Saturday News (includes West Ham)

[Alan]

BBC

Crystal Palace are planning to sell England defender Marc Guehi in January and Liverpool are no longer the frontrunners to sign the 25-year-old, with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich all interested. (The I paper - subscription required),  

England midfielder and Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton, 21, is Manchester United's top transfer target for January, although he could cost around £70m. (Teamtalk),  

Liverpool and Chelsea were both rebuffed by Everton in the summer after expressing their interest in 23-year-old England centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite. (Mail - subscription required),  

Tottenham and Liverpool are both keen on Bournemouth and Ghana winger Antoine Semenyo, 25. (Talksport),  

Inter Milan have dismissed rumours they are set to sign Brazil forward Neymar, 33, in January, after his contract expires at Santos. (Corriere dello Sport - in Italian),  

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim is a huge admirer of Italy and Inter Milan left-back Federico Dimarco, 27, but the player is keen to remain at the San Siro for the time being. (Tuttosport - in Italian),  

Sunderland will not renew their interest in Bologna and Colombia defender Jhon Lucumi in the January transfer window after having an offer of £24m rejected for the 27-year-old in the summer. (Sky Sports),  

Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen has not yet made a decision on whether he will stay at the club in January, with the 33-year-old Germany international keen to play before next summer's World Cup. (Florian Plettenberg),  

Juventus are keen to bring Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali back to Serie A but Newcastle are determined to hang on to the 25-year-old. (Football Insider),  

Newcastle have agreed to pay £350,000 plus significant bonuses to Barnsley for Josh Kenchington, 15, beating Manchester United, Tottenham and Brighton to the England Under-15 defender's signature. (Sky Sports),  

RB Leipzig have placed a price tag of 100m euros (£87m) on exciting 18-year-old Ivory Coast winger Yan Diomande. (Sky Germany - in German),  

Wolves are not expected to make any major signings in January and likely to hang on to their key players, including Brazilian midfielder Andre, 24, who was a target for Juventus last summer. (Mail - subscription required)





Sky Paper Talk

PREMIER LEAGUE

Liverpool are said to be keen on Ousmane Diomande as a backup option to Marc Guehi following their unsuccessful pursuit of the Crystal Palace skipper - Daily Express.

Crystal Palace are planning to sell England defender Marc Guehi in January and Liverpool are no longer the frontrunners to sign the 25-year-old, with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich all interested - The I Paper.

Former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has sensationally claimed that he could be in line to replace Ruben Amorim if he is sacked by Manchester United - The Sun.

Newcastle have successfully negotiated the signing of Barnsley's young prodigy Josh Kenchington after several rounds of talks - Daily Express.

Tottenham and Liverpool are both keen on Bournemouth and Ghana winger Antoine Semenyo - Talksport.

Former Liverpool striker Dean Saunders has slammed Alexander Isak and questioned Florian Wirtz's place in the side ahead of the clash against Manchester United - Daily Star.

Arne Slot has allayed fears over Ryan Gravenberch's hamstring problem, confirming the Liverpool midfielder is fit to face Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday - Daily Star.

Eddie Howe has hinted at plans to hand new contracts to three of his Newcastle players following the arrival of recently-appointed sporting director Ross Wilson - The Independent.

Pep Guardiola has left the door open for Jack Grealish to return to Manchester City - The Independent.

EUROPEAN FOOTBALL

Barcelona boss Hansi Flick spent his Friday firefighting after insinuations that Lamine Yamal and Marcus Rashford have been treated differently. The Barca hierarchy are accused of forcing Flick to start Yamal against PSG earlier this month despite the starlet arriving late for a team meeting - Daily Mail.

Real Madrid are set to release Antonio Rudiger at the end of the 2025-26 season, according to reports - Daily Mail.

Christian Pulisic has been diagnosed with a "low-grade injury" to his right hamstring and will miss Milan's Serie A game with Fiorentina on Sunday - The Athletic.

Inter Milan have dismissed rumours they are set to sign Brazil forward Neymar in January, after his contract expires at Santos - Corriere dello Sport.

SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP

Brendan Rodgers has promised Kevin Muscat he'll be ready for the challenge of facing him as Rangers manager - Scottish Sun.

RUGBY

Owen Farrell is not expected to play any part in England's autumn internationals but the door will remain open for a possible return to the team before the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia - Daily Telegraph.

R360 has stepped up plans for its breakaway league after officially launching on social media, where it posted a job advert for a celebrity manager role - Daily Telegraph.

York Knights' owner, Clint Goodchild, believes the club's historic promotion to the Super League for the first time is a watershed moment for the whole of North Yorkshire, after they and Toulouse were granted admission to the top flight in 2026 and London Broncos missed the cut - The Guardian.

CRICKET

Brendon McCullum has finalised his coaching team for the Ashes, with the Australian David Saker returning to help England in a fourth Test series against his homeland, having been involved during the 2010-11 and 2013 series, both of which England won, and again in the drawn series of 2023 - The Guardian.

Long-term England batting coach Marcus Trescothick and the spin-bowling coach Jeetan Patel will continue in their roles in Australia, while the assistant coach Paul Collingwood, who has not been involved with the team in recent months, will again be absent - The Guardian.

Gilbert Enoka, the former All Blacks mental skills coach, will also be involved with England for the first Ashes Test - The Times.

FORMULA 1

Lewis Hamilton says rumours linking former Red Bull boss Christian Horner with Ferrari are "distracting" for the team - The Independent.





C&H

Deal is ‘on’ for top centre back target in January

This is the transfer that ‘should’ have been done in the summer if rumours are true and West Ham bid for, but didn’t bid enough, to secure the signing of one of `England’s up and coming young talents who was fresh from success in the u21 Euros.

No surprise there, Hammers’ chairman David Sullivan tried it on with offers for Harwood Bellis and Charlie Cresswell, apparently, before settling own the (cheap) loan deal for Igor to replace Aguerd.

Cresswell may now be a tougher deal to complete, with Everton, Manchester City and Liverpool all interested in the Toulouse centre back in January according to tbrfootball.co.uk.

The transfer deal West Ham should have seen through in August to replace Aguerd

It may well be one transfer failure which West Ham regret sooner rather than later: Sitting in nineteenth spot it will prove a hard ‘sell’ to secure Cresswell’s signature come January with other top-half sides circling. With the reported asking price required to liberate the England u21 international being just £15 million – it could indeed be a shame to have missed the chance to ‘swoop’ for him in the summer.

Much will depend on West Ham’s results and Premier League position when the window opens: A victory tomorrow would draw them level with Brentford in 16th on seven points and then just three points away from Manchester United in tenth spot.

How much easier a ‘sell’ would east London become in January if the Hammers can crawl away from such a lowly, precarious position. The likes of Cresswell or indeed Taylor Harwood Bellis – another whose club were lowballed by Sullivan  in August – might be far more disposed to sign with the club not teetering on the abyss.




3 Added minutes

The one £43.5m player that West Ham should sign in January to ensure they avoid relegation

West Ham may need to make some moves in the January transfer window - but what do they really need to avoid relegation this season?

West Ham United have already started making moves in the hope of turning a dismal start to the 2025/26 season around after replacing Graham Potter with Nuno Espirito Santo, but they remain a club in serious danger of relegation unless thing change. Fortunately, the January transfer window will provide them with a chance at making some further adjustments.

The winter window isn’t an easy time to do budget-friendly business, however, and they likely won’t be able to buy a slew of first-rate players in – so their transfer business will have to be carefully and precisely considered to ensure that they sign the right players in the right positions and the right price. But what do West Ham need most, and which players alleged to be on their shortlist might make the most sense as potential new signings?

Why West Ham need to focus on improving their attack

At first look, there isn’t much that doesn’t need to be improved at the London Stadium. Only two teams have scored fewer goals than West Ham – and only three teams have generated a lower expected goals tally – while their defence has shipped 16 goals, more than anybody else, and only six teams have a lower average possession total. The stats make for pretty bleak reading across the board.

