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BBC
Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward feared a number of players would try to force their way out of the club if manager Jose Mourinho had not been sacked. (Mirror)
Chile forward Alexis Sanchez, 30, sent his Manchester United team-mates a WhatsApp suggesting he had won a £20,000 bet on Mourinho losing his job. (Sun)
Switzerland forward Xherdan Shaqiri, 27, says he got messages from his friends saying he was to blame for Mourinho's sacking, after scoring twice as Liverpool beat United in the Portuguese's final game. (Guardian)
Real Madrid are not looking to bring back former Manchester United boss Mourinho, 55, in the short or long term. (Marca)
Liverpool will rival Bayern Munich for the signing of 22-year-old RB Leipzig and Germany striker Timo Werner. (Abendzeitung, via Metro)
Chelsea have revived their interest in AC Milan's 31-year-old Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain. (Mail)
Manchester City face a battle with Barcelona and Paris St-Germain for £60m-rated Ajax and Netherlands midfielder Frenkie de Jong, 21. (Mirror)
Arsenal want to sell their highest-earning player Mesut Ozil, who is under contract until 2021, but may find it difficult to offload the 30-year-old former Germany midfielder. (Mirror)
Roma are preparing to make a £25m January move for Crystal Palace's 28-year-old Netherlands defender Patrick van Aanholt. (Sun)
Crystal Palace are hopeful of re-signing Nigerian former utility player Victor Moses, 28, from Chelsea in next month's transfer window. (London Evening Standard)
Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis says Senegal defender Kalidou Koulibaly, 27, will not be sold to Manchester United next month but the Italian may have to accept a future offer. (Corriere del Mezzogiorno, via Star)
West Ham will make a decision next week over whether to offer French midfielder Samir Nasri, 31, a short-term deal, manager Manuel Pellegrini has revealed. (London Evening Standard)
Welsh former West Ham defender James Collins, 35, tore up a £50,000 contract at Aston Villa after injuring himself in training an hour after signing it. (Mirror)
Brazil midfielder Fred, 25, is determined to fight for his Manchester United future, having been frozen out by former manager Jose Mourinho. (Telegraph)
Director of football Marcel Brands says Everton will not pay £30m for PSV's 23-year-old Mexico winger Hirving Lozano. (Voetbal International - in Dutch)
Leicester boss Claude Puel has hinted that he may allow English midfielder Hamza Choudhury, 21, to go out on loan to continue his development. (Leicester Mercury)
Nottingham Forest boss Aitor Karanka has told English winger Joe Lolley, 26, to focus on maintaining his improvement - and not to concern himself with transfer speculation or potential contract talks. (Nottingham Post)
Manchester United academy coach Neil Ryan is confident the club can "fight the hype" surrounding prolific 17-year-old striker Mason Greenwood, who scored a hat-trick in the Youth Cup against Chelsea. (Manchester Evening News)
England defender Danny Rose, 28, says Tottenham were motivated for their Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Arsenal after the Gunners "celebrated like they won the league" following their 4-2 Premier League victory this month. (London Evening Standard)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Barry Glendenning
An undeniably good player he may be, but Mesut Özil currently appears to have acquired the status of square peg at Arsenal, where he is apparently unable to fit in any of the round holes on Unai Emery’s tactics board. Having sat out his team’s midweek Carabao Cup defeat at the hands of Tottenham on the bench, The Times say Arsenal may send their playmaker out on loan in January, following reports he has fallen out with his manager. Arsenal would be willing to sell Özil, but will struggle to find another club willing to match his £350,000-per-week salary. Inter are understood to be willing to take him on loan in January, but whether or not Arsenal will subsidise his wages remains to be seen.
Crystal Palace full-back Patrick van Aanholt could be about to leave Croydon for the comparatively glamorous environs of Rome, having caught the eye of Roma manager Eusebio Di Francesco and his director of football, Monchi. Tabloid reports this morning suggest the 28-year-old Dutchman could be sold for £25m in the new year. Juventus had previously enquired about taking the Dutchman to Italy, but their interest has cooled since Alex Sandro signed a new contract. Elsewhere in Italy, Napoli are ready to make the loan deal of Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina permanent for a little over £3m, following a string of impressive performances by the Colombian.
Speculation about Eden Hazard’s apparently inevitable move to Real Madrid rumbles on and on and in the latest thrilling instalment, the Belgian is being linked with a potential swap deal with Isco, who has plummeted out of favour at the Bernabeú.
Spanish sports daily Marca say Real Madrid are not interested in a reunion with their former manager José Mourinho, who you may have heard lost his job with Manchester United on Tuesday. According to the Mirror, the United hierarchy were forced to end Mourinho’s reign at the club when four members of the senior squad threatened to hand in Christmas transfer requests if he wasn’t binned off.
