Saturday news (includes West Ham)

[Alan]

"BBC Brighton are in talks to sign 25-year-old English midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Leicester. (Sky Sports) The Foxes want £30m for Dewsbury-Hall with Brentford, Arsenal and Fulham also interested. (Athletic - subscription required) Tottenham are preparing a late bid worth £80m to sign 23-year-old England midfielder Conor Gallagher from Chelsea. (Football Insider) Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis' statement that Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen, 25, will leave Napoli this summer could pave the way for a move to Manchester United. (Manchester Evening News) Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has made Osimhen his number one transfer target. (Teamtalk) Former Roma boss Jose Mourinho will not become the next manager of Napoli despite being linked with the job. (Marca - in Spanish) Monaco have enquired with Arsenal about a loan deal for 23-year-old Portuguese midfielder Fabio Vieira. (Football Transfers) Bayern Munich have agreed a deal with Galatasaray to sign 23-year-old French right-back Sacha Boey. (Fabrizio Romano) Coventry City are set to reject any offers for 25-year-old English attacking midfielder Callum O'Hare, amid interest from Burnley, Southampton and Leicester City. (Football Insider) England Under-21s manager Lee Carsley has turned down an offer to take charge of the Republic of Ireland, who he won 40 caps for, in the hope of emerging as a candidate to succeed Gareth Southgate as England boss. (Mail) Former Real Madrid boss and player Zinedine Zidane has turned down the chance to become the Algeria manager. (L'Equipe - in French) Liverpool have no successor lined up to replace German manager Jurgen Klopp, who will leave Anfield this summer. (Telegraph - subscription required) Bayer Leverkusen boss and former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, Brighton's Roberto de Zerbi and Tottenham's Ange Postecoglou are among the candidates to step in for Klopp. (Times - subscription required) Klopp's departure could see Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk, 32, Egypt forward Mohamed Salah, 31, and 25-year-old England defender Trent Alexander-Arnold also leave Liverpool. (Talksport) Manchester United and Liverpool are interested in Genk's 19-year-old Morocco attacking midfielder Bilal El Khannouss. (Football Transfers) Nottingham Forest are set to lose Belgium striker Divock Origi, 28, with AC Milan set to cut short the former Liverpool player's loan spell at the City Ground short in order to sell him to Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC. (Sky Sports Italia via Football Italia) West Ham are in negotiations with Real Betis over a deal to sell them 27-year-old Spanish midfielder Pablo Fornals. (Mundo Deportivo - in Spanish) West Ham have been told they must pay £17m to sign 19-year-old Ghanaian forward Ibrahim Osman from Danish club Nordsjaelland with boss David Moyes keen to offload Algeria winger Said Benrahma, 28, to Marseille or a club in the Saudi Pro League. (Guardian) Burnley are close to wrapping up a £10.25m deal for French Montpellier defender Maxime Esteve, 21. (L'Equipe - in French) Sky Paper Talk DAILY MIRROR Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has revealed star striker Victor Osimhen will leave the club at the end of the season, putting Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal on red alert. Brentford are scouring the lower leagues for the next Ivan Toney as the Bees prepare for life without their talisman. World Cup hero Sir Geoff Hurst was forced off stage with nosebleeds at his Farewell Tour, sparking health fears. DAILY MAIL The Carabao Cup final kick-off is set to be brought forward at the request of the police amidst concerns about clashes between Chelsea and Liverpool fans. Chelsea have reportedly set an asking price of £37m for Romelu Lukaku, as they prepare to permanently offload the striker this summer at a loss of more than £60m. Mohamed Salah has hit back at the critics who questioned his commitment to Egypt after he returned to England to receive treatment for the hamstring injury he sustained at the Africa Cup of Nations last week. Chris Sutton believes Altay Bayindir must be handed his Manchester United debut in the absence of Andre Onana against Newport County in the FA Cup on Sunday. Eddie Howe admits Joelinton may have played his last game for Newcastle amid a contract stand-off. THE SUN Jurgen Klopp's next job could see him head into international management or take over a European giant. Championship duo Southampton and Leeds are keen to secure a loan move for Bournemouth winger David Brooks. DAILY TELEGRAPH A match featuring a glaring video assistant referee error is to be replayed in full following an appeal by the affected club. A disciplinary body has ruled Genk's 2-1 defeat at Anderlecht in the Belgian Pro League last month should not stand after deeming there had been a misapplication of the laws of the game. DAILY STAR Manchester City supporter Liam Gallagher has admitted he is delighted to see the back of Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. Liverpool part-owner LeBron James has thanked Jurgen Klopp after the German announced his intention to step down as manager. THE GUARDIAN West Ham have bolstered their midfield by signing Manchester City's Kalvin Phillips on loan for the rest of the season and they could raise funds for further signings by selling Pablo Fornals to Real Betis. Mikaela Shiffrin avoided ligament damage after a heavy downhill crash where she needed to be helped off the course. DAILY EXPRESS Sunderland manager Michael Beale has demanded ""more respect"" from fans after claiming some want him out of the club because of his cockney accent. Manchester United and Chelsea have both reportedly been offered the chance to sign former Barcelona striker Martin Braithwaite this month. Brighton have reportedly expressed an interest in signing Tottenham winger Bryan Gil. DAILY RECORD Brendan Rodgers insists Liel Abada is on the list of Celtic players who are not for sale in January. Hibs are keen on a move for Bournemouth defender Owen Bevan. THE SCOTTISH SUN The SFA is poised to formally give Bill Foley the green light to purchase a £6m stake in Hibs. Motherwell have been rocked by a serious injury to full-back Adam Montgomery - just days after he joined on loan from Celtic. Celtic flop Yuki Kobayashi could be set for a move to the United States. Sport Witness West Ham player reaches ‘solid’ agreement to leave in ‘last few hours’ – Negotiations on for Hammers exit West Ham United midfielder Pablo Fornals has reached a ‘solid’ agreement with Real Betis ‘in the last few hours’ as he pushes for a move to the Spanish side. That’s according to ABC Sevilla, who insist