|
BBC
Transfer news
Liverpool are closing in on 18-year-old midfielder Kai Havertz with the Bayer Leverkusen starlet having visited Melwood training ground. (Daily Mirror)
Neymar could join Real Madrid after the 25-year-old forward has won trophies with Paris St Germain according to Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata. (Goal via El Larguero)
Argentina striker Sergio Aguero, 29, has revealed next season will be his last at Manchester City - and he wants to join boyhood club Independiente next. (Daily Mirror)
Manchester United are hoping to pip Chelsea and Barcelona to Brazilian wonderkid Arthur Melo. (Daily Mirror)
Paris St-Germain are seeking to make Chelsea boss Antonio Conte their next manager. (Le Parisien via Sun)
West Ham's new boss David Moyes could sell record signing Marko Arnautovic, 28, in January, less than four months after the striker arrived for £25m. Moyes wants Bournemouth's Harry Arter, 27, fellow midfielder William Carvalho, 25, of Sporting Lisbon, and Sunderland's Ivory Coast defender Lamine Kone, 28. (Daily Mirror)
Stoke chairman Peter Coates expects Peter Crouch to be offered a new contract and is optimistic about the England striker, 36, signing it. (Stoke Sentinel)
Belgium forward Kevin Mirallas, 30, will decide on his Everton future after the club appoint a new manager. (Liverpool Echo)
Arsenal face a battle to keep hold of Hector Bellerin, with Juventus keen on the 22-year-old Spanish defender. (Daily Mirror)
Germany general manager Oliver Bierhoff has suggested Schalke and Germany midfielder Leon Goretzka, 22, has agreed a move to the Premier League. (Daily Mirror)
Arsenal have been urged by their former captain Tony Adams to sell forward Alexis Sanchez, 28, as soon as possible. (Omnisport via Sun)
Manchester United have agreed a deal to sign Benfica's Guinean attacker Umaro Embalo, 16. (Record via Metro)
Former England midfielder Frank Lampard, 39, is open to returning to Chelsea and working with his former side "in some way" after being linked with the vacant technical director role. (Evening Standard)
Former England boss Sam Allardyce is interested in becoming the next manager of the United States national team. (Sky Sports)
Spain striker Alvaro Morata, 25, says he does not regret joining Chelsea. (Marca - in Spanish)
Chelsea's Belgium forward Eden Hazard, 26, has admitted it would be a "dream" to play under Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane. (RTL via Sky Sports)
Meanwhile...
Former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini wants £15m a year and regular flights back to Italy if he is to join a Premier League club again. (The Sun)
Manchester United sent a scout to Iceland to watch a match - only to discover it was being played in Qatar. (Fotbolti.net via the Sun)
Locals have been left baffled after the letters 'LFC' - the initials of Liverpool Football Club - were found carved into a Shropshire hillside by Ordnance Survey employees. (Shropshire Star)
Winger Demarai Gray, 21, says he has missed out on an England call-up because he was "held back" by Leicester. (Daily Express)
Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater, 27, is set to be exiled from England's World Cup squad after rejecting a call-up for the friendlies against Germany and Brazil. (Sun)
Fifa revived the Telstar, the first made-for-television football used at the 1970 World Cup, as it unveiled the official match ball for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. (Eurosport)
Manchester City have denied that Amazon Prime will have access to manager Pep Guardiola's team talks after agreeing a £10m-plus deal for a behind-the-scenes TV series. (Daily Mail)
Guardiola has been accused of ruining Italian defending, by Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini. (Tuttosport via Manchester Evening News)
Manchester United are set to welcome back Paul Pogba from injury after the international break, along with fellow midfielder Michael Carrick and defender Marcos Rojo. (Daily Mail)
Non-league Dulwich Hamlet have started a fundraising appeal as a dispute between a property developer and the local council threatens their future. (Guardian)
Frank Lampard photo bombed some Chelsea fans in Tokyo. (Chelsea Twitter)
Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 36, says he will not return to international football even if Sweden qualify for the World Cup. (Guardian)
Llanelli Scarlets' rugby union flanker James Davies and his fellow injured team-mates came dressed as their footballing childhood heroes for a gym session on Thursday...
Best of Thursday's gossip
Real Madrid have made 24-year-old Tottenham striker Harry Kane their first choice to replace France forward Karim Benzema, 29. (Diario Gol via Daily Mirror)
Manchester United directors fear manager Jose Mourinho is ready to quit the Old Trafford club in the summer and will move to Paris St-Germain. (Sun)
Manchester United manager Mourinho is keen to add to his squad in January and is targeting Barcelona centre-back Samuel Umtiti, 23. (Daily Mirror)
Arsenal have set an asking price of £30m for midfielder Mesut Ozil, 29, whose contract at Emirates Stadium ends in the summer. The German has been linked with a move to Manchester United. (Daily Star)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Barry Glendenning
While the agents of Steven Pienaar, Joseph Yobo and James McFadden have been waiting anxiously for a call ever since David Moyes was unveiled as West Ham manager, their phones seem unlikely to ring any time soon. Having had a couple of days to familiarise himself with his new surroundings, the Scot is already being linked with three new signings in the January transfer window and – amazingly – none of them are Everton old boys.
