|
BBC
Manchester United's France midfielder Paul Pogba, 26, will not renew his current contract and wants to join Real Madrid as soon as possible. (Marca - in Spanish)
Paris St-Germain want Tottenham's Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen, 27, as a replacement for Brazil forward Neymar, who is close to returning to Barcelona. (Le Parisien - in French)
PSG boss Thomas Tuchel has phoned Barcelona attacker Ousmane Dembele, 22, to convince him to move to the French capital as part of the Neymar deal. (Le Parisien via Mirror)
Bayer Leverkusen want to sign Tottenham's Belgium centre-back Jan Vertonghen, 32, before Monday's European transfer deadline. (Kicker in German)
A leading bookmaker has suspended betting on Tottenham's Argentine boss Mauricio Pochettino, 47, leaving before the end of September. (Mirror)
Manchester United and Italy full-back Matteo Darmian, 29, is in negotiations for a return to Serie A with Parma. (La Gazzetta dello Sport via Football Italia)
Manchester United defender Chris Smalling, 29, has travelled to Italy to complete a season-long loan move to Roma, with his parent club set to receive a fee of £2.7m. (Mirror)
Arsenal's Egypt midfielder Mohamed Elneny, 27, is in talks with Turkish team Besiktas over a season-long loan move. (Sky Sports)
Arsenal boss Unai Emery says 33-year-old Spain full-back Nacho Monreal, who has been linked with Real Sociedad, could leave before the European transfer deadline. (Mirror)
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino is reluctant to call upon Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier, 26, for Sunday's north London derby at Arsenal as he is available to leave before Monday's European transfer deadline. (Evening Standard)
Manchester United walked away from a summer deal for Juventus striker Paulo Dybala, 25, over the Argentine's £18m-a-year wage demands. (Mail)
Celtic want to sign Birmingham's 18-year-old defender Mitch Roberts, who has previously attracted interest from Manchester City. (Birmingham Live)
Former Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku, 26, has lost half a stone in weight after sticking to a strict diet under manager Antonio Conte since the Belgium international joined Inter Milan. (Mail)
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique hopes Harry Maguire can help his former club Manchester United win the Premier League title. (Express)
Aston Villa midfielder Aaron Tshibola, 24, has joined Belgian side Waasland-Beveren on a three-year deal. (Birmingham Mail)
Arsenal against Tottenham is set to overtake Liverpool against Everton as the Premier League's dirtiest derby. (Sun)
Paris St-Germain's French goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, 26, has agreed to join Real Madrid. (RMC Sport - in French)
Chile forward Alexis Sanchez, 30, posted a message to his Manchester United team-mates on Instagram before joining Inter Milan on loan. (Manchester Evening News)
Bookmakers shortened Liverpool's odds of retaining their Champions League title from 7-1 to 13-2 after a favourable group-stage draw paired them with Napoli, Salzburg and Genk. (Liverpool Echo)
Championship Blackburn Rovers are looking to sign 25-year-old free agent goalkeeper Ben Garratt, who has been without a club since ending his 18-year association with Crewe in the summer. (Lancashire Telegraph)
Guardian Rumour Mill
John Brewin
Mauricio Pochettino, the subject of some wild rumours of his departure from Spurs on Thursday, is going to be working with a much-reduced squad from next Tuesday if all this comes to pass. Having said that, his team selections so far this season suggest he may have had an inkling of what may be about to happen.
Christian Eriksen, the half-time Tottenham pinch-hitter? Paris Saint-Germain are calling. Jan Vertonghen, yet to play a match for Spurs this season. Off to Bayer Leverkusen is the word in Germany.
Should Eriksen take the Eurostar trip from London across la Manche it seems he will be joined by Ousmane Dembélé, the makeweight in Neymar’s prodigal return to Barcelona after two years down and out in Paris. By the way, that Neymar deal could be worth around €200m all things considered. Jean-Clair Todibo and Ivan Rakitic will also be part of the deal, but on loan initially as will Dembélé. Most of the deal will be paid out in cash with those players being shifted from one wage bill to the other on a temporary basis, with a view to permanent signings in the future.
Another player for the off from the new White Hart Lane could be Serge Aurier, another yet to get the Poch call this season. And another! Victor Wanyama, meanwhile, will be headed to Club Brugge.
Also leaving North London could be Nacho Monreal, whose six-year service at Arsenal would end with a move to Real Sociedad. Mohamed Elneny, a player Unai Emery does not appear to fancy much, looks headed to Besiktas.
Paul Pogba corner: it looks like he won’t be joining Real Madrid this summer after all. Instead, he will be not be signing a new Manchester United contract and will be shaking down Ed Woodward and the Glazers to leave as soon as possible as the phoney war begins once more. Over in Spain, Pogba is said to regret not putting enough effort into getting his move, an ironic stance perhaps in the eyes of many United fans.
