Arsenal are planning to make bids for two Bournemouth players - Hungary left-back Milos Kerkez, 20, and Ghana winger Antoine Semenyo, 24. (CaughtOffside)
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has no desire to leave the club despite being on a shortlist for the vacant England manager's job. (Telegraph - subscription required)
England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, 19, is close to agreeing a new contract at Manchester United. (Manchester Evening News)
Barcelona and Real Madrid are both interested in a move for Spanish left-back Alvaro Fernandez, 21, who Manchester United sold to Benfica last summer. (Mirror)
Manchester United and Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen, 32, is expected to rejoin his former club Ajax when his contract expires next summer. (Sun)
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is the dream long-term candidate for the FA, who have not interviewed anyone for the England job more than two months after the closing date for applications. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Everton have set their sights on signing Stuttgart and DR Congo winger Silas Mvumpa, 26, in January. (Football Insider)
Former Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, 51, is in talks with a "major club" about a return to management after turning down further talks about managing Denmark. (Tipsbladet - in Danish)
Liverpool have earmarked Palmeiras centre-back Vitor Reis, 18, as a possible signing for the future. The Brazil youth international has a release clause of £84m. (Football Insider)
River Plate want to extend Manchester City forward Claudio Echeverri's loan spell. The Argentina Under-23 international, 18, signed for City from River in January with an agreement he would remain there for a year before moving to England. (TYC Sports - in Spanish)
Former Chelsea midfielder Claude Makelele is in talks to become manager at Cardiff. (Footmercato - in French)
AC Milan are considering a January move for Crystal Palace's 26-year-old Senegal winger Ismaila Sarr, who only moved to Selhurst Park in August. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian)
Sky Paper Talk
THE SUN
Manchester United's dressing room was bugged before their match at Aston Villa in a shocking security breach.
Enzo Maresca has become the first Chelsea boss to be named manager of the month for three years.
Bruno Fernandes has suggested he prefers playing for Portugal over Manchester United.
Bukayo Saka is expected to miss England's Nations League clash on Sunday with Finland through injury.
Jamie Vardy and his wife Becky secretly flew to Bahrain this week as Saudi football clubs continue to clamour to sign him.
Claude Makelele has been linked with the vacant managerial position at Cardiff City.
Christian Eriksen could be heading back to Ajax at the end of this season.
Lukas Podolski made an emotional farewell to football as he hung up his boots for the last time.
DAILY MAIL
Manchester City have agreed a deal for Sporting's Hugo Viana to take over from Txiki Begiristain as a new era dawns at the Etihad Stadium.
The Premier League has warned clubs there will be no quick fix as it seeks to resolve the sponsorship row that has triggered civil war in the top flight.
Thomas Tuchel is reportedly in negotiations to become the next manager of England.
Joel Matip is reportedly considering retirement at the age of 33.
Kylian Mbappe was reportedly seen in a nightclub in Sweden on Thursday, the same evening his France team-mates beat Israel 4-1.
Barcelona are 'set for a huge payout from FIFA' after Gavi suffered a season-ending ACL injury while on international duty last year.
DAILY EXPRESS
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has admitted he must "take responsibility" for his side's scoring woes.
Jurgen Klopp will earn an eye-watering annual salary once he begins his reign as the Global Head of Soccer at Red Bull.
Real Madrid have reportedly been 'compiling reports' on Tottenham defender Pedro Porro, who recently seemed to invite interest from the European giants.
DAILY STAR
Kevin Behrens has been punished by his club Wolfsburg after making an alleged homophobic remark while refusing to sign a shirt adorned with a rainbow badge.
Manchester United chiefs were thrown three key questions by Sir Jim Ratcliffe as they weighed up Erik ten Hag's future.
DAILY MIRROR
Barcelona and Real Madrid are both interested in making a move for Alvaro Fernandez, the full-back who Manchester United let go for only £5m last summer.
Christian Eriksen admits he is not currently holding talks with Manchester United about extending his deal.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been warned he may need to drop "exhausted" Luis Diaz.
Liverpool's Conor Bradley will captain Northern Ireland for the first time in Saturday's Nations League match against Belarus.
