Manchester United are set to rival Paris St-Germain for Napoli and Georgia forward Khvitcha Kvaratskhelia, 23. (L'Equipe - in French), external
Liverpool could also move for Kvaratskhelia if Napoli allow him to leave this month. (Athletic), external
Everton's new owners are expected to offer 61-year-old Scot David Moyes the chance to return to Goodison Park. (Guardian), external
West Ham have asked to be kept informed on the availability of England forward Marcus Rashford and would be interested in taking the 27-year-old on loan from Manchester United. (Talksport), external
Serie A clubs AC Milan and Como are also interested in signing Rashford for the remainder of the season. (Gianluca Di Marzio, external)
Arsenal cannot afford the British record transfer fee it would take to sign 25-year-old Swedish striker Alexander Isak from Newcastle this summer, while Ukraine full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko, 28, could leave the Gunners this month. (Mail)
Four Bournemouth stars are attracting interest from top Premier League clubs, with Ukraine centre-back Illia Zabarnyi, Hungary left-back Milos Kerkez, Ghana forward Antoine Semenyo and Spain Under-21 defender Dean Huijsen all being monitored by Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool. (The i, external)
Manchester United have joined Arsenal in the race to sign Cameroon forward Bryan Mbeumo, 25, from Brentford. (Mirror), external
Manchester City are working on a deal to sign 18-year-old Brazilian defender Vitor Reis from Palmeiras. (Athletic), external
Nottingham Forest have enquired about a loan deal for Juventus' Douglas Luiz, 26, but the Brazil midfielder is also on the radar of Manchester United, Manchester City and Fulham. (Mail), external
Southampton and England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, 26, is being tracked by Newcastle. (Sun), external
Borussia Dortmund have made an approach for Manchester City's 19-year-old English defender Max Alleyne. (Fabrizio Romano), external
Liverpool and England midfielder Harvey Elliott, 21, is attracting interest from Brighton and Borussia Dortmund. (Lyall Thomas), external
Crystal Palace's Tyrick Mitchell, 25, is wanted by several Premier League clubs and the England full-back has also been scouted by Atletico Madrid. (Mirror), external
Aston Villa have entered negotiations with Ligue 2 club Caen for French 18-year-old forward Tidiam Gomis. (L'Equipe - in French), external
Juventus have made Barcelona centre-back Ronald Araujo, 25, their primary target as they aim to sign a new defender this month. (Fabrizio Romano, external)
Fulham have received an improved offer of £20.5m from Palmeiras for 29-year-old Brazil midfielder Andreas Pereira. (Mail), external
West Ham have been offered the opportunity to sign 24-year-old Canada and Lille forward Jonathan David. (GiveMeSport), external
Bournemouth are considering a loan move for 29-year-old Paraguay and LDU Quito striker Alex Arce. (Football Insider)
Sky Paper Talk
DAILY STAR
Manchester United are plotting a shock raid on Brentford for Bryan Mbeumo, with Ruben Amorim a huge admirer of the forward.
THE SUN
Crystal Palace left-back Tyrick Mitchell is a target for Atletico Madrid and AC Milan, along with a host of top Premier League clubs.
New Tottenham hero Lucas Bergvall had two trials at Manchester United when he was younger.
Newcastle are tracking Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal and Manchester United will use a different ball to their FA Cup rivals this weekend.
DAILY MAIL
Arsenal cannot afford the British-record transfer fee it would take to sign Alexander Isak from Newcastle this summer.
Manchester City have held further talks with Palmeiras over a £25m deal for Vitor Reis.
Leicester are set to learn at the start of next week whether they will face a possible points deduction for breaking Premier League spending rules.
Manchester United are advancing in their efforts to finalise a new-look executive team which will see Jason Wilcox's powerbase at the club extended.
Christopher Vivell, who joined Manchester United in July as the interim director of recruitment, is now in talks over taking up a permanent position at the club.
Arsenal's acting sporting director Jason Ayto has growing internal support to take on the role permanently.
Newcastle will try to persuade Martin Dubravka to stay at the club beyond this month.
Manchester City are making positive progress in their move for Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov.
Newcastle do not have buy-back clauses in the contracts of Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh.
Tottenham medical staff will make regular home checks on Rodrigo Bentancur over the coming days following his worrying on-pitch collapse on Wednesday night.
Chelsea's plan to use Trevoh Chalobah as a makeweight in a deal for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi could stumble over wages.
Rangers are showing interest in Serbian international midfielder Sasa Zdjelar.
Dan Ashworth's shock sacking at Manchester United has had a knock-on effect, with Michael Appleton no longer re-joining his old club as loans manager.
England head coach Thomas Tuchel was 'hugely impressed' with a whistle-stop tour of Tottenham's training centre on Saturday morning.