Bournemouth’s Republic of Ireland midfielder Harry Arter is top of a Moyes’s shopping list that also features the names of Sporting midfielder William Carvalho and sulking Sunderland central defender Lamine Koné. Despite arriving at the London Stadium just last summer, £24m flop Marko Arnautović will be sold to help contribute towards the cost of the new additions. Yet to register a goal or an assist since his arrival, it is safe to say the Austrian will not be missed.
Germany general manager Oliver Bierhoff has accidentally let slip that Schalke midfielder Leon Goretzka has already agreed a deal to make his way to England next summer, leaving those of us who peddle often baseless tittle-tattle scratching our heads and wondering which club he’ll be joining. Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have all been chasing the 22-year-old from Bochum, while conflicting reports say he’d rather play in La Liga should Barcelona come calling.
The Rumour Mill has often been accused of having delusions of adequacy, spurious allegations we’re always quick to deny. Nevertheless, it seems yesterday’s speculation that Arsenal are hitching their skirts in the direction of Nabil Fekir has spurred Barcelona into action as they see the Lyon playmaker as a cheaper alternative to his Liverpool counterpart, Philippe Coutinho.
Eden Hazard has put the fear of God in Chelsea supporters by appearing on Belgian TV channel RTL to issue what is bound to be interpreted as a come-and-get-me plea to Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane. “I do not know what will happen in my career in the future,” said the scampering midfield maestro. “However, for sure, to play under Zidane would be a dream.” Spanish sports weekly Don Balón have done little to assuage the fears of the Stamford Bridge faithful by announcing that Zidane is eager to get rid of Gareth Bale and replace him with Hazard. You Tottenham fans can stop sniggering at the back, by the way: Zizou is still keen on luring Harry Kane to the Spanish capital.
With his career at Manchester United more stagnant than the most neglected pond, Luke Shaw has been offered an escape by Turkish club Fenerbahçe, but will turn the chance of moving to Istanbul in the hope that his former mentor Mauricio Pochettino will find a spot for him in the Tottenham Hotspur dressing room. Meanwhile at the Etihad, the HR department are speedily drafting up a contract for Lazio central midfielder Sergej Milinković-Savić in the hope of landing the Serb in January. Sergej, according to the back of his shirt, is valued at around £60m and is also a summer target of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Milan, but City plan to wipe their rivals’ collective eye by swooping six months earlier. Both Manchester clubs and Chelsea are also preparing to duke it out for Roma and Italy midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini, who has a release clause just north of £22m in his contract.
Having apologised for the tantrum he threw upon learning he would not be featuring in the Everton team that beat Watford last Sunday, Kevin Mirallas will not decide on his future until the club appoint a new full-time manager. Stoke City striker Peter Crouch doesn’t have the air about him of a man prone to throwing his rattle out of the pram, but makes little or no secret of his frustration at not getting more game time from Mark Hughes. Nevertheless, Stoke chairman Peter Coates has suggested that Crouchy will be offered a new contract and hopes the big man will sign it.
Mirror
West Ham happy for David Moyes to sell Marko Arnautovic four months after he was club record buy
The £25m forward was sent off in his second game and hasn't impressed since — so could be sacrificed to fund new signings
By Darren Lewis
David Moyes could axe £25million flop Marko Arnautovic in January — after receiving the green light to bin any under-performing West Ham players.
New boss Moyes will get full backing to make whatever changes he sees fit when the transfer window reopens.
Austria international Arnautovic, the Hammers' record signing after his summer move from Stoke, is already under threat after failing to impress either the fans or the club's hierarchy.
Bournemouth’s Harry Arter is a potential target as West Ham want to strengthen in midfield rather than up front.
The club could also revisit a move for Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho, who was a summer target.
Arnautovic, signed by previous manager Slaven Bilic, was sent off in just his second appearance for the Hammers, away to Southampton in August.
Since returning from suspension, the £100,000-a-week forward has been poor.
Moyes is an admirer of 27-year-old Republic of Ireland international Arter, who only signed a new four-year deal in July.
The new manager also wants to strengthen in defence.
West Ham were keen on defender Lamine Kone during the summer following the Black Cats’ relegation — under Moyes' management.
Kone was, however, key to helping the Wearside club to stay up two seasons ago when ex-Hammers boss Sam Allardyce was in charge.
He would now be available for a cut-price fee with managerless Sunderland bottom of the Championship.
The 28-year-old currently has a knee problem which has ruled him out of international duty with the Ivory Coast, who have a massive World Cup qualifier against Morocco this weekend.
It will keep him out for around six weeks.
|
