Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford, 27, is willing to take a pay cut in an attempt to secure a move to Barcelona in January. (Daily Star Sunday)
Barcelona's ability to sign England international Rashford could be helped if Denmark defender Andreas Christensen, 28, leaves the club. (Mundo Deportivo - in Spanish)
Manchester United have asked to be kept informed about 27-year-old Chelsea and France forward Christopher Nkunku's future, with Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho, 20, linked with a move in the opposite direction. (ESPN)
Napoli director Giovanni Manna has confirmed the club are interested in Garnacho and Borussia Dortmund's Germany forward Karim Adeyemi, 23, but added that the Italian club "will not pay prices that are outside the market value". (Football Italia, via DAZN)
Manchester United have had an improved bid of £27m for Denmark left-back Patrick Dorgu, 20, rejected by Lecce, who want £35m. (Talksport)
Newcastle United plan to offer 25-year-old Sweden striker Alexander Isak a new long-term contract in the summer. (Sunday Telegraph - subscription required)
Real Madrid have joined Paris St-Germain and Al-Nassr in wanting to sign 21-year-old Aston Villa and Colombia striker Jhon Duran. (Footmercato - in French)
Slovenia striker Benjamin Sesko would prefer a move to Arsenal over Chelsea or Manchester United but RB Leipzig do not want to sell the 21-year-old in the January transfer window. (Talksport)
Aston Villa attacking midfielder Emiliano Buendia is a target for Bayer Leverkusen. The German club are looking at a loan with an option to buy the 28-year-old Argentine but Villa want to include an obligation to buy. (Sky Sport Germany)
Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho wants to sign Barcelona's Spanish winger Ansu Fati, 22, on loan to boost his side's title push. (AS - in Spanish)
Chelsea have accepted an offer of 12m euros from Lazio for 22-year-old Italian midfielder Cesare Casadei in a deal which includes a 25% sell-on clause. (Sport Italia, via Football Italia)
Lyon and Algeria forward Said Benrahma, 29, has been linked with Ipswich Town but is in talks about a move to Neom SC, who are in the second division in Saudi Arabia. (Footmercato - in French)
Sky Paper Talk
MAIL ON SUNDAY
Barcelona are reportedly eager for Ansu Fati to leave the club, with Hansi Flick's side interested in a potential loan move for Manchester United's Marcus Rashford.
Manchester United have been handed a major boost in their plans for a new, 100,000-capacity Old Trafford after the project received Government support.
Alejandro Garnacho is part of Manchester United's travelling squad for their game against Fulham, amid speculation over his future.
Ultras of Ligue 2 club Caen, which Kylian Mbappe owns, stormed the pitch on Friday night after a seventh consecutive defeat in all competitions.
New York Red Bulls are interested in signing Timo Werner who is on loan at Tottenham from RB Leipzig.
Dana White blocked Conor McGregor's proposed boxing exhibition against Logan Paul because of his hatred for the WWE superstar's brother Jake.
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Newcastle United intend to reward Alexander Isak for another sensational season with a new long-term contract in the summer and remain adamant the striker is not for sale at any price.
Enzo Maresca said he would have to consider dropping Robert Sánchez after Erling Haaland capitalised on the Chelsea goalkeeper's fifth major error of the season to score Manchester City's second goal in their 3-1 win.
SUNDAY MIRROR
Chelsea and Manchester City have been given a £40m-plus insurance policy against failing to qualify for next season's Champions League by their participation in this summer's Club World Cup.
Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz suffered a nasty fall at training ahead of his side's match with Manchester United.
Dusan Vlahovic was dropped by Juventus against Napoli on Saturday for Randal Kolo Muani amid fresh links to the Premier League.
THE SUN ON SUNDAY
Manchester United are considering a shock move to re-sign Alvaro Carreras, according to reports.
Marcus Rashford is reportedly prepared to take a pay cut to make his "dream" move to Barcelona a reality.
Chelsea are "pushing hard" to sign Verona star Reda Belahyane, according to reports.
Jamie Vardy started a "full body reboot" within days of wife Rebekah launching her own vodka range.
Sunderland star Jobe Bellingham is being chased by two German giants - Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen.
THE ATHLETIC
Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury is set to join Sheffield United on loan.
Wolves head coach Vitor Pereira is confident his side will land the signings he wants before the end of the transfer window and stay in the Premier League.
Yankuba Minteh was left out of Brighton's starting line-up for the 1-0 home defeat by Everton after turning up late.
EVENING STANDARD
Napoli have confirmed their interest in signing Alejandro Garnacho before the January transfer window deadline.