Newcastle have sent head of recruitment Steve Nickson to check on James Trafford - but an offer for the Burnley goalkeeper is not anticipated in January.
Sportsbank officials will fly to the Middle East in the coming days with a view to wrapping up their deal to become controlling partners in Crystal Palace.
West Ham were confident Christophe Galtier and Paulo Fonseca would have accepted their head-coach role if their move to appoint Graham Potter had been unsuccessful.
Newcastle face the prospect of missing out on Millwall's Romain Esse this month.
DAILY MIRROR
Manchester City are banking on a triple transfer deal to save their stuttering season.
Plymouth chief Simon Hallett has hit back at suggestions Wayne Rooney was hired as a publicity stunt after confirming a planned documentary would no longer be taking place.
Wrexham's new multi-million-pound academy training ground has been ransacked by thieves.
THE ATHLETIC
Liverpool could consider a move to sign Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from Napoli should it be decided that he is to exit the club in this transfer window.
Juventus are interested in signing Barcelona and Uruguay centre-back Ronald Araujo.
Borussia Dortmund have extended the contract of Sebastian Kehl, the club's sporting director, until 2027.
Monaco have agreed a deal with Sturm Graz for the signing of forward Mika Biereth.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
West Ham are expected to review the position of Tim Steidten despite new head coach Graham Potter's insistence that he can work with the club's controversial technical director.
In his 20 months out of football, Graham Potter fielded interest from more than 10 clubs, in England and overseas, and four foreign national football associations.
David Moyes will hold further talks over a stunning return to Everton after an extraordinary day at Goodison Park, in which Sean Dyche was sacked three hours before the FA Cup tie against Peterborough.
Petr Cech has revealed that he scouted new Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky for Chelsea while he was technical and performance adviser at Stamford Bridge.
England are expected to beat Wales to Kepu Tuipulotu because of a World Rugby eligibility rule amendment that they believe allows them to pick the teenage tyro with immediate effect.
England are refusing to boycott next month's Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan over safety fears for their players in Pakistan and the threat of reprisals from the Taliban and their supporters.
DAILY EXPRESS
Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United have been tipped to battle for Atalanta midfielder Ederson in the summer.
Edu was reportedly unhappy that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was gaining too much authority ahead of his exit from the club.
Manchester United midfielder Casemiro has agreed a contract to move to the Saudi Pro League in the January transfer window, according to reports.
THE TIMES
England will spend their two-week Six Nations preparation camp in Girona, Spain, working to install a more cerebral and less gung-ho defensive system.
The PFA is drawing up plans to oppose the Premier League introducing its first cap on spending from next season and has been in touch with the two Manchester clubs, who are also against the "anchoring" scheme.
The scale of the revolt against Bill Sweeney was laid bare on Thursday night as 152 clubs from across England piled unprecedented pressure on the RFU board to sack him.
DAILY RECORD
In-form Hamza Igamane has admitted it's his dream to play for "a big club in Europe" as he opened up on his future goals.
Scottish football's domestic transfer market could be given a radical shake-up in a bid to provide a better pathway for its future stars.
Hearts star Kye Rowles is expected to be given the green light to complete his move to DC United next week.
Hibernian are confident of agreeing an extension to Lewis Miller's deal at Easter Road.
Guardian Rumour mill
Simon Burnton
Liverpool like the look of Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and are trying to hijack the winger’s proposed move to Paris St-Germain, with their offer potentially helped by the Italian club’s apparent interest in Anfield benchwarmer Federico Chiesa, though the Georgian “also features on the list of potential targets for teams like Chelsea”, claim the Athletic, who also add, less promisingly, that “Liverpool are not specifically chasing a player of Kvaratskhelia’s profile”.
On his way to Napoli, meanwhile, is Bournemouth’s Philip Billing, initially on loan but with a view to the deal becoming permanent for £9m come the summer. Conversely, on his way to Bournemouth is the 29-year-old Paraguay striker Alex Arce, who is apparently wanted on loan, again with the option to make the deal permanent at the end of the season, from the Ecuadorian champions, Liga Deportiva Universitaria.
Manchester City are ready to bid £25m for the 18-year-old (until Sunday) Palmeiras centre-back and Guardian Next Generation 2023 pick Vitor Reis, say the Times, and “are convinced that he is ready for first-team football straight away”. But the Brazilian side want £33m, and to keep him until June’s Club World Cup. “The 6ft 1in Reis is strong in the air, a good passer of the ball, and has impressive leadership skills despite his age,” the Times add. In what looks set to be a busy month for the nation’s most creative accountancy team City are also negotiating for the £25m-rated Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov and trying to lower the £65m asking price for Eintracht Frankfurt’s striker Omar Marmoush.
