BBC
Chelsea are interested in signing Crystal Palace's Michael Olise this summer, but the 22-year-old French winger prefers a move to Manchester United. (Football.London)
Liverpool will face a fight to land their top managerial targets to succeed Jurgen Klopp this summer, with Xabi Alonso attracting interest from Bayern Munich and Brighton's Roberto de Zerbi on Manchester United's shortlist should they sack Erik ten Hag. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Bayer Leverkusen are confident Alonso will stay at the club this summer despite interest from his former club Liverpool. (Sky Germany)
Barcelona are also interested in Brighton boss De Zerbi following the Xavi's decision to quit the Catalan club at the end of the season. (Fabrizio Romano via Caughtoffside)
Burnley have made a £10.2m bid for Montpellier's 21-year-old France Under-21 centre-back Maxime Esteve. (Mail)
Everton are considering a loan move for West Ham's 28-year-old Algeria winger Said Benrahma. (HITC)
Should Benrahma leave this month then West Ham may pursue a deal for Norwich's 20-year-old England Under-21 winger Jonathan Rowe. (Talksport)
Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Fulham are considering a late move for Chelsea's 24-year-old English defender Trevoh Chalobah. (Football Insider)
Brentford, Feyenoord and Leeds are interested in Burnley's 28-year-old Wales right-back Conor Roberts. (Mail)
Lyon remain interested in Tottenham's 28-year-old Denmark midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Villarreal's 26-year-old Netherlands forward Arnaut Danjuma, who is on loan at Everton. (L'Equipe - in French)
Jose Mourinho had been in discussions to join Saudi Arabian side Al-Qadsiah in the summer before being sacked by Roma this month. Napoli are interested in replacing Walter Mazzarri with Mourinho but Newcastle are not among the suitors for the 61-year-old Portuguese. (Sunday Mirror)
Chelsea have rejected an offer from an unnamed major Premier League rival for 22-year-old Albania forward Armando Broja. The Blues are willing to let Broja leave for £35m amid interest from Fulham, West Ham, Wolves, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace. (Teamtalk)
Leicester have made an offer to sign Inter Milan's 28-year-old Italy midfielder Stefano Sensi on loan with the option to make the move permanent if the Foxes are promoted back to the Premier League. (Gianluca di Marzio - in Italian)
Saudi Arabian side Al-Shabab remain interested in Newcastle's 29-year-old Paraguay winger Miguel Almiron. (Mail)
Nottingham Forest are working on a deal to sign 33-year-old Hungary goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi from RB Leipzig. (Fabrizio Romano)
Hull are close to signing 24-year-old Turkey midfielder Abdulkadir Omur from Trabzonspor for a fee of about £4m. (Hull Daily Mail)
Leeds have made an official approach to Everton to sign 26-year-old England defender Ben Godfrey on loan. (Football Insider)
Swansea are closing in on the signing of 27-year-old Brazilian winger Ronald from Gremio Anapolis. (Wales Online)
Sky Paper Talk
SUNDAY EXPRESS
Crystal Palace star Michael Olise reportedly favours a transfer to Manchester United rather than Chelsea, with both Premier League giants vying for his signature.
Chelsea could ruin the transfer plans of Newcastle and Arsenal by making a move for Everton ace Amadou Onana if they sell Conor Gallagher to Tottenham.
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Liverpool face the prospect of stiff competition for their top targets to replace Jurgen Klopp, whose shock announcement that he will step down as manager is expected to precede a huge summer merry-go-round.
Sources in Germany claim Xabi Alonso will feature prominently on Bayern Munich's list of candidates if they decide to replace Thomas Tuchel, who would be among Manchester United's targets, along with Roberto De Zerbi, if Erik ten Hag is sacked.
THE OBSERVER
Erik ten Hag has refused to disclose if he has discussed a new contract with Sir Jim Ratcliffe, though Manchester United's manager accepts being on trial like at any major club.
MAIL ON SUNDAY
Former Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea is in talks to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Shabab.
Bournemouth technical director Richard Hughes is emerging as a candidate for the sporting director role at Liverpool in the summer.
Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi is the early favourite to replace Xavi at Barcelona.
Brighton and Hove Albion have made an approach for Leicester City's midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Crystal Palace are finalising an £8.5m deal for right-back Daniel Munoz from Genk.
Sevilla have dropped Manchester United loanee Hannibal Mejbri and issued a patronising statement, claiming the 'boy' needs to 'apply himself'.
