Real Madrid are targeting Manchester City's Spain midfielder Rodri, Liverpool's 25-year-old England full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and either Arsenal's 23-year-old France defender William Saliba or Tottenham's Argentina centre-back Cristian Romero, 26. (Independent)
Real Madrid will move for Alexander-Arnold next summer, having been in contact with his agents for several years. (Teamtalk)
Manchester City are well placed to sign Bayern Munich's 21-year-old Germany midfielder Jamal Musiala. (Football Insider)
Manchester United are interested in Borussia Dortmund's 22-year-old Germany forward Karim Adeyemi but could face competition from Newcastle and Liverpool. (Teamtalk)
Newcastle are among a host of Premier League clubs interested in Lille's 24-year-old England midfielder Angel Gomes, who is out of contract at the end of the season. (Football Insider)
West Ham and Manchester United are keen on 29-year-old Germany midfielder Leon Goretzka, who is unhappy after losing his place at Bayern Munich. (Sun)
Everton see England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford as one of their most important players and have no plans to replace the 30-year-old with Newcastle's fellow England international Nick Pope, 32. (Teamtalk)
France forward Anthony Martial, 28, is closing in on a move to AEK Athens as a free agent following his summer departure from Manchester United. (Fabrizio Romano)
Arsenal and Newcastle could move for Germany winger Leroy Sane, 28, who is reportedly unhappy at Bayern Munich. (Caught Offside)
Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Wolves and West Ham are among the admirers of Red Bull Salzburg's 24-year-old French defender Oumar Solet. (HITC)
Liverpool want a defensive midfielder and a left-sided centre-back in January. (Football Insider)
Arsenal are keeping tabs on Canada striker Jonathan David, 24, who is entering the final year of his contract with Lille. (Caught Offside)
Bournemouth, Fulham and Wolves are interested in Cameroon defender Joel Matip, 33, who remains a free agent after leaving Liverpool during the summer. (HITC)
Tottenham are planning to offer Romero a new contract to deter interested clubs. (Football Insider)
Sky Paper Talk
INDEPENDENT
Real Madrid are already planning their next European era, as they aim to sign Rodri, Trent Alexander-Arnold and either William Saliba or Cristian Romero.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
The Football Association has been urged to take action amid an alarming rise in sexism at football matches.
Steve Borthwick's search for a new defence coach has hit a stumbling block with French clubs warning the England rugby union boss off his two leading candidates.
DAILY MAIL
Real Madrid are reportedly banking on a damaging outcome for Manchester City in their 'trial of the century' to swoop for midfielder Rodri.
Leicester have sought clarification from the Premier League amid doubts over the VAR process that saw them concede the opening goal in last Saturday's draw with Crystal Palace.
Nine-time England international Andy Carroll is reportedly set to join a fourth-tier French club from Ligue 2 side Amiens.
GUARDIAN
Anthony Taylor will not referee a Premier League match this weekend after being subjected to abuse on social media after Chelsea's 1-0 win at Bournemouth.
Premiership coaches believe existing red-card protocols should be changed in an effort to keep '15 vs 15' on the field and avoid "destroying the game" after three major finals last season were marred by sendings off.
DAILY STAR
Chelsea's Jadon Sancho is earning stripes off the pitch as he has reportedly turned up to training ahead of time while catching the eye of Enzo Maresca with his dedication.
SCOTTISH SUN
Kenny Miller admits it hurts him to see how Celtic are moving away from Rangers.
Rangers have been credited with a bold move to snap up former Ajax and Inter Milan star Davy Klaassen, who is under free agency.
DAILY RECORD
Trevor Carson has opened up on the collapse of his move to Celtic.
Steven Gerrard is keeping a laser focus on Al Ettifaq after talk of a Rangers return was ramped up with Dave King's pubic bid to return to Ibrox as chair.
The Athletic
It’s time for West Ham to unleash Crysencio Summerville
By Roshane Thomas
Tomas Soucek has fulfilled many roles but Julen Lopetegui’s decision to start him as the No 10 against Fulham caused some confusion.
If West Ham United fans were perplexed, who knows what summer signing Crysencio Summerville thought as his wait for a first Premier League start goes on.