Bryan Mbeumo was linked with Arsenal in this very column only on Thursday, but on Friday Manchester United want him, the Mirror saying Ruben Amorim is “a huge admirer of the forward and believes he would fit into his long-term plans”. A £40m bid is being readied. Meanwhile a strange report on the Mirror’s website exclaims in the headline that Marcus Rashford is “one step away from exit as forward flies out to complete deal”, before at no point suggesting that the forward has gone anywhere outside Lancashire (though as previously reported his agent has). Anyway, Milan are sending Noah Okafor to Leipzig on loan and are thereby creating a Rashford-shaped hole in their squad, and the front page of today’s Corriere dello Sport suggest “Rashford has chosen” the Rossoneri. If he changes his mind the Mail are reporting that West Ham would also like him, but that “the costs associated with bringing him to the London Stadium would likely be a hurdle”.
The Italian newspaper TuttoSport trail on their front page the intriguing news that the Inter manager, Simone Inzaghi, “is dreaming of Arsenal”, but further details require access to pages 14, 15, 16 and 17. They also reveal that Randal Kolo Muani, the PSG forward linked with Manchester United in this very column a couple of days ago, has agreed to join Juventus instead. Meanwhile Arsenal are “extremely unlikely” to buy Alexander Isak off Newcastle this summer, according to the Mail, even if they sell Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Also not leaving Newcastle is Martin Dubravka, whose proposed move to Saudi Arabia was set to be rubber-stamped by the club’s beancounters until Eddie Howe put his foot down. And finally, Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell is a target for “rival Premier League clubs” as well as “foreign sides”, according to the Mirror, while the Sun name Arsenal, Tottenham, Milan and Atlético Madrid as potential suitors.
Guardian
Graham Potter’s task is to put human heart back in West Ham’s gormless machine
Jonathan Liew
Graham Potter is unveiled as the new West Ham United manager. Photograph: West Ham United FC/Getty Images
Remember Angrygate? For a few surreal days in February 2023, pretty much the entire talking apparatus of English football was engaged – as is its habit – in a fevered, earnest and yet entirely fatuous debate about whether Graham Potter was angry enough to be the Chelsea manager.
Under an increasingly persistent line of questioning, Potter coped pretty well. He firmly pointed out that you do not go from the ninth tier to one of the biggest clubs in the world without a certain ruthless streak. He subtly rebuked the hypocrisy of the media for demanding greater touchline theatrics from Premier League managers and then pontificating about the culture of abuse towards grassroots referees. So subtly, in fact, that the media blissfully ignored that bit.
The irony, as would become apparent in Potter’s later interviews, was that he really was angry. And frustrated, and embittered, and ultimately humiliated, as a coach hired for a world-record compensation fee was sacked after six months of pure, reckless chaos. A packed schedule. A winter World Cup. New signings being forced to sit on the floor and change in corridors. Rookie owners prone to giving dressing-room speeches or occasionally forgetting the number of players in a football team.
It has taken Potter 21 months to return to coaching, and by all accounts he’s had an absolute blast. He learned Spanish. He visited the Falkland Islands. He did a spot of punditry. Last summer, at the height of Euros fever, he went to watch Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour at Wembley Stadium, disguising himself amid the crowds by wearing a pair of white love-heart sunglasses. This is the Potter we know and occasionally adore: a recognisably regular guy, mending his heart just so he can get it broken all over again. And the burning question, as he climbs back on to the management bronco at the wildly mismanaged West Ham, is not so much whether he has learned anything from his Chelsea experience, but whether there is anything that usefully can be learned beyond, well … “Don’t do that again!”
The first thing to say here is that West Ham have hired a superb coach, albeit a coach with a few myths that need busting. Firstly, the idea that Potter is some kind of slow-burn, perfectionist manager who needs whole years to get the parts into alignment, who needs every piece to be just right. Promotion in each of his first two seasons at Östersund. Immediate improvement at Swansea with no money and a hollowed-out squad. Immediate improvement at Brighton. Potter should make West Ham better in the long term. But there’s no reason why he can’t succeed in the short term, too.
The other underrated element of Potter’s record is his commitment to pragmatism and flexibility. This is a coach who in his relatively short career has played pretty much every formation in the book, who set up his Brighton team in a low block against some teams and a high block against others. What defines Potterball is not so much a particular system or style as a set of values, and here the personal qualities are as relevant as the tactical. The way Potter assembles a team is basically an expression of who he is.
He likes a squad big enough to rotate, he likes players who are versatile and can perform different roles within games, he likes to give everyone minutes, to make everyone feel valued. On the pitch, nobody is more important than anybody else. Everyone has to be quick, everyone has to work hard off the ball, and – importantly – everyone takes it in turns to be the star. Centre-halves can peel forward and join the attack. Wing-backs can bomb into the box. Midfielders can surge from deep. Under Potter’s tutelage, players as varied as Alexis Mac Allister, Leandro Trossard, Ben White and Marc Cucurella all grew into the very best versions of themselves, all earned themselves big moves to Champions League teams.
