Paris St-Germain are interested in signing Jhon Duran and it is believed Aston Villa could be tempted to sell the 21-year-old Colombia striker for £60m. (Talksport)
Barcelona sporting director Deco has already met with Duran's representatives for informal talks to let the Aston Villa striker know he is on the radar of the Catalan club. (Sport - in Spanish)
Bayern Munich want to hijack Manchester United's bid to sign Sweden striker Viktor Gyokeres, 26, from Sporting. (Star)
Real Madrid have rejected the chance to sign Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk, who will be a free agent when his Liverpool contract expires in the summer, after being approached by the 33-year-old's management. (Relevo - in Spanish)
The Saudi Pro League is hopeful of recruiting Brazil midfielder Casemiro, 32, from Manchester United this month. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Manchester United and Tottenham are actively exploring a January deal to sign France striker Randal Kolo Muani on loan from Paris St-Germain, with Juventus also interested in the 26-year-old. (Athletic - subscription required)
Marcus Rashford, 27, is wanted on loan by AC Milan but any deal will depend on Manchester United paying a sizeable portion of the England forward's salary. (Guardian)
Juventus are interested in signing Netherlands forward Joshua Zirkzee on loan but the 23-year-old has no interest in leaving Manchester United. (Sky Sports)
Manchester United have been offered Juventus' 24-year-old Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic in a swap deal for Zirkzee. (Teamtalk)
Brazil midfielder Douglas Luiz is a target for two Premier League clubs, with Juventus and the 26-year-old open to a move. (Sky Sports News, via Football Italia)
Real Betis are one of several clubs hoping to take Manchester United's Brazil winger Antony, 24, on loan for the rest of the season. (Independent)
Antony is also being lined up for a potential loan deal by Greek club Olympiakos. (Sun)
Crystal Palace are interested in 19-year-old English midfielder Jobe Bellingham, who Sunderland value at about £20m. (Talksport)
West Ham striker Niclas Fullkrug is also a January target for Juventus, with the Italian club keen to bring the 31-year-old Germany international in on loan. (Calciomercato - in Italian)
Brazil striker Matheus Cunha, 25, is still considering his options before deciding whether to sign a new contract with Wolves. (Sky Sports)
Chelsea are debating whether to recall English defender Trevoh Chalobah, 25, from his loan spell at Crystal Palace or try to sign a new defender in January. (Teamtalk)
Liverpool are plotting a move for Feyenoord's Algeria winger Anis Hadj Moussa, 22. (Football Insider)
Liverpool have no intention of sending Italy forward Federico Chiesa, who has been linked with Napoli, out on loan in January, according to the 27-year-old's agent. (365scores, via Liverpool Echo)
Sky Paper Talk
THE SUN
Crystal Palace are poised to reject a 'silly' offer from Chelsea for £55m-rated Marc Guehi.
Julen Lopetegui's job is hanging by a thread at West Ham with Graham Potter back in contention to take over.
Actor Danny Dyer has claimed credit for West Ham's 1-0 Boxing Day victory - because scorer Jarrod Bowen was allowed to eat his roast potatoes on Christmas Day.
Plymouth have been denied permission to speak to Walsall manager Matt Sadler.
DAILY MAIL
Graham Potter is in talks with West Ham owner David Sullivan over replacing under-pressure Julen Lopetegui.
Juventus midfielder Douglas Luiz could return to the Premier League this month as the Italian side monitor Joshua Zirkzee.
Aston Villa have expressed interest in Spain international right-back Oscar Mingueza.
Liverpool will continue to point to their £30m valuation of Ben Doak as Crystal Palace look to make a revised offer for the Scotland international.
Manchester United winger Antony is wanted on loan by Olympiakos.
THE TIMES
West Ham United have offered Graham Potter the head coach job until the end of the season after deciding to sack Julen Lopetegui.
The Saudi Pro League has been alerted to the availability of Casemiro, who is willing to leave Manchester United this month.
Martin Dubravka, Newcastle's second-choice goalkeeper, could play his last match for the club at the Emirates against Arsenal on Tuesday night and then be sold, despite the first-choice goalkeeper Nick Pope not quite being ready to return from injury.
