Manchester United are hopeful of sealing a deal for Sporting and Sweden striker Viktor Gyokeres, 26, despite interest from Arsenal. (Independent)
The Gunners are also among the clubs interested in signing Rosenborg's 18-year-old Norwegian midfielder Sverre Nypan. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Chelsea are monitoring Manchester United and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho, 20, and Borussia Dortmund's English forward Jamie Gittens, 20, as potential transfer targets during the January window. (Sky Sports)
But the Blues and Napoli are seeking reassurances about Garnacho's temperament before deciding whether to pursue their interest. (Telegraph - subscription required)
AC Milan are close to completing a move for Manchester City's 34-year-old England full-back Kyle Walker. (Fabrizio Romano)
With the signing of Walker close, Milan have now dropped their interest in Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford, 27. (L'Equipe - in French)
Aston Villa are favourites to sign Levante's 21-year-old Spanish right-back Andres Garcia. (Relevo - in Spanish)
Poland midfielder Jakub Moder, 25, is nearing £1.2m move to Feyenoord, despite being offered a new long-term deal by Brighton. (Mail)
Brazil forward Richarlison, 27, has told friends he wants to leave Tottenham and has set his sights on a move to the Saudi Pro League. (Football Insider)
Aston Villa and Tottenham are considering a move for AC Milan centre-back Fikayo Tomori, 27, but Juventus are also keen on keeping the Englishman in Serie A. (TBR Football)
AC Milan have approached Chelsea about their Portugal forward Joao Felix, but the Blues are not interested in a loan deal for the 25-year-old. (Gianlucadimarzio.com - in Italian)
Galatasaray's Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Zaha, 32, is set to terminate his loan at Lyon and join MLS side Charlotte FC on an 18-month loan deal instead. (Times - subscription required)
German Johannes Spors, currently the global sporting director for 777 Group, is set to become Southampton's new technical director. (Sky Sports)
Sky Paper Talk
THE SUN
Arsenal are weighing up whether to make a £70million move for Benjamin Sesko in the January transfer window, or land a short-term loan deal.
Out-of-work football boss Wayne Rooney is said to be in negotiations to be a pundit on Match of the Day.
DAILY EXPRESS
Manchester United are set to enter the race to sign Borussia Dortmund star Jamie Gittens but face a battle to sign the English winger.
DAILY MAIL
Erling Haaland's gigantic, nine-and-a-half-year contract is the most lucrative handed to a player in the history of football - although it falls short of netting him £1m a week.
The prospect of a new, 100,000-capacity Old Trafford - and the demolition of Man Utd's historic home - has taken a major step forward after a task force delivered its recommendations.
Louis Rees-Zammit has an offer on the table to rejoin the Jacksonville Jaguars as the rugby star-turned-NFL-hopeful ponders his next move.
AC Milan are hopeful of wrapping up the signing of Man City's Kyle Walker after further talks on Friday.
Novak Djokovic has warned fans are overstepping the mark after riding an emotional rollercoaster through to a mind-boggling 67th Grand Slam second-week appearance.
Man Utd are continuing to rebuff approaches from Napoli for Alejandro Garnacho but Chelsea have also made early soundings.
Robin van Persie's 'illogical' tactical gamble failed to pay off as his SC Heerenveen side crashed out of the KNVB Cup at the hands of amateur opponents. The head coach, who took charge in May 2024 in his first managerial role, brought on goalkeeper Andries Noppert to deal with Quick Boys' aerial threat but an error from the substitute saw him give away a penalty, from which the hosts equalised.
DAILY MIRROR
Sergio Perez's father has hinted that he could make the switch to Formula E following his Formula 1 exit.
Tyson Fury must end his retirement by next month to set up an all-British showdown with Anthony Joshua, according to Eddie Hearn.
AC Milan have decided against signing Marcus Rashford after holding talks with the wantaway Manchester United forward's representatives.
Arsenal are close to discovering whether they have won the race for Norwegian wonderkid Sverre Nypan.
Napoli have agreed to turn their attentions elsewhere after failing with a bid for Alejandro Garnacho, it has been claimed, though Chelsea could yet offer him an exit route.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's frustrations were plain to see on Thursday night, with the Manchester United part-owner seen reacting to tough moments for big-money pair Antony and Leny Yoro.
THE TIMES
Mikel Arteta is ready to bring forward his summer transfer plans after Arsenal stepped up interest in signing Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig this month.
England will stay at a five-star £800-a-night Zurich hotel as they prepare to defend their Women's European Championship title this summer.
The RFU has employed the help of a crisis management company to help it survive the reputational damage of its pay and bonus row.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Manchester City are pushing to sign Jule Brand from Wolfsburg this month as they look to chase down Chelsea in the Women's Super League title race.
Manchester United are ready to play hardball over the future of Alejandro Garnacho with Napoli and Chelsea seeking reassurances about the winger's temperament.