Macclesfield boss Robbie Savage says being a manager in the Northern Premier League is "much harder" than anything else he has ever done in football.
Jurgen Klopp favourite Kevin Grosskreutz is set to confront his former boss after his decision to join Red Bull in 2025.
Former Liverpool defender Alvaro Arbeloa is set to take on a new role at Real Madrid.
THE ATHLETIC
Leeds United are weighing up a move to sign free agent Cheikhou Kouyate on a short-term deal for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign.
Real Madrid centre-back Joan Martinez has signed a new contract with the club through to 2027.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
The Football Association has not yet formally interviewed any of the leading candidates to become the next permanent England manager - more than two months after the closing date for applications.
Eddie Howe has no desire to leave Newcastle United to become England manager and remains extremely happy on Tyneside.
French authorities have issued an international arrest warrant for the former Australia captain Rocky Elsom.
THE GUARDIAN
Lee Carsley intends to return to a more familiar system against Finland in the Nations League on Sunday, as he looks for a reaction to England's shapeless display in Thursday's 2-1 Wembley defeat by Greece.
A group of leading legal figures say FIFA has ignored their report into human rights concerns over the 2034 World Cup, warning the governing body is "dealing with the devil" in planning to take the tournament to Saudi Arabia.
THE TIMES
The British Olympic Association will have a chairwoman instead of a chairman for the first time in its 119-year history after the election was whittled down to two female former Olympic rowers.
DAILY RECORD
Jimmy Thelin knows Pape Habib Gueye is determined to come back even stronger and aid Aberdeen's push for success in the second half of the season.
Steve Clarke admits being in charge of Scotland's recent run of international misery has been a "horrible" experience.
Aberdeen have confirmed full-back Nicky Devlin has put pen to paper on a new-two-and-a-half-year deal at Pittodrie.
Nils Koppen has confirmed plans to improve the Rangers squad in January are well under way - but also adds more departures at Ibrox are likely.
SCOTTISH SUN
Hearts' ambitious move for ex-Norway boss Per-Mathias Hogmo has collapsed.
Hearts could now consider a bid to land Vasteras SK gaffer Kalle Karlsson.
Rangers were on the wrong end of a dreaded 'double red' against St Johnstone, says the SFA's latest independent VAR review panel.
The Athletic
Andy Irving, the ‘Portobello Pirlo’ and his journey to Germany, West Ham and Scotland senior side
By Roshane Thomas
It was a phone call Craig Levein had been meaning to make.
Two years ago, the former Scotland manager phoned Steve Clarke, the current boss of the national team, for a routine catch-up. Levein asked Clarke if he had been keeping tabs on Andy Irving’s progress at Austria Klagenfurt. The midfielder had amassed four caps from Scotland Under-17 to Under-21 but had yet to earn a senior call-up.
Clarke’s response did not surprise Levein.
“I told Steve to keep an eye on Andy’s progress because he’s doing well,” Levein tells The Athletic. “Then he said, ‘Is that the young lad that played for Hearts? I remember Andy from my time as manager of Kilmarnock’. It wasn’t until recently when there was talk about Andy getting in the squad that I remembered the chat me and Steve had.”
Clarke has called up Irving for Scotland’s upcoming Nations League games against Croatia and Portugal. The 24-year-old has only played 31 minutes for West Ham United this season but has impressed head coach Julen Lopetegui with his work ethic. Before pre-season, the midfielder had interest from Spanish side Espanyol but Lopetegui convinced Irving to stay.
He then impressed in friendlies against Ferencvaros and Dagenham & Redbridge. Irving, who joined West Ham from Austria Klagenfurt for £1.6million ($2.1m) in 2023, had further interest from Celtic, St Pauli and Sturm Graz in the week leading up to deadline day. But Lopetegui wanted to keep Irving for squad depth and he gave the midfielder his debut in the 3-0 loss to Chelsea.
Irving has travelled an unconventional route. He started his career at Hearts in his native Edinburgh, before loan spells at Berwick Rangers, Falkirk and a permanent switch to German side Turkgucu Munchen — who played in the third-tier — in 2021.