negotiations are very much on between the two clubs for Fornals to make the swich. They say that Betis are determined to get Fornals before the end of the window, seeing him as the replacement for Luis Henrique and an ideal player to add alongside Isco and Nabil Fekir. Conversations with the West Ham man have been fruitful and there is a now solid agreement between both parties on the conditions he’ll be playing under at the club. He’ll be giving up a significant amount of his current salary in the switch. Full focus is now on negotiations with West Ham, who were initially reluctant to let Fornals go as he’s been a starter in recent games. Negotiations at the ‘highest levels’ are taking place with Betis initially proposing a loan deal with a purchase option for the midfielder. They believe they have an advantage after already securing the player’s agreement. Fornals is waiting for an agreement to be struck but has rejected other proposals, making it clear he wants Betis, another bonus for them as they try to manoeuvre West Ham into a deal that suits them. The Athletic The clock is ticking on Ben Johnson’s West Ham career By Roshane Thomas As far as West Ham United’s hierarchy are concerned, there has been a change of heart when it comes to Ben Johnson’s future. The 23-year-old is entering the final months of his current deal and has attracted interest from Crystal Palace and Championship side Leeds United. West Ham’s recent contract offer was a four-year package, but both parties failed to reach an agreement. With talks reaching an impasse, the club viewed it as their final offer, with Johnson having rejected two contract extensions. The versatile defender wants assurances about playing time. Having impressed in cameo appearances against Bristol City and Sheffield United earlier this month, West Ham hope to start negotiations again in the coming weeks. It is Johnson’s preference to stay in the Premier League and he is willing to see out the remainder of his deal if he fails to agree to new terms. The former England Under-21 international has only made nine appearances under manager David Moyes this season. He has struggled to dislodge first-choice right-back Vladimir Coufal. The goalless draw against Brighton & Hove Albion on January 2 was Johnson’s first league start of the campaign, but Coufal is suspended for West Ham’s next league game against Bournemouth and Johnson will likely deputise. Johnson played in midfield in the 2-2 draw against Sheffield United last weekend, having replaced Maxwel Cornet as a second-half substitute. Johnson joined West Ham at the age of seven and was a midfielder from under-9 to under-16 level but was converted into a full-back under academy coaches Mark Phillips and Steve Potts. Johnson’s versatility is one of his strengths and Moyes praised his performance afterwards. “I thought we needed to have some control and Ben was probably unlucky not to start,” said the West Ham manager. “I thought he played well when he came on the other night. When he came on, we had more control in the game when we switched to three in midfield.” Johnson has made 92 appearances in all competitions since his first-team debut away to Manchester City in February 2019. The versatile defender won West Ham’s young player of the year award in 2021 and 2022. He also comes from a sporting family, with former Tottenham Hotspur and England defender Ledley King his cousin, while former Manchester United defender Paul Parker is his uncle. Johnson’s father, Mark, played football at non-League level and another uncle is Neville Douglas, a former England schools sprinter. For Johnson, 2023 was a year of both highs and lows. He got engaged to Jessie, his long-term girlfriend, and won both the UEFA Europa Conference League and UEFA European Under-21 Championship with England. But he suffered the ignominy of being at fault for all four goals in a 4-0 loss away to Brighton & Hove Albion in March. Johnson played six successive games leading up to that fixture. After that bruising defeat, he did not play in the Premier League again until West Ham’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City in May. “It was a tough day for Ben, but he’s a young boy,” said Moyes after his team had been heavily beaten at the Amex Stadium. “That’s the way it is — you have to learn on the job sometimes and hopefully he learns a lot from today.” Johnson responded to that setback by helping West Ham avoid relegation last season. Despite helping the club win their first major trophy since 1980, Johnson was candid about whether he should have received more chances along the way, with the defender featuring in the first leg of his team’s quarter-final success over Gent but remaining an unused substitute in West Ham’s three subsequent Conference League games, including June’s final triumph over Fiorentina in Prague. “I was gutted not to play in the semi-finals or final,” Johnson told the Evening Standard in June. “But I contributed in the early stages in some crucial games which got us there. “I really did feel part of the team. He (Moyes) will go down as one of West Ham’s best managers. I would have loved him to play me more, if I’m being honest. I feel I’ve impressed him enough to warrant more opportunities but that’s football and we’ll see what the plan is for me. When another final comes, hopefully I’ll be playing in it.” Despite Johnson being capable across the back four, he has mainly played at right-back for West Ham. Broadly, though, he has struggled to replace Coufal for several reasons. The Czech Republic international creates more chances in the final third and is more attack-minded than Johnson. The latter has struggled with registering assists, with just two across 92 appearances. Coufal, by comparison, has produced 17 in 109 league appearances. Johnson is aware of the areas he needs to improve and often mentions his faith in God as a key factor behind his positive mindset. “Football is difficult and I don’t think I could do it without my faith, which has made me a lot stronger and a lot calmer and it has helped me go further in my life,” Johnson told West Ham’s official website last month. “It’s difficult for them (Johnson’s friends and family) to see that, unfortunately, I’m not playing as often as we’d all hoped, but as a family, we all stay optimistic and that’s from the foundation of our Christian faith, which is to be expectant and optimistic, continue to pray, work hard and be as professional as I can for me and everyone around me.” Johnson offers a lot of versatility to Moyes’ squad, but he is at a critical point in his career and needs to play regular football. Whether that will be at West Ham remains to be seen."

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[Thanks Alan]

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