The Soucek experiment lasted until half-time and his ineffective performance in such an unfamiliar role highlighted the need for Summerville’s integration into the starting XI.
Summerville, who joined from Leeds United for £25million ($32m), was brought on at the interval against Fulham. He has shown glimpses of his talent during substitute cameos against Aston Villa and Manchester City and came close to scoring in his first full start in the Carabao Cup win against Bournemouth. He has mainly operated on the left flank and has shown that he warrants a starting berth in Premier League matches.
Soucek started in place of Lucas Paqueta, who was dropped, but the switch in personnel did not work. West Ham lacked creativity and failed to pose a threat. Lopetegui has mainly played a 4-2-3-1 formation but his team have struggled in the final third.
The sample size of data is small, but they have only scored six goals in their first five games, four fewer than this stage last term. According to Opta, West Ham have created just four ‘big chances’ in their opening four Premier League games, the second-lowest tally in the division. Bringing Summerville into the starting XI could help them create more goalscoring opportunities and lessen their reliance on Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen.
Tim Steidten, the technical director, challenged Summerville to become a success like Kudus and Edson Alvarez when he was courting his signing in the summer. There was excitement surrounding his summer arrival from Leeds, given his potential. After registering 19 goals in 43 league appearances, the 22-year-old was crowned the PFA’s Championship Player of the Year for 2023-24.
Luis Guilherme arrived from Brazilian side Palmeiras for £24.5m in June but West Ham remained interested in signing another forward. Vitoria Guimaraes’ Jota Silva, who has since moved to Nottingham Forest, was among their targets but Steidten and Lopetegui prioritised Summerville because of his Premier League experience.
“I’m an exciting player to watch, the sort of player fans will want to come and see,” Summerville told West Ham’s website on his arrival. He also told West Ham’s YouTube channel: “My target is many goals and many assists. I hope I score a lot in these colours. I want to help my team-mates fight for Europe again.”
After the 3-1 home win over Leeds at the London Stadium in May 2023, Summerville told people close to him that he could see himself playing for West Ham one day.
West Ham have a successful track record of signing players from the Championship, with Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell and Bowen joining from second-tier clubs.
Said Benrahma was one signing from the Championship who did not work out and his departure for Lyon in June left West Ham short of attacking options in wide areas. Benrahma only showed flashes of the excellent dribbling ability that persuaded West Ham to sign him from Brentford in 2020, but Summerville’s desire to take on defenders will excite fans.
Looking at last season’s numbers, Summerville (200) attempted twice as many dribbles as Bowen (97) and nearly as many as Kudus (216). It is a similar story for dribbles completed (101), total take-ons (217) and successful take-ons (101).
Antonio has struggled to justify his place as Lopetegui’s first-choice striker and Summerville could be the key to unlock West Ham’s attack. Summerville and Kudus look well set to operate on the flanks, with Paqueta as a No 10 behind Bowen up front.
Last season, Bowen showed he can be a dependable goalscorer, having equalled Paolo Di Canio’s West Ham record for the most goals scored in a Premier League season (16). Paqueta can thrive in the right system, having provided three assists in the win against Wolves in December, while Summerville and Kudus’s pace will help them unlock the opposition defence.
“Summerville has had minutes and he will have more minutes,” said Lopetegui before the game against Fulham. “We are happy with him and he’s working really hard. He’ll give us good moments but he has to be ready. We have a long season ahead, a marathon, and he’ll be involved in a lot of our matches.”
Another key attribute is Summerville’s ability to link up with his team-mates. He provided 10 assists last season, with three coming in Leeds’s 4-3 victory against Middlesbrough in April. Last season, Summerville, who amassed 37 caps from under-16s level to under-21s with the Netherlands, was third (30) for fouls won in the final third in the Championship last season, behind Georginio Rutter (36) and Jack Clarke (37). Summerville was also fifth (77) for fouls won.
Last campaign, West Ham’s Kudus was the third-most fouled player (75) in the Premier League behind Jordan Ayew (94) and Bruno Guimaraes (108). Bowen won 32 fouls in the top flight last season.
Summerville’s best years are ahead of him. He has impressed in his cameo appearances but it is time for him to be unleashed by Lopetegui.
