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BBC
England midfielder Jordan Henderson, who has been linked with Ajax and Juventus, is set to stay in Saudi Arabia for the rest of the season because Al-Ettifaq are unlikely to let the 33-year-old go. (Mail)
However, Ajax coach John van 't Schip says there is "serious talk"going on with Henderson about him moving to the Netherlands. (ESPN)
Manchester United, Newcastle and AC Milan are ready to hijack West Ham's move for Stuttgart's 27-year-old Guinea striker Serhou Guirassy. (Football Insider)
Liverpool, Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain are interested in Lille's 18-year-old France Under-21 defender Leny Yoro. (Telefoot via AS - in Spanish)
Brighton have completed the signing of 19-year-old Argentina Under-20 full-back Valentin Barco from Boca Juniors for around £8m. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Manchester United forward Anthony Martial is ready to reject interest from Saudi Arabia because he would prefer to stay in Europe, with West Ham, Inter Milan and Fenerbahce linked with the 28-year-old France international. (Caught Offside)
Manchester United midfielder Hannibal Mejbri is close to joining Sevilla on loan, with the deal for the 20-year-old Tunisia international including a £17.5m option to buy. (Mail)
Arsenal and Chelsea will scout Sporting Lisbon's 20-year-old Ivory Coast defender Ousmane Diomande at the Africa Cup of Nations. (Record - in Portuguese)
Karim Benzema's future at Al-Ittihad is uncertain after the 36-year-old former France striker missed training and was subsequently excluded from the club's winter training camp in Dubai. (Marca)
Tottenham, Arsenal and Fulham are ready to rival West Ham in a summer move for Feyenoord's 22-year-old Mexico forward Santiago Gimenez. (Football Insider)
Everton and Nottingham Forest expect to be told on Monday that they have breached the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules for the three-year cycle up to June 2023. (The Athletic - subscription required)
Liverpool are willing to sell 24-year-old Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher for £20m this summer and have identified Sunderland's 23-year-old former England Under-21 international Anthony Patterson as his replacement. (Mirror)
Napoli are interested in Chelsea's 24-year-old English defender Trevoh Chalobah. (Tuttomercatoweb - in Italian)
Sheffield United are interested in Bournemouth's 26-year-old Wales defender Chris Mepham. (Sun)
Bournemouth's 29-year-old English midfielder Joe Rothwell is set to have a medical at Southampton before completing a loan move until the end of the season. (Daily Echo)
Southampton are also targeting a winger on loan this month with Manchester United's 21-year-old Ivory Coast international Amad Diallo and Bournemouth's Wales international David Brooks, 26, on their shortlist. (Givemesport)
Sky Paper Talk
DAILY MAIL
Jordan Henderson is set to stay in Saudi Arabia for the rest of the season as Al Ettifaq are unlikely to consider letting him move in January.
A group of 19 former footballers, including three with Premier League experience, start their fight with the FA for compensation over brain injuries on Monday.
All eyes will be on Westminster on Monday when Premier League boss Richard Masters and his EFL counterpart Rick Parry are due to be grilled by a select committee on the lack of a deal for the redistribution of funds in football.
West Ham are expected to send a team to the seven-a-side competition where their players walked off the pitch last year amid allegations of racial abuse.
The Premier League's Asia Trophy is set to return this summer - with China being viewed as the likeliest destination.
Turkish referee Halil Umut Meler returned to officiate his first match since being punched by former Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca last year.
Racing boss Stuart Lancaster confirmed his French side have been in contact with Owen Farrell about a move to Paris.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Nottingham Forest and Everton are braced to finally learn their fate on new Premier League charges amid mounting fears both could be in breach of financial regulations.
Brighton have completed the signing of Argentine wonder kid Valentin Barco from Boca Juniors.
Emma Raducanu has admitted that she feared for her future when she suffered a recurrence of her chronic wrist pain in August, only three months after she had undergone surgery on both hands.
THE SUN
Joelinton raced home after finding out three burglars had broken into his mansion - he had been watching his team take on Man City from the sidelines when he got an alert that intruders had entered his house.
John O'Shea has left Birmingham by mutual consent less than two weeks after Wayne Rooney's exit.
Hannibal Mejbri may have donned a Manchester United shirt for the last time after reportedly agreeing a loan move to Spanish side Sevilla.
Liverpool are reportedly in a three-way transfer battle to sign a teenage star dubbed "the new Raphael Varane" - Leny Yoro.
Nemanja Matic could make a return to the Premier League this month.
Chelsea have sent an executive to Brazil to complete the signing of Estevao Willian, according to reports.
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder fancies signing Bournemouth star Chris Mepham.
Caglar Soyuncu has been lined up for a shock return to the Premier League, according to reports.
DAILY MIRROR
Jurgen Klopp has identified Sunderland's Anthony Patterson as a potential replacement for Caoimhin Kelleher should the Liverpool goalkeeper leave the club in the summer.
Ajax manager John van 't Schip has confirmed they are interested in signing Al Ettifaq midfielder Jordan Henderson this month.
Liverpool could sign Bruno Guimaraes for £32m per season for the next three years as the Reds plot a move for the Newcastle midfielder.
THE ATHLETIC
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is hopeful his deal to purchase a 25 per cent stake in Manchester United will be official by mid-February.
