BBC
Former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino is the first choice of Newcastle's prospective new owners to replace Steve Bruce as manager and they are willing to pay him £19m per year. (Sky Sports)
Liverpool have been handed a boost in their pursuit of RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner with the 24-year-old Germany international ruling out a transfer to another Bundesliga team. (Bild, in German - subscription required)
Borussia Dortmund and England winger Jadon Sancho, 20, is being offered the number seven shirt by Manchester United - currently held by Alexis Sanchez, who is out on loan - in a bid to tempt him to the club. (Mirror)
France midfielder Tanguy Ndombele, 23, is considering his future at Tottenham, with Barcelona reportedly interested. (Sky Sports)
Roma boss Paulo Fonseca wants to sign Chelsea and Spain winger Pedro, 32. (Corriere dello Sport, in Italian)
Arsenal have been told they must pay more than £25m if they want to land Celtic'sFrench forward Odsonne Edouard, 22. (Express)
Napoli forward Dries Mertens, 32, is interested in a move to London, with Chelsea still keen on the Belgium international who will be a free agent thsi summer. (Mail)
Arsenal have reportedly made contact with Real Madrid over a potential deal for Spain left-back Sergio Reguilon. The 23-year-old is currently on loan at Sevilla. (ABC, via Star)
Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick held a 30-minute phone call with Manchester City and Germany winger Leroy Sane, 24, to discuss a potential transfer. (Bild, in German - subscription required)
Leicester are interested in signing Saint-Etienne's French centre-back Wesley Fofana, 19. (Le10 Sport, in French)
AC Milan will look to sell former Spain goalkeeper Pepe Reina when the transfer market re-opens. The 37-year-old is currently on loan at Aston Villa. (Calciomercato)
Nigel Pearson will remain as Watford boss until the end of the season when it resumes, despite his contract expiring in May. (Sky Sports)
Arsenal will look to make free transfers and swap deals during the summer transfer window because of the financial impact of coronavirus. (Mail)
Chelsea and Italy midfielder Jorginho, 28, says he considered leaving the Blues after only one season because of the criticism he faced from fans. (FourFourTwo)
Manchester United players have been told to wash their own kit before they return to training on 18 May, with the club's laundry facilities off limits - and players are also expected to shower at home. (Mail)
C&H
All change for European transfers confirms FA
West Ham and other Premier League clubs will find it harder to sign European players in a post-Brexit Britain, the Football Association have confirmed earlier this week.
The FA, in their annual report, say that European players will be required to meet certain criteria in order to obtain a work permit to play in this country.
Currently, players from the continent are free to move but when Britain leaves the European Union then a points-based qualification system will apply to them too, as it does to those from South America, Africa and the rest of the world.
The size of the transfer fee, wages and international experience are part of the existing system.
The FA said it was “proactively trying to mitigate and leverage” the “risks and opportunities” presented by Brexit.
“This has a potential negative impact on the number of European players entering the English game, which could result in a devaluation of the domestic rights of English competitions but could be an opportunity for the English players in the Premier League but also other leagues from the EFL to the Women’s Super League,” the FA said in its strategic report.
The FA say they hope to reach an agreement on the specifics of the new work permit rules, for all players, with the Premier League and Home Office, in time to implement them for the 2020-21 season.
Last summer West Ham signed players including Seb Haller, Pablo Fornals, Gonçalo Cardoso, Darren Randolph and not forgetting Roberto but under proposed new rules, those players would be need to pass a point-based test before being given the go-ahead to play in the Premier League.
Football London
David Moyes decision on Michail Antonio could set tone for 2020s West Ham vision
West Ham have seven players out of contract at the end of next season and whether Antonio gets his deal extended could shape the future
By Sam Inkersole
Heading into the summer of 2021 West Ham will have seven of their first team players out of contract and some big decisions will need to be made.
The likes of Mark Noble, Robert Snodgrass, Jack Wilshere, Lukasz Fabianski and Fabian Balbuena will all be out of contract.