DAILY STAR
Max Verstappen is reportedly wanted by Aston Martin who have made a promise to investors about the four-time Formula One world champion.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has given the go-ahead for a sensational move for Sporting Lisbon star Viktor Gyokeres.
DAILY RECORD
Rafael Fernandes has reportedly touched down in Scotland to get a loan move to Rangers over the line.
SCOTTISH SUN
Kelty Hearts have filled Michael Tidser's position as manager - with another ex-Celtic star Charlie Mulgrew.
Former Rangers star Glen Kamara is now out of the picture at Rennes just six months on and has been told to find a new club.
The Athletic
Shopping for strikers: Who could West Ham add to their threadbare attack?
By Roshane Thomas
It is a position on the pitch West Ham United rarely get right and is a longstanding issue new head coach Graham Potter can ill afford to get wrong.
West Ham are in the market for a forward. Current attacking options Niclas Fullkrug, Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen are all sidelined with injuries. Fullkrug, the £27million summer signing from Borussia Dortmund, will be out for three months having sustained a hamstring injury in the FA Cup loss against Aston Villa.
Antonio is out for the rest of the season with a broken leg following his car crash, though there is optimism that captain Bowen could return ahead of schedule in his recovery from a fractured foot. That means Danny Ings is the only fit and recognised striker among Potter’s options currently.
Understandably, there are a number of forwards on West Ham’s shortlist for the January transfer window. The Athletic has looked at some of the potential options and how they could improve Graham Potter’s side.
Rodrigo Muniz
The 23-year-old forward was a second-half substitute in Fulham’s 3-2 defeat against West Ham in midweek. Muniz has struggled to dislodge Raul Jimenez, who is Fulham’s leading goalscorer (8) this season, but is a reliable box striker, as we can see from the shotmap below — only Erling Haaland, of Manchester City, (3.9) has averaged more shots inside the penalty area per 90 mins since the start of last season (3.6).
Muniz has a good mix of goals, too. He is not afraid to take a touch and pick his corners, as we saw against Chelsea and Manchester City this season and Tottenham last season. He has a penchant for getting in front of his marker at the near post and is also dangerous in the air, as 36 headed shots demonstrate. An example of his aerial threat is the fine header he scored against Brighton last season.
But given Muniz’s broad skill set, manager Marco Silva wants to retain his services.
“We are not even open to listening to anything about Rodrigo,” Silva said in Thursday’s press conference. “No one has contacted us because it will be a quick and easy answer from ourselves. No chance at all to even start to talk.”
Andre Silva
RB Leipzig forward Silva is on West Ham’s shortlist and a loan deal is being explored. Let’s start with the bad news: this season, the 29-year-old has a paltry return of one goal in 15 appearances in all competitions. Silva has struggled with consistency in his past two seasons, which includes a loan spell at Real Sociedad. In fact, he has registered only four league goals since the start of last season; two penalties and two open-play goals from a combined distance of 7.2 yards.
This chart helps to illustrate how his output peaked in the 2020-21 season but has declined ever since. He underperformed his xG by 5.4 in the 2023-24 season and the amount of game time he has experienced has understandably reduced.
The good news is that West Ham need a clinical forward and Silva has been that sort of figure in the past. All 40 of his Eintracht Frankfurt Bundesliga goals came from inside the penalty area, which is an indication of the sort of finisher he is. His goalscoring return of 29 goals in 2020-21 at Frankfurt shows what he can achieve with an extended run in a team. Although Silva has not reached those heights since, a switch to West Ham and some regular game time could get him back on track. It would certainly be a risk, though.
Summer signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka, formerly of Manchester United, has revived his career at the London Stadium, as did Jesse Lingard in January 2021 with a six-month spell that led to an England recall. Brighton & Hove Albion forward Danny Welbeck had a career resurgence under Potter, too.
“Welbeck wasn’t playing at Watford and has ended up being a good signing with how he has influenced the team as an older player,” said Potter. “Neal Maupay (the ex-Brighton forward) arrived with a point to prove and scored goals for the club. At West Ham, it’s a case of us being open to anything and identifying the right profile and the right person for us.”
Evan Ferguson
The 20-year-old is a player Potter is familiar with. He gave Ferguson his first-team debut in August 2021 while manager of Brighton, but the Irish forward has struggled with game time this season and is behind Welbeck, Joao Pedro, Georginio Rutter and Julio Enciso in the club’s current pecking order.
An ankle injury has also curtailed his development, but a reunion with Potter could be the best outcome for both parties. A loan move would give Ferguson much-needed playing time and allow Brighton to reassess his future in the summer. The Republic of Ireland international is aware of Potter’s demands as a head coach and is familiar with playing in his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation.
“I wouldn’t say (signing a striker) is imperative, but with the situation with Mich as well, there is certainly a rationale to do something,” said Potter. “But it’s not quite as simple as that. I wouldn’t want to make the wrong decision or do something for the sake of it because there is a need.”