As, eventually, did Potter. And yet at Chelsea the very same values that earned him success at Brighton became deadly weaknesses. He tried to keep everyone happy at a club where 40 players expected to start.
He tried to keep a low profile at a club that expects its coaches to fight publicly for the cause. He tried to foster a sense of collective ambition at a club built as a shrine to self-interest, that has only ever really succeeded through a kind of creative disruption. And obviously Potter doesn’t get a pass here. It’s clear he didn’t have a clue how to fix things. But above all this was just a terrible fit all round, a Hollywood farce on a Hollywood budget.
It was telling that Potter made so many references in his initial media engagements to West Ham as “a family club”. Clearly this is the element of coaching that matters most to him: the synergy between the football on the pitch and the supporters in the stands, the dignity of a hard day’s work done together, the mutual respect you only really get from a tight close-knit unit where everyone treats each other right. But the other thing about families, of course, is that they often turn in on themselves at the first sign of trouble. Never was this more apparent than during the acrid tenure of Julen Lopetegui, who had spent the summer courting Milan, who for all his qualities never quite shook off the suspicion that he was basically politicking, that West Ham were simply the backdrop for the latest episode of Julen Lopetegui Positions Himself For His Next Job.
This is how you end up with a club that has a power vacuum where its human heart should be. A club run on whispers and anonymous briefings, where some guy wanted Guido Rodríguez and some other guy didn’t, where this guy wanted Edin Terzic and this guy wanted Ruud van Nistelrooy, where the sporting director, Tim Steidten – your all-seeing, all-strategising mastermind – is also the weakest person in the building. Where nobody can really discern the lines of influence because those lines are in a constant process of renegotiation, because everything from the ownership of the club to the transfer policy to central midfield is the product of messy, unsatisfactory compromise. Who actually runs West Ham? It’s hard to say.
And so Potter’s biggest task here, far bigger than what he does with Jean-Clair Todibo or Niclas Füllkrug, far bigger than how he fixes a team that concedes the most shots from quick breaks in the Premier League, is to put that human heart back in the gormless machine. And to do so without a recognisable brand or sales pitch, without a messianic personality, without gimmicks or slogans, without a Swiftie-style army of bots and stans to do his bidding.
Potter will not emote for the cameras. He will not complain about the weight of the footballs. He will not engage in petty feuds or indulge conspiracy theorists or persecution complexes, and in the performance space of social media this will put him on thin ice from the start. All he has is his work, and his ideas, and his values. But it may just be enough to make West Ham feel like a club again.
Give Me Sport
Exclusive: Graham Potter 'Offered' £25m Striker as First West Ham Signing
West Ham United have been handed the opportunity to sign Lille star Jonathan David after the London Stadium recruitment chiefs have gone in search of adding further firepower ahead of the winter transfer window slamming shut on February 3, GIVEMESPORT sources have revealed.
The Hammers have entered a new era as Graham Potter was appointed as Julen Lopetegui's successor on a two-and-a-half year contract on Thursday, and plans are being put in place alongside technical director Tim Steidten and chairman David Sullivan to make adjustments to the squad he has inherited.
David, who has been described as 'one of the best strikers in the world' by journalist Tony Marinaro, is a potential acquisition after West Ham have shown determination to be active in the transfer market due to finding themselves just seven points clear of the Premier League's relegation zone.
Hammers Given Opportunity to Recruit David
Canada international pushed in east Londoners' direction
Potter has been given the chance to make David his first signing in the West Ham hot-seat, according to GMS sources, as the Canada international has been offered to the east Londoners even though they turned down the opportunity to pounce when he was pushed in their direction in the summer.
The striker has entered the final six months of his Lille deal, which allows him to pocket in the region of £31,000-per-week at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, meaning the Hammers can tie him down to a pre-contract agreement ahead of him joining as a free agent at the end of the campaign.
GMS sources have been informed that there has been early contact with West Ham to discover whether their feelings over David have changed since the opening days of Lopetegui's tenure and, in a significant twist, if a move to the London Stadium would be a possibility under Potter's tutelage.
Although Lille have slashed their demands for the 24-year-old to £25million due to an awareness that the winter transfer window is their last chance to cash in unless they can tempt him into making a U-turn and penning a new contract, the Hammers could face competition from Premier League rivals if they decide to up the ante.
That is because Manchester United are also expected to be offered David as they contemplate bringing in a new first-choice marksman, GMS sources have learned, but Potter will have a big say on West Ham signings and has already made it clear that he is eager to recruit fresh competition at centre forward ahead of the deadline.