Spain manager Luis de la Fuente is set to sign a new contract that will see him manage the men's national team through to the World Cup in 2026.
Jacob Ramsey is set to undergo a scan on a hamstring problem after missing Aston Villa's draw with Everton on Sunday.
Sevilla have reached a provisional agreement with Manchester United to sign midfielder Hannibal Mejbri on loan until the summer.
DAILY EXPRESS
Chelsea have reportedly added Manchester United defender Luke Shaw to their shortlist and have discussed him as a potential January signing.
DAILY RECORD
Steven Gerrard's Al Ettifaq are reportedly close to agreeing a deal for Ryan Kent as the former Rangers boss looks to reunite with the winger.
Lawrence Shankland is waiting for Hearts to table a contract extension.
Hibs are one of two clubs that Adelaide United are considering bids from for teen striker Musa Toure with a French Ligue 1 outfit also interested, according to a report.
Ayr United are set to part company with boss Lee Bullen.
Motherwell are leading the chase to sign Celtic's Adam Montgomery.
SCOTTISH SUN
Dundee are lining up a return for striker Greg Stewart.
Guardian Rumour Mill
Michael Butler
When the big clubs see something they like, they don’t hang about. Raphaël Varane was just a sparkle in the eye of Lens fans when Real Madrid signed the then 18-year-old for €10m back in 2011, right under the noses from Manchester United.
“I hurtled down on the train from Euston to Lille to sign the young French defender Varane,” Sir Alex Ferguson wrote in his 2015 book Leading. “David Gill [the club’s then CEO] was getting into the finer points of the contract with Lens when Zinedine Zidane got wind of this and somehow scooped him up for Real Madrid from under our noses.”
Varane went on to win four Champions Leagues and three La Liga titles, becoming one of the best defenders in Europe with his searing pace, intelligence and sky-high confidence. United finally got their man, of course, just when those qualities appear to be in decline.
All of this is a long way of saying there’s a new French teenager on the block, Lille’s Leny Yoro, and Real Madrid are one of a few superclubs in for him. Liverpool will be hoping they are not the stooges of Manchester United in this scenario, as will PSG, who all hope to win the signature of the 18-year-old. Yoro will have just 12 months remaining on his contract in the summer, but if Lille do sell, they will certainly get more than the €10m Lens got for Varane.
Arsenal, Newcastle and Chelsea, meanwhile, are also keen to strengthen in defence but they are more interested in Sporting Lisbon’s Ousmane Diomande. Both English sides have sent scouts to the Africa Cup of Nations, where the 20-year-old is currently featuring for Ivory Coast, and started the hosts’ opening win over Guinea-Bissau. Sporting are famously tough negotiators, so it may be a case of whoever can match their asking price: a (reported) whopping £70m.
Strikers from the Eredivisie have always been hit and miss in the Premier League. Robin van Persie, Luis Suárez and Ruud van Nistelrooy were quite good. Alfonso Alves, Jürgen Locadia and Vincent Janssen? Not so much. Feyenoord’s Santiago Giménez is the latest hot shot to be turning heads, having scored 30 goals last season and 21 goals already this campaign. West Ham and Fulham are very keen on the Mexican, although London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham are keeping a beady eye on things.
Caoimhin Kelleher is a very, very good goalkeeper but is watching his career disappear at Liverpool, with Alisson continuing to be the Premier League’s best stopper and the club’s undisputed No 1. Now 24, the Irishman has been told he can leave for just £20m, which seems like a very reasonable price to the Mill.
Elsewhere, Sergio Reguilón could make a loan move to Brentford, with the Tottenham defender back from his spell at Manchester United and Rico Henry still sidelined with a knee injury. Southampton are keen to bolster their promotion push with signings of Bournemouth’s Joe Rothwell and Manchester United’s Amad Diallo, while Napoli want Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah.
Sport Witness
‘Error’ – West Ham win out with transfer decision as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund criticised
Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have both made an ‘error’ by not signing West Ham United’s Edson Álvarez.
That’s according to Deutsche Welle, who are critical of the Bundesliga duo for their failure to sign the midfielder before he joined the Hammers from Ajax last summer.
Last September, the 26-year-old insisted that he was happy to have joined West Ham after his move to Dortmund didn’t take shape. A month later, he revealed the Bavarian club also showed interest in him.
Deutsche Welle now provide an insight on why the two German clubs failed to sign him.
Thomas Tuchel identified the former Ajax man as a target and he made it to the final cut at the Allianz Arena, before Bayern executives decided against the player.
Dortmund saw Álvarez as an ideal candidate to replace Jude Bellingham, but they too backed away. BVB were in advanced negotiations, yet the deal didn’t take shape because of Edin Terzić. It’s claimed the manager wasn’t convinced and that opened the door for West Ham to sign the player.
Joshua Kimmich and Emre Can are the defensive midfielders at Bayern and Dortmund respectively, and the outlet says both have been inconsistent this season.
Álvarez, on the other hand, has impressed at West Ham. David Moyes has regularly relied upon the Mexico international this season as he’s made 25 appearances, managing a goal and two assists in the process.
Taking these factors into account, Deutsche Welle state both Bayern and Dortmund were wrong not to sign the West Ham player last summer.
The newspaper take an old quote from Mino Raiola, when he said it’s easier to sell a bad Brazilian than a good Mexican.
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