Burnley have stepped up their bid to sign Montpellier centre-back Maxime Esteve, offering £10.2m with a 15 per cent sell-on clause.
Kasper Schmeichel has emerged as a potential option for Nottingham Forest if they are able to sign a goalkeeper in January.
Burnley defender Connor Roberts is attracting attention from Brentford, Feyenoord and Leeds United in the final week of the transfer window.
Saudi Arabian side Al Shabab are persisting in their chase of Newcastle United's Miguel Almiron.
SUNDAY TIMES
Liverpool will take a data-driven approach in their hunt for a new manager, as they attempt to replicate the process that led them to appoint Jurgen Klopp.
THE SUN ON SUNDAY
A fan had to step in from the stands and referee the Bundesliga clash between Wolfsburg and Cologne after a linesman got injured.
THE ATHLETIC
Marcus Rashford went out in Belfast the night before reporting himself as too ill to attend Manchester United training on Friday.
Ivan Rakitic has said goodbye to his Sevilla team-mates as he closes in on a transfer to Saudi Arabian club Al Shabab.
Barcelona left-back Alejandro Balde is set to miss the remainder of the season after suffering a hamstring injury that will require surgery.
Former Forest Green Rovers head coach Troy Deeney threatened to punch a match official in the face before calling him a "weasel" during December's League Two loss to Swindon Town.
Xavi has announced he will leave his position as Barcelona head coach at the end of the current campaign.
SUNDAY MIRROR
Casemiro has quashed talk of him heading for the Manchester United exit - insisting he wants to bring more trophies to Old Trafford.
DAILY STAR ON SUNDAY
Lazio's former sporting director sensationally claimed Manchester United once bid £85m (€100m) for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
SCOTTISH SUN ON SUNDAY
Steven Naismith is confident Lawrence Shankland will still be at Hearts when the transfer window closes - as Rangers scouts were at Tynecastle to watch the Jambos' 2-0 win over Aberdeen.
David Martindale has admitted he's ready to admit defeat if Livingston chiefs believe he's done all he can for the club.
Rangers target Jefte's loan club have hinted they expect the deal for the defender to move to Ibrox to go through imminently.
Scotland international defender David Bates looks set to complete a shock move to Turkish side Konyaspor.
Neil Lennon met with a delegation from the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) on Friday with a view to potentially taking over as the manager of the national team.
C&H
West Ham midfielder close to departure
West Ham midfielder close to departureWest Ham midfielder Pablo Fornals is close to leaving the club.
Manuel Pellegrini has been eyeing the player for weeks and it is now being reported the long time Hammers star has agreed personal terms.
No fee or formal announcement has been declared by the club but they ensured he was signed to another year’s deal in order to get something around £8 million to £10 million.
Now it seems he could be gone before the winter window closes on February 1st to be reunited with the manager who brought him to the London Stadium for around £25 million in 2019.
Real Betis aim to do the deal once they have sold Brazilian winger Luiz Henrique, who is understood to be on his way to Botafogo.
Betixs are aiming to get £17 million for Henriqueand will then have speace in their squad for Fornals which they will hope in over the line by deadline day.
The 27 year old, who has made over 200 appearances for the Hammers since joining the club from Villarreal.
Caught Offside
West Ham showing interest in Championship full-back with double figure assists
Earlier this week, Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth suggested that West Ham are considering signings in the full-back position, despite their previous focus on acquiring a new midfielder like Kalvin Phillips.
Despite the expensive nature of securing Phillips on loan from Manchester City, with reports indicating that West Ham have made him their highest-paid player and will cover his entire wage packet, the Hammers are still keen on making more transfer dealings this window.
With the potential addition of FC Nordsjaelland winger Ibrahim Osman and reported interest in Al-Ittihad winger Jota, the prospect of further arrivals after them may seem ambitious at first glance.
The need for a new full-back could be pressing, particularly given that players like Ben Johnson and Aaron Cresswell are set to be out of contract at the conclusion of this Premier League season.
Leif Davis has been outstanding in the Championship this season for Ipswich Town. The 24-year-old has started 25 out of their 28 league matches, providing 10 assists and emerging as one of their top performers.
According to Dean Jones, West Ham are considering a move for Leif Davis as they seek to secure a new full-back signing promptly.
“The Leif Davis interest is real from West Ham, they have definitely looked into it,” said Jones.
“They want to sign a full-back here and now, but they want to sign another full-back who has value here and now, and I don’t think Davis is that guy right now.”