With Chris Smalling swapping Stretford for the Eternal City of Rome, it looks like another member of that United glut of defenders, Matteo Darmian, is off back to Italy and Parma. Now, can Woodward and the Glazers find a home for Marcos Rojo?
Leicester are about to get shut of two unwanted wingers. Rachid Ghezzal and Fousseni Diabaté will be joining Olympiakos and Dijon respectively, both on loan initially.
Norwich blog
WEST HAM (A) THE PREVIEW
Goals galore or a dour 0-0? Andrew Lawn chats to The Guardian's Jacob Steinberg ahead of two sides who definitely know how to attack, but not necessarily defend, get set to meet at the London Stadium
Andy - How you think West Ham's season has started? A heavy defeat at home to Man City is no surprise. Encouragingly, it's been followed with two solid away results. How have performances been so far?
Jacob Steinberg - Mixed. They are good going forward and will score goals - Haller already looks like a smart piece of business - but are far too open. They give away so many chances. It could have cost them against Brighton, who should have won, and they got very lucky with that Will Hughes miss when it was 1-1 at Watford. That said, you’d think the attacking power will see them push hard in the race to finish 7th.
(A) That description could equally apply to us. Goals galore, or 0-0 Saturday then. What have you made of City's start to the season and prospects going forward?
(J) In a word, encouraging.
Again, you’re going to score lots and concede plenty too. This game will probably tell us a little more than the Chelsea and Liverpool ones, though. A bad defeat against a mid-table side might force Farke to rein in the expansiveness a little, I suppose. But I really like what I’ve seen so far.
The worry ultimately would be that they’ll be too naive at the back
(A) I agree, but I can't see Farke changing.
We were burned like that in our lest Premier League campaign, when Alex Neil had us set-up to attack, but then we lost an even game 6-2 at Newcastle and it spooked Neil into abandoning it in favour of a more pragmatic approach. Sadly, we didn't have the players for that and the season fell apart, ultimately ending in a whimpering relegation. All the noises from Farke and Stuart Webber have been that we accept we will lose games, but the only way to have a chance of winning enough is to go for it.
It is certainly a big game for us though, Chelsea and Liverpool felt like free hits, whereas this is one City fans will have earmarked as important to get something, especially with Man City up next.
I presume expectations for the season are higher than being a mid-table team that newly promoted teams will see as eminently beatable, for most Hammers though?
(J) It’s the kind of game West Ham have won under Pellegrini.
At home they’ve been good against bottom-half sides, winning the majority of those games last season. The problem has tended to come more against sides around them. They were beaten home and away by Wolves and Bournemouth, drew twice with Leicester and were well beaten at home by Watford and Everton, who gave them a particularly hard time in March. Those setbacks showed how far they have to go.
They are good on their day (wins over Tottenham, Arsenal and United last season show that) but it’s hard to see finishing higher than 7th.
(A) Is it that a case of being good at breaking down sides coming and trying to set-up for a draw? Haller (who was allegedly very close to signing for us a few years ago before deciding he didn't really fancy a relegation battle) looks the real deal, who else should we watch out for and where are the weak links?
(J) At the most basic level they’ve got a lot of good individuals who can hurt lesser defences. Manuel Lanzini is looking more like his old self after returning from a knee injury, Felipe Anderson is always capable of a bit of magic, Pablo Fornals scored his first goal in the midweek win over Newport. Mark Noble also showed his importance in the win over Watford - he’s much more solid than Wilshere in midfield.
Weaknesses, though? The attackers are inconsistent, they are very open in midfield, the full-backs are exposed and not great when they are isolated, and the defence is struggling to stop opponents creating chances. From what I’ve seen of Norwich you will have opportunities to score - question is whether you can take them.
(A) It could be a cracking game to mark our first trip to your new 'home' then. On that, three seasons in, how is the London Stadium experience now and have some of the major issues around atmosphere etc been resolved?
(J) Let’s say ... there are still issues. They’ve put in a nice new claret carpet to cover the running track. Snazzy. Doesn’t change the fact there’s a running track.
(A) Such a shame. The Boleyn was such an atmospheric, 'proper' ground. I presume there is nothing to be done now and everyone just has to suck it up?
(J) Pretty much.
(A) Grim. On to Saturday and an ultra-specific prediction. I will go for a 4-3 City win. Noble will open the scoring from the penalty spot after a clumsy Hanley lunge, before Emi Buendia will get his season off and running with two howitzers to put us ahead. Haller and Lazzini will then turn the tables making it 3-2 West Ham, all by half-time. It will remain like that until the final 5 minutes, when Drmic will climb off the bench to grab an equaliser, before Pukki nicks it at the death with a bundle off his arse...
(J) Heh. 3-1 West Ham.
(A) Only four goals? Brave.
|
