Saturday News (includes West Ham)

[Alan]

BBC

Outgoing Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner is one of the names being considered for the Manchester United job in the summer. (Mirror), external

Chelsea and Manchester City are leading the race to sign Barcelona's 18-year-old Spanish midfielder Dro Fernandez, who has a £5.1m (6m euros) release clause in his contract. (Talksport), external

Tottenham boss Thomas Frank wants to sign a left-sided attacking player, either in January or the summer. (Telegraph - subscription required), external

England midfielder James Ward-Prowse, 31, could be offered a route out of West Ham with Burnley interested in the former Southampton captain. (Sun), external

Leeds have enquired about the availability of Norway striker Jorgen Strand Larsen, 25, but are yet to make an offer to Wolves. (Athletic - subscription required), external

Inter Milan will offer Francesco Pio Esposito a new contract to ward off interest from Premier League clubs in the 20-year-old Italy striker. (Tuttosport - in Italian), external

Crystal Palace face losing another key player, with France forward Jean-Philippe Mateta, 28, open to a new challenge and Juventus interested. (Sky Sports), external

Real Madrid will open contract talks with Brazil attacker Vicinius Jr, 25, following Xabi Alonso's departure from the Bernabeu. (ESPN), external

Manchester United have rejected several approaches from Premier League clubs and AC Milan for England defender Harry Maguire, 32, this month. (Sun, external)

Former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane is being considered to succeed Didier Deschamps as France manager. (L'Equipe - in French), external

Stoke want to sign 23-year-old English winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi on loan from Crystal Palace for the remainder of the season. (Football Insider), external

Fulham remain interested in PSV's Ricardo Pepi, 23, despite the USA striker sustaining a broken forearm earlier this month. (Sky Sports), external

Red Star Belgrade and Serbia midfielder Vasilije Kostov, 17, is being tracked by Arsenal. (Sun), external

Crystal Palace's offer of a loan with obligation to buy for Sidiki Cherif, 19, has been rejected by Angers who are only interested in a permanent deal for the France youth forward. (Foot Mercato - in French), external

Newcastle have emerged as contenders for Sassuolo's Tarik Muharemovic, 22, but face competition from AC Milan for the Bosnia-Herzegovina defender. (Football Insider), external

Juventus are cooling their interest in re-signing 28-year-old Italy forward Federico Chiesa from Liverpool. (Fabrizio Romano via Football Italia)




Sky Paper Talk

PREMIER LEAGUE

Manchester United have rejected several approaches for Harry Maguire this month, including inquiries from both Milan clubs and multiple Premier League teams - The Sun

Arsenal are tracking Red Star Belgrade starlet Vasilije Kostov, who has been likened to Barcelona's Pedri and rated as the best Under-18 midfielder in the world - The Sun

Barcelona's 'next Yamal' Dro Fernandez is set to leave the club in a shock departure and is attracting interest from Chelsea, Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund - talkSPORT

Tottenham boss Thomas Frank would like to sign an attacking player who can play off the left if possible this month or in the summer - The Telegraph

West Ham midfielder James Ward-Prowse is attracting interest from fellow relegation rivals Burnley - The Sun

SCOTTISH FOOTBALL

There have been no discussions between Rangers and Motherwell over a deal for striker Tawanda Maswanhise to join Ibrox - Daily Record

OLYMPICS

Russia is offering lucrative contracts to overseas coaches in anticipation of a return to international competition, with a leading British Olympic coach among those approached - The Times






London World

'Enquiry Made': West Ham target Chelsea legend almost signed by Slaven Bilic

Nuno Espirito Santo could look to add experience to his West Ham midfield before the close of the January transfer window.

West Ham are reported to have made another enquiry over the availability of Al-Ittihad midfielder N’Golo Kante as the club continues to look for new recruits this January.

The Hammers were quick to strengthen in attack with the arrivals of Taty Castellanos and Pablo, which was a priority position for Nuno Espirito Santo. Attention has now turned to a new centre-back with links to Eric Dier, Willy Boly and Jamaal Lascelles.

It doesn’t seem that West Ham will stop there with another midfielder wanted at the London Stadium. Freddie Potts and Soungoutou Magassa have turned heads for the right reasons at times this season but could perhaps lack the experience for a relegation dogfight.

West Ham target Chelsea legend to strengthen midfield

One player who certainly knows what it takes to get results in the Premier League is Kante. The French international has made 227 appearances in the top flight, winning the division twice, once with Leicester City and once with Chelsea.

Kante also won the Champions League, Europa League, Club World Cup and FA Cup while at Stamford Bridge over an illustrious seven year stay. The 34-year-old completed a move to Saudi Arabia in 2023 but is out of contract at the end of the season.

That has led to transfer talk and West Ham are said to be suitors for the World Cup winner. Transfer specialist Ben Jacobs said: “Kante wants the move. Fenerbahce are the frontrunners, even though I’m told West Ham also made another enquiry in the last 48 hours, but Fenerbahce are leading the race. They’re confident that they’ve got the buy-in from the player, but they’ve still got some work to do with Al Ittihad.”

N’Golo Kante previous West Ham target under Slaven Bilic

West Ham have come close to signing Kante before, with Slaven Bilic a big fan of the player. The Hammers almost completed a deal to sign the player from Caen before he moved to Leicester City in 2015.

At the time, Bilic said: "Yes, we were quite close. I watched him in France. He was a good player, the same player he is now with Leicester.

“He’s not very tall, but he’s one of those players that you think after 20 minutes that there are twins, that there are two of them, because the energy, the cleverness he plays with, he’s always there.

“When you watch a game on television there are players that are always on screen. They are never out, whatever you see, you see them, they are always on television. He’s one of them. That’s not only ability like having big lungs or legs or whatever, the capacity to run, this is in his head.

“So, he was there, but then we got some players in the same positions and it would have simply been too many players for the same position.”

Bilic has also found himself in headlines over recent weeks with the former West Ham manager tipped to be the number one option to replace Nuno in an emergency should the current head coach be sacked at the London Stadium.

Football Insider reported last week that Bilic is ‘ready’ to accept an offer from West Ham should the opportunity arise, having been favourite for the job before Nuno was appointed in September.

[With Kind Regards]

Thanks Alan.

[wingdamage]

Thanks Alan