The Athletic
Why Kalvin Phillips was not considered good enough for Manchester City
By Sam Lee
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the writing went up on the wall for Kalvin Phillips’ time at Manchester City, because there were so many clues that things were not going to work out, but there was one very early sign that something was amiss.
Phillips signed, on a six-year contract, from Leeds United in a £42million ($53.5m) deal on July 4 2022, two days before City sold teenage fellow midfielder Romeo Lavia to Southampton for £10.5m.
No sooner had pre-season training begun later that month than Pep Guardiola and his staff had some concerns.
They noted, even at that early stage, how Phillips seemed to struggle with the intricacies of City’s holding midfielder role and, although Lavia was sold in the knowledge that, at 18 years old, he would not have been given much first-team exposure anyway, the club’s coaches realised the young Belgian was a more natural fit than their new arrival.
There were elements of misfortune about Phillips’ first few months in Manchester; he was too ill to attend a sunny unveiling event at the Etihad Stadium, which also featured Erling Haaland’s introduction to his new fans, and the season was barely a month old when he had to have surgery on a recurring shoulder problem, which kept him on the sidelines until the winter World Cup.
But the rather curious — and quite sad — reality for somebody who had been voted England’s best player a year before his arrival at City, and one who, at 28 years old, will surely now make a big contribution to sixth-placed West Ham, is that Phillips was essentially never considered good enough to play for a team who are the current Premier League, European and world champions.
“I feel so sorry for my decision for him,” Guardiola said earlier this month. “I’ve said that many times. He doesn’t deserve what has happened to him and I’m so sorry.”
There was nothing too unusual about the fact Phillips had played just a handful of minutes in City’s first few games of last season because that shoulder injury came early. He would not have been the only City player to struggle in their first season — on the day Phillips’ surgery came to light, Jack Grealish had scored an early goal at Wolves amid ongoing criticism of his debut campaign in Manchester.
There was no scrutiny of Phillips’ position at City at that time due to his injury, but then Guardiola revealed he had reported back from the World Cup overweight and was being kept out of the squad. Guardiola has a very strict approach to that (“When you are not fit, danger is coming,” he has said. “You’re not fast enough or quick enough in the head.”) but the fact he had chosen to disclose that information about Phillips was telling.
The player was barely above the weight threshold and it is understood others had reported back in similar condition, but Guardiola had felt the need to send a message publicly to him in particular.
A few weeks later, Guardiola sent a message to the entire City organisation after feeling the players, and even his employers, had become complacent, and that was born out of weeks and months of frustration at airing his concerns behind closed doors without seeing the required reaction.
It was the same thing with Phillips.
Although his injury had robbed him of the chance to show early on what he could do on the training pitch, and shielded him from any public scrutiny, those around City had noted he was not quite reaching the standards his new club demanded.
Not that he caused staff or his team-mates any issues whatsoever. Guardiola and his staff genuinely valued his role in the dressing room, as a great team-mate and somebody good for the overall harmony in the dressing room — particularly in that post-World Cup period when many players, including several of his England team-mates, and most notably Joao Cancelo, were complaining about various issues around the club. That was important.
“The only thing I can say about him is I am asking for good personalities and characters and he is a perfect example,” Guardiola has said.
Phillips had his own personal struggles due to his lack of playing time — he has talked about calling his former head coach at Leeds, Marcelo Bielsa, for advice, and about crying over one rare but poor City performance late last season — but he never acted disruptively around the training ground, which is a no-no for Guardiola and something that has been known of Aymeric Laporte and Riyad Mahrez in the past.
The problem for Phillips, as far as adjusting his mentality to City is concerned, was that it took him too long to appreciate that his new team-mates were just that bit more switched on, that bit more professional. It was not that he had terrible standards by any means, but that in a dressing room full of players who arrive early for training and leave late, and who take extra care of themselves in their own time, he did not quite match them.
For example, Phillips did not really do anything wrong after the World Cup: other England players came back undercooked, too, because those who were not starting for Gareth Southgate in Qatar did not do especially intense training, and all City players were given some days off after their team’s tournament ended and a date by which they had to return to the club.
Phillips took his allotted time off and reported back on time, but the difference is that some of his team-mates, including Laporte and Nathan Ake, came back early, after noticing they could do with some extra fitness work.
“He wants to change,” Guardiola said of Phillips a couple of weeks after keeping him away from the squad. “It will maybe be a good lesson for him in the future.