“When he moved to Germany and Austria, some thought it was a step down but he proved people wrong,” says former Hearts team-mate Christophe Berra. “There’s been a lot of injuries and that’s probably helped Andy earn his call-up, but it shows he’s been on Steve’s radar. I’m sure he’s spoken to people at West Ham to find out how Andy is getting on. It’s great for Andy and hopefully he will play. I feel like a proud big brother.”
This is the story of how Irving fought through setbacks to be on the verge of an international debut, including:
Leaving his boyhood club
The coach who noticed him aged 11
Being known as the “Portobello Pirlo”
Bouncing back from a troubled spell at Turkgucu Munchen
Irving’s journey started at Portobello High School, in the east of Edinburgh.
Jamie Stewart was Irving’s PE teacher and they remain in regular contact. Stewart is not surprised his ex-pupil has reached the upper echelons of football.
“I remember my boss had taken the register but Andy wasn’t in that day,” says Stewart. “He was 15 and she asked the class, ‘Where’s Andy?’ They told her he was away with Hearts for their under-20s game against Celtic. So staff thought, ‘Bloody hell, he is only 15 and playing at that age group already’. He started playing for Scotland’s youth team, then we started to think he had a chance of making a career out of football.
“Andy is so humble and he hasn’t changed. When he was at Hearts, his younger brother (Robbie) was still at school. If he had games during the week, Andy and his dad would be there to support him. That’s why Andy deserves everything. At Hearts, the fans nicknamed him the ‘Portobello Pirlo’. That’s how good he was but he has tough moments. I remember bumping into him when he left Turkgucu Munchen. Andy was told the club had no money and he had to find a new team. So to go from that, joining West Ham, making his Premier League debut and senior call-up for Scotland. It’s been some journey for him.”
Alan Sinclair, a former academy coach at Hearts, also played an important role in Irving’s development. He coached the midfielder as he climbed up the youth ranks at the Scottish side. But his first sighting of Irving happened fortuitously.
“I was watching my friend’s son play a youth game at Hearts,” Sinclair says. “Five minutes into the game I said, ‘That player is really good’. But I wasn’t talking about my friend’s son, I was talking about Andy Irving. He was just better than all the other players. I phoned one of the scouts and said, ‘Listen, I’m watching a game at Newcraighall’, The scout interrupted me to say, ‘Yes, Andy is a talented boy’. I said, ‘How did you know it was about him?’ His response was, ‘We’ve been watching him for weeks. He’s miles ahead of everyone else. He’s on our radar’. Then he joined us at Under-11 level but always played with older age groups.”
But there was also a cheeky side to Irving’s personality, which Sinclair also fondly remembers.
“When we won a cup when Andy was 14,” Sinclair recalls. “We won 4-1 and I remember him high-fiving some of his team-mates on the bench and as he ran past, I tried to kick him up the a*** so he could get on with the game! Another special memory is when Hearts beat Hibernian in the 2012 Scottish Cup final. It was the day when the staff and the players were taking pictures with the trophy. The first-team and academy players were kept apart but Andy managed to sneak in and get a picture with the cup and a player. I thought, ‘Look at this cheeky little bugger!’”
Irving made his first-team debut for Hearts against Hamilton Academical in January 2018. It was Levein who gave the midfielder his chance and he developed into a fan favourite. Irving registered five goals across 59 appearances. Loan spells at Berwick Rangers and Falkirk in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons helped Irving gain confidence.
Across both spells, he scored two goals in 55 appearances. Paul Hartley, manager of Cove Rangers, coached Irving during his brief sojourn at Falkirk.
“I saw him play in a few reserve games for Hearts and I asked Craig Levein if I could sign him,” says Hartley. “Andy had great ability and his journey has been different. He’s a great example of risk meeting reward. His determination has got him where he is. Eyebrows were raised when he joined the third-division club in Germany. But he believed in himself and now he’s at a Premier League club. It’s a great example to young players of never giving up. I was surprised but also delighted for him when I saw he’s been called for the Scotland squad. Surprised because he hasn’t played much for West Ham, but sometimes you need that bit of luck. If he gets the opportunity to impress, I’m sure he will take it.”
Irving’s family supported Hearts, but while they watched him play for his boyhood club, Irving knew he had an important decision to make.