Norwegian wonderkid Sverre Nypan has been named in the Rosenborg squad for their training camp in Portugal this month, amid mounting transfer interest from Arsenal.
SUNDAY MAIL
Stunned Jimmy Thelin admitted Slobodan Rubezic asked to be subbed in Aberdeen's latest defeat to St Mirren.
Nikola Katic has been warned time is running out on his potential Rangers return by FC Zurich boss Ricardo Moniz and risks ending up in a "difficult situation".
Alfredo Morelos has completed another loan move back to Atletico Nacional and the Colombian club have an option to buy the former Rangers striker for £2.5m.
The Athletic
Minutes for Ollie Scarles and Lewis Orford show Graham Potter is keen to turn to West Ham’s academy
By Roshane Thomas
West Ham United full-back Ollie Scarles cried for days after being released by Chelsea at age 11.
Academy coaches at the west London club felt he was inferior to their other young prospects. Scarles had initially trained with West Ham at under-eights level, but joined Chelsea because it was closer to his family’s home. When West Ham heard he was available, he was given a six-week trial and ended up rejoining the east Londoners.
Eight years later, the 19-year-old has six West Ham first-team appearances to his name — and a growing reputation. Before being jettisoned as the club’s head coach earlier this month, Julen Lopetegui had taken a liking to Scarles’ work ethic. The Spaniard gave him his Premier League debut against Bournemouth in mid-December and promoted him into the first-team set-up.
Graham Potter, Lopetegui’s replacement early this month, has continued the process, handing Scarles his first domestic start in his first match in charge, the 2-1 FA Cup loss at Aston Villa (pictured top), where the teenager was named man of the match. Potter has been impressed with Scarles in training and wants to bring more of West Ham’s academy prospects through into senior football. He handed Lewis Orford, a midfielder from the under-21s, his first-team debut in the 2-0 home defeat against Crystal Palace last weekend.
“The academy has done fantastic work, and there’s good players here,” said Potter. “Our supporters like to see players from the academy in the first team, and we’re pushing for that. It can help us in how we identify players and our recruitment.
“The starting point should always be, ‘What do we have here in the academy?’. I’m looking forward to working together with Mark Noble (sporting director) and Mark Robson (under-21s manager) and trying to build a foundation going forward.
“Before playing Ollie against Aston Villa, I spoke with both Marks and Tim Steidten (West Ham’s technical director, now set to leave). We felt it was a good time to play him and he was really impressive. The next challenge is developing him from where he is now into a Premier League player, and that’s the exciting bit.”
Scarles with Mark Robson during an under-21s match in October (Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
Scarles, a member of the FA Youth Cup-winning side in 2023, could be West Ham’s long-term option at left-back: Aaron Cresswell, who turned 35 last month, is into the final six months of his contract and Emerson, 30, has just over a year remaining on his deal.
Academy coaches at West Ham are optimistic other prospects will get chances under former Swansea, Brighton and Chelsea manager Potter. For example, Kaelan Casey, a now 20-year-old who made his Premier League debut for the club in May last year, could deputise for the suspended Konstantinos Mavropanos in defence for the league match at Villa tomorrow.
West Ham are highly regarded for their academy, and on a memorable night against FCSB (formerly known as Steaua Bucharest) in November 2022, Scarles highlighted why. David Moyes, West Ham’s manager at the time, gave the then 16-year-old his first-team debut in the Europa League group match at the London Stadium, making him their sixth youngest debutant ever. As he would against Villa in the FA Cup this month, Scarles was named man of the match and also came close to scoring his first senior goal as West Ham won 3-0.
That year was a breakthrough one for Scarles. In the June, he signed a scholarship deal and was rewarded with a professional contract six months later, tying him to the club until the summer of 2028, with the option of a further year.
Yet Scarles, who can play in midfield as well as at left-back, had to wait 23 months for another first-team outing after that FCSB match. The England under-18 international mainly featured for the under-21s, before being sidelined for five months last March with a back injury.
Orford, who is 18, featured in a friendly against local fifth-tier side Dagenham & Redbridge last July, then travelled with the first-team squad on their pre-season trips to Austria and Florida.
“The goal has always been to play for West Ham,” he told The Athletic last summer. “I loved seeing George (Earthy, a now 20-year-old midfielder currently out on loan at Bristol City of the second-tier Championship) and Kaelan get their debuts in the Premier League last year. I thought I was a bit unlucky not to get mine. I’ve grown a lot physically recently and I’m ready for the first team.”
But Orford’s future was in doubt.