Wolverhampton Wanderers are set to complete the £16.5m signing of the Ivory Coast centre-back Emmanuel Agbadou.
THE GUARDIAN
West Ham have asked Graham Potter to become their new manager after deciding to sack Julen Lopetegui. Potter held talks with the club's largest shareholder, David Sullivan, on Monday night and is mulling over whether to accept the offer.
Chelsea's search for defensive reinforcements could see them attempt to re-sign Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi.
Marcus Rashford is being targeted by Milan regarding a potential loan, with any deal dependent on Manchester United paying a sizeable portion of the forward's salary of about £365,000 a week.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Graham Potter has held talks with Tim Steidten, the West Ham United technical director, with Julen Lopetegui on "borrowed time" as he tries to survive as the club's head coach.
The Saudi Pro League is hopeful of signing Casemiro from Manchester United this month.
DAILY RECORD
Jonny Evans has been suggested by the Rangers board as a possible transfer option to try and help ease their current defensive crisis.
Aberdeen are interested in Alexander Jensen but Brommapojkarna have slapped a £800,000 price tag on his head.
Guardian Rumour Mill
Simon Burnton
Manchester United seem to be plotting a double raid on Paris Saint-Germain, after identifying Randal Kolo Muani as the answer to their striking problems and Nuno Mendes as their ideal left-back, though neither transfer looks straightforward. Kolo Muani, who moved to the Parc des Princes for £77m only 16 months ago and has scored twice in 14 appearances this season, could be available on loan and is also interesting Tottenham while also finding himself on a three-man shortlist drawn up by Juventus, where he is joined by United’s own Joshua Zirkzee and West Ham’s mostly-injured Niclas Füllkrug – the Old Lady are hoping to free up funds by selling the former Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz back into the Premier League, with Manchester City one of three clubs they have offered him to.
Mendes meanwhile is in the final 18 months of his contract in Paris, and the Telegraph reports that “there have been several discussions” between United and the 22-year-old’s representatives, but also that PSG are hoping to convince him to sign a new deal and that there are “doubts he will demand a transfer during this window”.
Meanwhile Bayern Munich have opened talks with the agents of Sporting’s Viktor Gyökeres in the hope of derailing a potential move to Manchester, where he would be reunited with his former manager Ruben Amorim. Should the Kolo Muani thing not happen United might try to sign Victor Osimhen instead, though Napoli have no intention of letting the Nigerian, who is on loan at Galatasaray, leave this month even if Marcus Rashford is offered in part-exchange. Meanwhile Olympiakos are ready to pay £1.5m to loan Antony for the rest of the season and Casemiro is still wanted in Saudi Arabia, where the plan is to snap him up for around £23m – leaving United bean counters to deal with a £50m loss on a player they signed two and half years ago – and stick him in the same Al-Nassr team as Cristiano Ronaldo.
On the subject of regrettable and expensive transfer mistakes, Chelsea want to sign Marc Guéhi from Crystal Palace but might have to pay between £40m and £50m more than the £18m they received when they sold him in 2021. Happily they would get a hefty chunk of that back thanks to a clever sell-on clause of around 18%. The Sun reports that Chelsea have made an opening bid, but quote a “source” saying: “Their offer was a long way off a fair price. It was silly and they need to offer more to even have a hope.”
The Mail counters that only “internal talks” have taken place at Stamford Bridge about the move, that “Palace are aware of the interest”, but a deal may be hampered by the fact that Chelsea have apparently “moved away from paying big remuneration packages”. Newcastle and Liverpool are potential rivals for the centre-back, whose contract runs to the end of next season, and Chelsea might end up bringing in a different Palace defender in the shape of Trevoh Chalobah, who has the advantage of actually still being their player, by cancelling the remainder of his loan deal at Selhurst Park.
The Chelsea midfielder Cesare Casadei might be on his way out of the club, meanwhile, with Torino keen to repatriate the 21-year-old. The Italian newspaper Tuttosport reports that Il Toro have already signed one Premier League player, having reached agreement with Everton over a deal for Beto.