The hope, however, is that the way Santo sets his teams up will help to mitigate some of the concerns in defence and midfield. The Portuguese head coach typically lines up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with a deep defence and a compact midfield shield in front of it, ceding large quantities of possession in favour of hitting opposing teams on the counter-attack.

It's a system with means that the midfield’s struggles to retain the ball won’t be such a significant issue, as keeping hold of possession will no longer be the point as it was under Potter – while the combination of a tightly-packed defence and low block should help to reduce the volume of sloppy goals they conceded at the back. If the plan works half as well as it did at Nottingham Forest (and he can fix West Ham’s woeful defending from set pieces) then they should get rather harder to beat before too long.

In any case, there is undeniable talent at the back. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jean-Clair Todibo and Max Kilman are good defenders who should offer a solid long-term base if they can close to their best, and El Hadji Malick Diouf has shown flashes of his talent. Tomáš Souček is a stout defensive presence in front of a back four, and Mateus Fernandes’ all-action box-to-box style should suit Santo down to the ground.

It's a rather different story up front, where the attack is wholly reliant on Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paquetá both to score and create goals. Not only are their centre-forwards ageing and injury prone, Crysencio Summerville has not yet proven to be an adequate replacement for Mohammed Kudus.

Santo’s system needs players who can fill the roles played by Anthony Elanga and Calum Hudson-Odoi at Forest – wingers who are not only quick but who are comfortable carrying the ball, beating defenders one-on-one and getting in behind to make use of long balls. Summerville, who has struggled at the top level and has beaten his man just 33% of the time since joining the Hammers, isn’t necessarily the answer.

Ideally, what West Ham need is a left winger who can at least provide competition for Summerville’s position and a central striker who can stay healthy. A fit Niclas Füllkrug should, in theory, make a good proxy for Chris Wood, but his availability simply can’t be relied upon, and the same is true with Callum Wilson.

The goalscoring winger who could be precisely what West Ham need in January

Finding a striker won’t be an easy task. There are stories suggesting that they could try to take Real Madrid prodigy Endrick on loan and that may provide the goals they need, but other names linked – such as Porto’s Samu Aghehowa, are either unlikely to move over the winter or simply so expensive that it might stretch West Ham’s profit and sustainability position without careful amortisation.

Aghehowa should suit Santo’s style very nicely, admittedly, and he’s still scoring goals at a ferocious rate in Portugal, but he would likely cost around €80m (£70m) if Porto can be brought to the table at all in the middle of the season. It may be more realistic to focus their finances and efforts elsewhere.

One player who is most certainly on West Ham’s radar may fit the bill for the left wing, however. The club already made a tentative attempt to sign Galatasaray’s Baris Alper Yilmaz over the summer, with a reported £21m bid turned down quickly – far too low given the asking price. It could be a deal worth revisiting, however.

Sport Witness report that the Turkish media believe a deal could be done in January, albeit at a fee closer to €50m (£43.5m). That’s more than the £35m reported to be his valuation over the summer, but gives us a ballpark at least.

Even if the price tag has increased, Yilmaz may well be worth the money. He’s quick, an excellent dribbler, and brilliant at finding space to latch on to balls over the top – most importantly, however, he’s productive, and a genuine goal threat down the left.

Yilmaz scored 12 goals in 32 league games for Galatasaray last season and already has three goals (and two assists) in six matches so far this year – and he’s been a key player in a team that has won three consecutive Turkish Super Lig titles.

Granted, two of his goals this year have come from the penalty spot, but none of last year’s 12 were spot-kicks and his finishing is unquestionably impressive. He’s direct, dangerous, and looks like the kind of player who would thrive in a counter-attacking system.

It isn’t clear why West Ham decided not to improve their offer for Yilmaz over the summer, but he looks like exactly the kind of winger that they sorely need right now – and if there’s one big January deal that could make all the difference as they scrap for survival, this could well be it.

[With Kind Regards]

Thanks Alan.