Costa, 28, and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, 24, are set to sign new contracts with the club. (Telegraph)
Manchester United target Andrea Belotti is set to sign a new contract at Torino that includes an £80m buyout clause. The 22-year-old Italy striker scored 10 goals in the first 11 games this season. (Daily Mirror)
Former England and Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard, 36, will not be joining Melbourne Victory. (Talksport)
Arsenal's France defender Laurent Koscielny, 31, says he will end his career playing for either the Gunners or his former club Lorient. (Sky Sports)
Leicester City players are set to get a bonus of about £100,000 each for winning their Champions League group. (Daily Mail)
Former Aston Villa and England defender Joleon Lescott, 34, is set to have his AEK Athens contract ended - less than three months after signing it. (Daily Record)
Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 35, says Benfica's Sweden defender Victor Lindelof, 22, is good enough to play for the Old Trafford club. (Manchester Evening News)
United boss Jose Mourinho has ruled out a move for Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, claiming the 29-year-old Argentina international should finish his playing career at the Nou Camp. (Daily Mirror)
Tottenham Hotspur will consider stopping playing matches at Wembley Stadium should they drop into the Europa League after elimination from the Champions League at the group stage, with players eager to return to White Hart Lane. (Daily Mail)
Chelsea's 20-year-old Denmark defender Andreas Christensen, who is on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach, has ruled out returning to Stamford Bridge this season. (Daily Express)
Aston Villa are preparing an offer for Ludogorets' 25-year-old Brazilian winger Jonathan Cafu. (Sportal, via Birmingham Mail)
Manchester United attempted to sign 31-year-old Arsenal and France defender Mathieu Debuchy in the summer. (L'Equipe, via Daily Star)
Everton are likely to sign a bumper new shirt sponsorship deal when the club's current agreement with Thai beer brand Chang expires this summer. (Liverpool Echo)
Tottenham are the only club to express concern to the Football Association about Chelsea coach Steve Holland becoming a permanent member of Gareth Southgate's back‑room England staff. (Evening Standard)
And finally...
Sunderland may be struggling near the bottom of the Premier League - but they come out on top of the 'Christmas Jumper Rankings'. (Mirror)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Simon Burnton
Thiago Silva’s mooted move to Juventus is “a serious thing”, according to the lead story on the front page of today’s Tuttosport, the paper saying that talks between the clubs have not just already started, but very nearly concluded. “A source, well acquainted with the facts of the situation, says that contracts are virtually signed,” they enthuse, dismissing the potentially transfer-scuppering threat of an automatic renewal clause in the player’s contract with Paris Saint-Germain. The Brazilian apparently has a “contraclausola” similar to that which greased the wheels of Ever Banega’s move to Internazionale (some kind of cut-price buyout arrangement), so it’s all good.
Juve and Arsenal are expected to go head-to-head in the fight to sign Wolfsburg’s 23-year-old ace Julian Draxler – who tried pretty hard to engineer a move in the summer but failed, and may still have itchy feet – but the Wolfsburg director Klaus Allofs has warned that “there is absolutely no reason to even talk about Julian leaving in January”.
Nobody was suggesting that Juventus were also about to sign Milan’s young goalkeeping prodigy Gianluigi Donnarumma, but just in case they were tempted the player’s brother, Antonio, has revealed that “he’ll never go to Juve”, and furthermore that “he’ll never leave Milan, not for anyone in the whole world”. “He’s really happy at the Rossoneri,” Antonio enthuses, “and he’s a Milanista forever”.
Talking of prodigies, Exeter City’s Ethan Ampadu, already valued at £2m at the age of 16, is English football’s latest and hottest young starlet. Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City are all in the hunt for his signature, but Stamford Bridge is considered his most likely destination – slightly embarrassing for the Gunners, for whom the player’s father, the former Swansea, West Bromwich Albion and indeed Exeter player Kwame Ampadu, works as an academy coach.
Torino’s Andrea Belotti, linked with Everton in Monday’s Mill and apparently watched by Manchester United in every game he has played this season, is being offered a bumper new £1.3m-a-year contract by the Italians, which will have an offputting £80m buyout clause. Also preparing to pen new deals are Diego Costa and Thibaut Courtois, but don’t hold your breath. “With the pair contracted to Chelsea until 2019, there is no immediate rush to get them signed up to new deals,” thrills the Telegraph.
Reading’s search for a striker has led them to 36-year-old Robbie Keane, who is available on a free transfer as he leaves LA Galaxy, but Jaap Stam must battle Brisbane Roar, who have the advantage of being managed by Keane’s former Coventry team-mate John Aloisi. And also being in Australia. Less encouragingly, Aloisi says he hasn’t “spoken to the owners about any marquee player”, but Tony Popovic of Western Sydney Wanderers says he is ready to have a go, trilling that “he’s certainly a player it’s hard not to have a look at”.
Talking of buyout clauses, as we were some time ago, the in-demand Bristol Rovers striker Matty Taylor has one too, today’s Mirror saying only that it is “cut-price”. Brighton, Cardiff, Wolves, QPR and Rangers are all tempted to trigger it, even if his current club’s chairman, Steve Hamer, says the player “has recently signed a new contract and selling him in January is the last thing on our minds at the moment”.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, are interested in Jonathan Cafu, the Brazilian right winger currently excelling at Ludogorets. Steve Bruce also wants Hull’s Abel Hernández, with rumours suggesting that the clubs could agree a swap deal involving Rudy Gestede, Villa’s three-goal Beninese hotshot. Hull’s interest in players who made largely unsuccessful transfers to English clubs in the summer of 2015 doesn’t end with Gestede, however, with Mike Phelan apparently also interested in Bournemouth’s Max Gradel, upon whom the Cherries lavished £7m a year and a half ago, and who has made just five Premier League appearances this season, none lasting longer than half an hour.
HITC
Should Bilic start Ashley Fletcher against his old club this weekend?
The West Ham United forward would have plenty of motivation to excel.
Vincent Ralph
This weekend West Ham United travel to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United in a huge Premier League clash for both teams
Jose Mourinho’s side is struggling to pick up wins this season despite some impressive performances, while the Hammers are just a point outside the relegation zone with 12 matches on the board.
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic will be desperate for three points after seeing his side surrender the lead late on against Tottenham Hotspur, so could he throw a curveball in regards to his team selection by starting former United player Ashley Fletcher?
It is fair to say that West Ham’s more experienced forwards have fallen flat this season and Fletcher would arguably be the most motivated to succeed after leaving Old Trafford in the summer.
He knows the club and the players and will be familiar with the atmosphere on match day (if only after watching briefs), so why not throw him in from the start and see what he can do?
Fletcher was highly rated at Manchester United and they did not want to see him move on, yet having done so he could come back to haunt them if Bilic if brave enough.
He has only started once for West Ham so far in the league – against United’s fierce rivals Manchester City – so why not make it a double and hope that he scores his first senior goal for the Hammers in the process?
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