Liverpool’s chances of signing the Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez – which they may or may not actually want to do though they are widely assumed to be, as the Times puts it, “admirers” – will be raised by the imminent arrival at the Vitality Stadium of the 19-year-old Argentinian left-back Julio Soler from Atlético Lanús, whose fee could rise to £11.5m. Meanwhile in right-back news Aston Villa are eyeing up Celta Vigo’s Óscar Mingueza, while also casting flirtatious glances at several unnamed alternatives.
TBR
Now – according to UOL in Brazil – West Ham have made a bid to sign Arthur Cabral on loan.
West Ham make Arthur Cabral proposal
The Brazilian news outlet are now claiming that West Ham have submitted an offer to take the 26-year-old on loan from Benfica for the rest of the season.
UOL believe the east Londoners were even willing to include a purchase option for the summer, although Benfica are not currently entertaining such an offer.
The report states that both West Ham and Torino have seen loan proposals rejected by the Portuguese giants, with Benfica preferring to sell Cabral on an outright permanent deal this month.
However, Bruno Lage is still using the Brazilian striker regularly as a substitute, so Benfica do not plan to make an exit easy for the South American, and will only consider “interesting” bids.
Benfica paid €25m (£20.8m) to sign the man born in Campina Grande from Fiorentina back in August 2023 – so you would imagine any bid would need to be close to that figure.
Sport Witness
West Ham ‘still trying to hijack’ signing – Hammers receive encouragement
By Naveen Ullal
West Ham United are battling it out with AS Monaco to sign OH Leuven’s Ezechiel Banzuzi in the winter market.
That’s according to Voetbal International, who say West Ham are ‘still trying to hijack’ the deal from the Ligue 1 side.
The attacking midfielder’s agent has met with Monaco and the two parties have reached an agreement over personal terms.
Monaco have to agree a deal with the Belgian club and VI claim they will meet Leuven on Tuesday to offer a fee of around €13m including bonuses.
Adi Hütter’s side are in the driving seat but ‘fear’ West Ham, who are trying to hijack the operation. Julen Lopetegui’s future at the club seems to be uncertain, and this could give Monaco an edge to quickly wrap up the deal for Banzuzi.
RMC Sport also report on Monaco’s agreement with the 19-year-old for a contract until 2030.
They add Leicester City, who showed interested, are out of the race, but West Ham could still try to snatch Banzuzi from Monaco’s clutches.
Het Nieuwsblad relay VI’s claim and then provide their own information on this case. They also claim the Premier League side could hijack the Monaco’s deal for the Netherlands U21 international.
Even though two other sources have stated Monaco are well placed in the transfer race, the Belgian newspaper claim Leuven haven’t heard anything concrete yet. This should give the Hammers encouragement in their efforts to sign Banzuzi in this window.
Cabral – who boasts 130 goals in 313 games across his career – has scored five goals in 20 appearances so far this season.
OS
Jethro Medine signs first professional contract
West Ham United is delighted to announce that Academy defender Jethro Medine has signed his first professional contract with the Club.
Joined by his family, Medine marked the proud occasion at Chadwell Heath Training Ground, the venue he has grown up at, having joined the Club at the U9 age group.
Gabriel Caliste signs first professional contract
West Ham United is delighted to announce that Academy midfielder Gabriel Caliste has signed his first professional contract with the Club.
Joined by his close family to celebrate this landmark career milestone, the 18-year-old Mauritius international put pen to paper at West Ham United’s Chadwell Heath Training Ground.
A versatile box-to-box midfielder who can play in a variety of positions, Caliste began his footballing journey with Sunday league side Euro Dagenham before joining Dagenham & Redbridge’s Academy. Following their relegation to the National League in 2016 and the subsequent closure of their Academy, Caliste experienced spells at several Academies, including West Ham, before eventually signing for the Hammers at U14 level.
An excellent one-on-one defender, the 17-year-old is an energetic right-back who provides just as much going forward as he does in defence.