Another is Michail Antonio, who joined the Hammers in 2015 from Nottingham Forest for a fee believed to be around £7m and bagged a new contract extension in 2017
When Antonio’s contract is up, he will be 31. That is not old by any stretch of the imagination but for a player with troublesome hamstrings and who relies on his explosiveness over the first five yards of a sprint, it could be defining for his future.
Read More
Antonio has been linked with moves away from the club before, especially in the last three years, with Crystal Palace a potential destination. They were reported to be willing to pay £15million for the winger but the Hammers wanted more like £20m-£25million and that was not an option.
Entering the final year of his contract, Antonio certainly couldn’t command that kind of fee. With the Hammers potentially having to sell quite a few players this summer amid the coronavirus pandemic and the knock-on effect it has had on the football club, Antonio could be just one of many players who could depart.
According to Transfermarkt, Antonio is worth £8.55million to West Ham if they sold him this summer so they would actually make a small profit on the player they purchased back in 2015 from the Championship.
It would also shift Antonio’s £70,000 a week wages off the books as well at a time when the club needs to try to save money where they can. The £30million shareholders rights issue kicks in imminently as Covid-19 takes hold of the finances in east London.
Antonio is a fan favourite but they are also well aware of his injury issues. He has suffered three hamstring problems over the last two years and they are not usually little hamstring injuries - his most recent one kept him out for four months.
To Antonio’s credit, he has bounced back each and every time to maintain his status as a key player. It took far too long for Manuel Pellegrini to see it, and David Moyes too, but Antonio is an effective second striker alongside Sebastien Haller.
However, Moyes has brought in a player who could play a very similar role to the one Antonio does in Jarrod Bowen, which is a clear indication of where the Scotsman sees the team going forward.
Moyes has consistently preached he wants a young, hungry team to be how he moulds his West Ham team so the likes of Bowen, Declan Rice, Pablo Fornals and Issa Diop should be his linchpins going forward if he can keep a hold of them all. Grady Diangana too when he returns from his loan at West Brom, also the emerging Nathan Holland from the academy.
With a little over 13 months remaining, there haven’t been any noises coming from the club yet that Antonio will have his contract extended. In fairness, the club has shown, in recent years anyway, a preference to take their time with extensions before eventually sealing them.
Moyes has younger options in the position going forward, it is a case of whether he wants to keep the experience of Antonio around.
HITC
West Ham want 16-goal captain who Pardew called the league's best
Danny Owen
David Moyes's West Ham United reportedly want to bring Teun Koopmeiners to the Premier League from Eredivisie high-flyers AZ Alkmaar.
West Ham United are interested in signing AZ Alkmaar captain Teun Koopmeiners this summer, according to Calciomercato, with the talented Dutchman seemingly on his way out of the Netherlands.
You have to feel for AZ fans.
With the 2019/20 season brought to a premature end, an exciting and free-flowing side built in the image of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona have just seen their dream of a third-ever Eredivisie title snatched away.
To make matters worse, AZ, who were sitting level on points with reigning champions Ajax, are now likely to lose a number of star players to clubs from all over Europe.
Influential captain Koopmeiners has already been linked with a £12 million move to Marcel Brands’ Everton, via The Sun, and reports now suggest that West Ham have joined the race.
A classy and combative player who possesses a maturity far beyond his 22 years, the skipper is a deep-lying midfielder by trade but is equally comfortable at centre-half. Koopmeiners even produced 16 goals during a superb campaign, establishing himself as one of the most reliable penalty takers in Europe.
And his all-action displays certainly caught the eye of one former West Ham boss – a certain Alan Pardew.
“The AZ captain Teun Koopmeiners, a left-footed centre back who can sit in midfield, is probably the best player in Holland in defensive areas,” the ex-ADO Den Haag coach told the Mail this week.
The stylistic similarities between Koopmeiners and Declan Rice will not go unnoticed. Are The Hammers preparing for a worst-case scenario with their England international attracting plenty of admiring glances from outside the London Stadium?