And finally, the Football Association is looking into Fulham’s purchase of Jean Michael Seri and Maxime Le Marchand for a combined fee of over £20m from Nice in the summer, amid claims of alleged financial shenanigans surrounding the deal. According to the Daily Mail, Jean-Louis Dupont, the lawyer behind the Bosman ruling, has written to the FA’s senior investigator, David Matthews, demanding an inquiry into a transfer he says was manipulated to save on bonus payments due to Seri and his former clubs.
OS
West Ham United announce Full Year Results
WH Holding Ltd has today announced its Full Year Results for the year ending 31 May 2018.
The Club made a net profit before tax of £18.3m, a decrease of £25.2m from 2016/17. This was driven by lower income including broadcast revenue, an increase in staff costs, the one-off inclusion in last year’s numbers of the sale of the Boleyn Ground and accounting adjustments for the FA Pension Scheme and triennial property revaluation.
The Club’s net debt, including cash, has fallen by £11.0m and at the end of the season, had £10.0m of short-term funding and £54.5m of shareholder debt.
Turnover was £175.3m, £8m lower than the previous year, driven by a decrease in income including broadcast revenue and fewer home games negatively impacting Retail, Commercial & Sponsorship and Matchday income.
In terms of investment, during the season, the Club invested £63.0m in the playing squad and received £50.9m from player sales. In the summer transfer window, the Club invested a further £89.5m net in new players – a club record.
Commenting on the results, Vice-Chairman Karren Brady said: “This is a good set of results. The Club has made a profit for the second year in the row, while reducing net debt and at the same time investing a record sum into the first team squad.
“We will continue to manage our finances in the best interests of the Club and our fans, while ensuring that investment in the team and Club infrastructure is responsible, sustainable and well considered. We have a bright and exciting future and ensuring West Ham United has a sound financial footing is paramount to that.”
Sport Witness
West Ham officials arrive for Istanbul transfer talks, €7m offer made by Hammers
Milliyet claim West Ham United officials have arrived in Istanbul to hold transfer talks with Besiktas over signing Chilean midfielder Gary Medel.
Earlier this week we covered reports from Turkey that Medel is a target for West Ham ahead of the January window, and now it’s claimed talks have been held between the two clubs.
Milliyet claim during the meeting West Ham offered €7m to Besiktas for Medel but the Turkish club have asked the Premier League club to increase their offer. This comes after a claim yesterday the Hammers had initially made a bid of €5m.
As paraphrased by the Turkish newspaper, Besiktas informed West Ham: “Medel is an important player for us. We are not looking to let him go, our manager also wants him to stay. With those terms, we can’t allow his departure.”
Medel is said to be keen on a return to Premier League after his spell with Cardiff City and more meetings are expected to take place.
It’s also reported West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini is keen to work with the 31-year old.
Football London
West Ham will smash attendance record in January as London Stadium gets 60,000 green light
The Hammers will have 3,000 extra supporters packed into the arena from the start of 2019
By Sam Inkersole West Ham correspondent
West Ham will have 60,000 spectators cheering them on when they host Brighton & Hove Albion on January 2 after the club and arena was granted a new safety certificate to increase its capacity.
The club has also been selling half-season tickets ever since they and stadium owners E20 came to an agreement to increase the capacity of the former Olympic Stadium prior to a court case getting underway, which was subsequently binned.
They have now all been sold out, so when the Seagulls visit Stratford in the New Year, an extra 3,000 home supporters will be in attendance and that will smash the previous attendance record for a home game.
The current record at the London Stadium was set on January 2 2017 when 56,996 tickets were sold for the visit of Manchester United to east London while the previous record at the Boleyn Ground was 35,550, set against Manchester City back in September 2002.
Hammers joint-Chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold said: "It is a wonderful feeling to know that more of our fans will be able to watch affordable Premier League football at London Stadium, and we look forward to the matchday atmosphere becoming even more magnificent in 2019.
"A big welcome to our new Season Ticket Holders and thank you to all of our loyal and patient supporters on the Season Ticket Waiting List."
The Hammers have agreed to pay stadium owners E20 another £250,000 a per year to allow them to have 60,000 fans - 54,000 of them season ticket holders which is the highest in the capital - in the ground in that out of court settlement. It's the first step on the way to the club eventually getting the full 66,000 capacity the stadium can offer.
The next increase would likely be to 62,000 as after that, some infrastructure changes will need to take place at the Hammers home ground before they can fill it to the brim.
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