“Andy confided in me a few times when his contract was about to expire at Hearts,” says Berra. “He was offered a new deal but wasn’t happy with the terms of it and asked for my opinion. Andy wasn’t greedy or driven by money — he just wanted to play. But the deal the club offered didn’t make Andy feel valued. I told him, ‘If they’re not offering you what you think you’re worth, then take a risk. Scottish football isn’t the be-all and end-all’.
“Sometimes when you come through academies you’re not as appreciated as others. I think Andy felt like that and his gut instinct said to seek a new challenge. It was a real loss for Hearts because he would’ve developed into a real asset and sold on for a lot of money.”
Irving at Austria Klagenfurt (Franz Kirchmayr/SEPA.Media /Getty Images)
Irving left Hearts in the summer of 2021 to join Turkgucu Munchen, but the club became embroiled in financial complications. In January 2022, they filed for bankruptcy and two months later withdrew from the 3. Liga because they did not have the financial means to finish the season. The midfielder trained with Austria Klagenfurt and German side Karlsruher to maintain his fitness. In the summer of 2022, Irving rejected interest from clubs in the German second tier to join Klagenfurt.
Tim Steidten, West Ham’s technical director, considered Irving to be a risk-free move. He returned to Klagenfurt on a season-long loan after joining West Ham on a three-year deal. Irving faces challenges from fellow central midfielders Edson Alvarez, Guido Rodriguez, Tomas Soucek and Carlos Soler for a starting berth. Of the seven league games West Ham have played, Irving has not been in the matchday squad twice, and has been an unused substitute on three occasions.
But Irving has shown he is not one to shy away from a challenge. That mindset has enabled him to reach this point in his career, where the next reward could be his most fulfilling yet.
“The fact West Ham signed Andy shows he has a bit about him,” says Levein. “Being at a Premier League club has put him right on the radar. I’m delighted to see he’s made great progress. Not playing often isn’t ideal for Andy because he’s the type of boy who wants to play all the time. But if you look at all the things he’s overcome, there’s no reason why he can’t force his way into the West Ham team and the national side.”
(Top photo: Getty Images)
The Hard Tackle
West Ham United prioritising Jayden Oosterwolde move
West Ham United will reportedly prioritise signing 23-year-old versatile Dutch defender Jayden Oosterwolde from Fenerbahce next year.
According to a report by Turkish outlet Fanatik, Jayden Oosterwolde is the subject of interest from West Ham United. The Hammers have identified the versatile Fenerbahce full-back as their top target for next year. However, the East London club will face a roadblock in the chase, with Jose Mourinho not interested in sanctioning the departure of the versatile Dutch defender.
Jayden Oosterwolde and his Turkish journey
Jayden Oosterwolde has landed on his feet since joining Fenerbahce from Parma in January 2023. A native of Zwolle, the Dutchman spent his formative years in his homeland and graduated from the youth division at FC Twente. However, he has risen in prominence during his spell in Turkiye in the last 12 months.
The 23-year-old has gone from strength to strength at Fenerbahce while becoming one of the go-to players for Jose Mourinho in the 2024/25 season. Oosterwolde has turned out 61 times thus far for the Turkish giants while chipping in with two goals.
Meanwhile, Jayden Oosterwolde’s progress at Fenerbahce has not gone unnoticed, capturing the attention of several well-known clubs across Europe, especially in the Premier League. The summer transfer window produced links with Crystal Palace and Newcastle United, with West Ham United weighing up a move for the versatile Dutch defender for next year.
London calling?
West Ham United mulled over signing Jayden Oosterwolde in the summer transfer window before a move failed to see the light of day. The continued interest in the Dutchman makes sense, considering Aaron Cresswell barely features for the East London club, while Emerson Palmieri is inconsistent.
So, Oosterwolde has emerged as a viable target to bolster the left-back berth, with the Hammers identifying him as their top target for 2025. However, West Ham will face a roadblock, with Jose Mourinho not interested in sanctioning the versatile Dutch defender’s departure next year.
A significant proposal from West Ham United will not turn Mourinho’s head either, and the Fenerbahce manager wants to keep the 23-year-old in his squad. So, the East London club might have to look elsewhere for a new left-back next year.