West Ham need a forward whose offensive attributes include pace and good finishing and Ferguson’s skill set fits the bill. He has struggled to adapt as an impact substitute but would surely get a sustained run in West Ham’s XI.
Emmanuel Latte Lath
The Middlesbrough forward is another West Ham target and has a record of 10 league goals in 26 appearances this season. The 26-year-old is an explosive striker and has been viewed as a potential long-term replacement for Antonio, whose contract expires at the end of the season. But MLS side Atlanta United have tabled a £16million offer for the Ivory Coast international, so there are other factors to consider.
West Ham have a good track record at bringing in players from the Championship, including Antonio, Bowen, Aaron Cresswell and Crysencio Summerville. But stalling on targets has seen the club miss out on signing James Maddison, now of Tottenham Hotspur, in 2018 and Eberechi Eze, now of Crystal Palace, in 2020.
“It’s certainly one of the options, for sure, and a good market,” Potter said in his pre-match press conference before the 3-2 win against Fulham. “It’s complicated because to get players from the Championship in January isn’t straightforward. But it’s a market we’d be foolish not to look at.”
Lath’s main attributes are his pace and ability to make runs in behind the opposition defence. According to SkillCorner, only four Championship players have made more runs in behind this season, while the graphic illustrates that most of his movement is done ahead of the ball, with Lath focused primarily on attacking the space in behind and the box.
Since joining Middlesbrough in August 2023, Lath has registered 28 goals across 64 appearances. His goal catalogue is varied, with plenty of instinctive snapshots with either foot plus an aerial threat. He is capable of winning games by himself — as he did with solo goals against Millwall and Sheffield United — and scored a hat-trick in the 6-2 victory over Oxford United in November.
Once again West Ham are in need of a centre-forward — a dilemma they are faced with in just about every transfer window. Potter secured his first win with the club against Fulham thanks to three goals from only four shots, but that sort of return is unsustainable and he will know it. Getting in a reliable finisher could allow West Ham to start looking further up the table in the second half of the season. The only question is: who can they get?
Sport Witness
Club reach agreement with West Ham for player overnight – Ditching loan to head elsewhere
By Sean Lunt
West Ham United have reached an agreement with Genoa for Maxwel Cornet to head there this month.
That’s according to Gianluca di Marzio, who reports that the winger will be heading to Italy after ditching a loan spell at Southampton.
According to his information Genoa have an agreement with West Ham for Cornet. He says this agreement was struck overnight. That is the extent of the information he provides at this time.
Cornet had been spending the season on loan at Southampton. He joined the Saints in the summer as they strengthened following promotion.
However, he has barely featured for them this season. He has four appearances in total worth 187 minutes. 116 of those minutes have come in the EFL Cup. In fact, he hasn’t featured in a Premier League squad since the beginning of December.
It now seems he will be cutting that loan deal short and heading to Italy with Genoa instead. For now, we’ll presume that’s a loan deal until the end of the season.
The 28-year-old has struggled to make a mark with the Hammers since joining from Burnley in 2022. Perhaps he’s hoping he can get going again with Genoa, with Southampton not proving to be the destination for him either.
C&H
Gomes and January Window | West Ham’s ‘Fantasy Football’ Target
As became evident yesterday, West Ham United do have ambition in this transfer window. Quite how fast it will bear fruit – or indeed if Graham Potters’ side can beat off competition for the highly rated Lille duo of Angel Gomes and Jonathan David remains to be seen. Whilst this move is more the stuff of ‘fantasy football’ than Premier League reality, don’t underestimate West Ham’s pulling power under their new head coach: As it becomes clear that the chaotic dressing room and jumbled tactics of Lopetegui are past history, West Ham become a more attractive long term option, especially if the club hold onto their ‘crown jewels’ -Paquetá, Kudus and Bowen – this winter.
What is certain is that this will not be a ‘quick fix’ with the two aforementioned Lille two players arriving on a January magic carpet to hit the ground running and bolster the midfield next week. Angel Gomes is injured and hasn’t played for Lille since November: It is partly this which is fuelling the talk of running down his contract in the same way as Niclas Fullkrug’s long-term absence created speculation that he ‘was not happy’ at London Stadium. In fact, the parallels don’t stop there.
Fullkrug, before his hamstring twanged like an over tightened guitar string, had suffered from a long-term calf injury: Gomes too has had to take an extended break from the game in order to fix his long-term muscle problem. Getfootballfrance revealed in November that:
..”The former Manchester United player stated that he has been dealing with the injury for “several months”, revealing that it had “deeply affected [his] ability to perform to the level [he] holds [himself] at.” He added that the decision to treat the injury, rather than playing through it, was a “difficult decision”. A return in 2025 is on the cards for Gomes, whose contract at Lille expires at the end of the campaign. ”
So whilst the interest from London Stadium grows, the player is actually unfit to compete at the moment and so would more likely be a summer acquisition: Don’t expect this one to be resolved any time soon. Whether Striker Jonathan David, his team-mate at Lille can be signed as ‘ready to go’ in January is a whole other article!