In June, West Ham turned down an approach from Villa for him. The following month, the same club rejected West Ham’s offer of £30million ($38.6m) plus Orford for striker Jhon Duran. The midfielder, who joined West Ham aged five, is a lifelong West Ham supporter and wanted to stay. He said he cried when he had trials at an unnamed Premier League club because he enjoyed it so much at West Ham.
Orford playing against Crystal Palace (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Orford’s previous contract was set to expire at the end of the season. Noble made it a priority to address this. In September, Orford, who is England Under-18s captain, signed a five-year contract until 2029 and he now says he will frame the shirt he wore for his debut against Palace last week.
It has not been an easy journey for either Orford or Scarles, but Potter easing their pathway into the first team will give other academy hopefuls at West Ham encouragement.
Freddie Potts, 21, and 20-year-old Callum Marshall are thriving on loan at Championship Portsmouth and Huddersfield Town of League One. Potts, the son of club legend Steve Potts and brother of third-tier Charlton Athletic’s defender Dan Potts, is highly thought of. There was speculation his loan could be cut short, but Portsmouth manager John Mousinho was quick to set the record straight.
“The loan deadline was January 14, so Freddie is with us for the season,” he told Portsmouth’s local newspaper The News. “We were always speaking to West Ham and they never said anything about wanting to recall him — and we were obviously aware of that. Hopefully from West Ham’s point of view, they will look at it and see how well Freddie has done this year and think this is the right place for him.”
Potts will hope to add to his three West Ham first-team appearances, all as a substitute in European ties, next season. Before then, Orford will likely have opportunities under Potter.
As for Scarles, the upcoming fixture at Chelsea is a chance to show they were wrong to release him years ago.
C&H
West Ham Back Pedalling | 11th Hour Change Of Target
Buyers’ remorse usually kicks in after the contract is signed. It is a well known phenomenon in all kinds of sales roles- houses, cars, luxury goods- you name it, people suddenly try and change their mind the morning after they’ve committed. Usually for no valid reason other than a massive case of cold feet. It appears that West Ham are in full – on back-pedalling mode themselves over the signing of Dutchman Brian Brobbey. And they haven’t even got close to committing yet. Exactly as aired in Claret and Hugh earlier this morning (‘Is attacking prospect ready for the Premier League’) it seems that somewhere inside London stadium there’s a massive rethink taking place.
It may well be that new head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay has arrived and pressed ‘pause’ whilst he runs his own analysis – or an 11th hour change of target with the new recruitment regime flexing their own muscles in the last week of the window.
It may simply be part of the negotiating tactic by West Ham who seek to get the player on their terms – with an option to buy rather than a mandatory clause.
However fans will fear it may be of course the customary West Ham transfer ‘shadow boxing’ that ends up with an epic fail in the January window with no new striker coming through the front door until the summer. Jarrod Bowen’s promised return to fitness in February may make the club far more reluctant – surprise surprise- to part with any cash.
West Ham already destroyed one striker’s enthusiasm after encouraging Jhon Duran to agitate for a move- and then heading for the hills when the price got uncomfortably high. With Brobbey reportedly in London this weekend, hopefully they have learned from the Duran saga and don’t repeat the same mistake.
Football Italia
West Ham agree to Juventus idea for Todibo after Thiago Motta call
West Ham have reportedly opened up to the idea of sending centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo out on loan to Juventus following a conversation between the defender and Bianconeri coach Thiago Motta according to the latest updates form Italy.
Though Juventus are close to securing their third signing of the January transfer window in Renato Veiga from Chelsea, there are still ongoing talks to add another centre-back to the club’s ranks.
Randal Kolo Muani has also come in on loan from Paris Saint-Germain on loan for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, while Alberto Costa joined on a permanent deal from Vitoria Giumaraes.
However, still with a lack of options at centre-back having lost Bremer to a cruciate ligament (ACL) injury earlier in the season, Juventus are hoping to sign another centre-back to compete with Federico Gatti and Pierre Kalulu.
Juventus close in on Todibo agreement with West Ham
West Ham’s Todibo has been an option for the Bianconeri in recent weeks, along with the likes of Lloyd Kelly from Newcastle and David Hancko from Feyenoord.
It had been reported that there could be issues between Juventus and West Ham for Todibo, as the Londoners were not initially open to the idea of sending him out on loan, which is the formula Juve had been pushing.
However, according to Sunday’s reports from Sky Sport Italia, West Ham are now considering the possibility of sending Todibo out on loan with an option to buy. The player has already spoken with Juventus coach Thiago Motta.
Todibo is reportedly due to speak to West Ham boss Graham Potter regarding his future in East London, but is not expected to feature in Sunday’s Premier League match against Aston Villa regardless due to injury.