“A footballer has to be perfect over 12 months. Perfect. Even in the holidays, he has to be perfect. You have to be ready, because this level is so demanding. You have to play three games (a week), you have to be fit. If you are not fit, then nothing. But I said last week, he (has) improved his level.”
But any improvements in that sense, and even the positive impact Phillips had on the rest of the squad, was not enough to turn the situation around because, in contrast to how Guardiola and his staff still believe in new players who struggle in their first year (heading into that season, Guardiola was convinced Grealish was about to shine), they had begun to form the opinion that his signing was never going to work out.
The biggest reason for this rare City transfer misfire is due to the kind of player Phillips is and his incompatibility with what Guardiola needs for his team to work.
“In the quality of long balls, Kalvin is better than Rodri. In shorter spaces and first actions, Rodri is better,” Guardiola said last season, a gentle introduction to his feelings.
“When we need a game with transitions or games with chaos, Kalvin is perfect,” the manager said in October. Those who have paid attention to how Guardiola likes his teams to operate during the past 15 years will note that chaos is the exact opposite of what he wants from a football match.
There was also an issue with the type of midfielder Phillips is: Guardiola prefers his holding midfielders to stay in their position rather than to roam, and they need to be basically flawless when under pressure, especially when receiving the ball from their goalkeeper or defenders with one or more opponent bearing down on them.
City knew he would need to adapt to their style but they felt that, due in part to that Bielsa factor, he would be able to do so.
“He has to improve the reception from central defenders, but this is a question of time,” Guardiola had said. “At Leeds, he moved the lateral way, but he has the ability to do it.
“He is a national team player. In the Euros, when England reached the final (in 2021), he played amazingly. He had the mentality to train with Marcelo Bielsa, with the resilience and fight.”
But during that first season, they came to believe it was never going to happen and, unlike with Grealish, Bernardo Silva, Rodri and others who have had notable struggles in their first season but retained the strong backing of Guardiola heading into their second campaign, Phillips was made available for a loan move last summer.
He wanted to stay at City, though, hoping he would be able to turn things around in the way Grealish and Ake did, and he used these examples publicly to show his determination. This time, he reported for pre-season five days early, having done extra gym work during his summer break, and he genuinely believed that more opportunities would come his way.
But he quickly saw Mateo Kovacic arrive and go above him in the midfield pecking order. Late in the summer window, Matheus Nunes joined too, and started two matches in his first three weeks at the club — Phillips started just four matches all last season, two in the domestic cups and the others in league matches after City had sewn up the title.
In September, after Rodri was sent off against Nottingham Forest and banned for three matches, Phillips shed some light on how down he had been about the situation and how his team-mates had had to lift his spirits, and said he was facing “probably the biggest week or so in my Man City career so far”.
But nothing really changed: he played at Newcastle United in a Carabao Cup defeat but was back on the bench for Premier League matches against Wolves and Arsenal.
By October the writing truly was on the wall, and club executives openly acknowledged Phillips was never going to break into the team and that he would be moving on in January. He had initially hoped for a move to Juventus in Italy, but they could not agree terms with City.
Last month, when Guardiola said he was “sorry” for not rewarding Phillips’ attitude with playing time, he delivered his most damning line of all.
“It’s just because I visualise some things and visualise the team and I struggle to see him,” the Catalan said.
The question everybody is asking now, then, is: how did this transfer go so wrong? — especially at City, where poor signings have been few and far between during Guardiola’s seven years as manager.
It is important to remember there were a lot of areas in which the move made sense. City saw an England international available for a good price, who came with glowing reviews of his character and, importantly, there was the fact he had been coached by Bielsa.
City also knew which market they were shopping in — they knew, for example, that Aurelien Tchouameni was going to move that summer and though they rated him as a better player, they did not want to bring in somebody for around £70million who would expect to start regularly in a position where Rodri was, and still is, top dog. That could threaten the harmony in the camp, something Phillips would not do, even if he did not bring the same quality.
When City pursued Declan Rice last summer it was because they wanted him to play in two main roles; mostly as a more advanced midfielder, starting alongside Rodri but then moving forward, and also as the Spaniard’s replacement, as and when needed. Rice, though, wants to play in Rodri’s position more often, something he was assured of by Arsenal.
City were, and still are, in a position where they cannot buy a top-class specialist as an alternative to Rodri, and know that whenever he is unavailable, they will have to use two players in deep-lying areas to compensate.
They knew in the summer of 2022 that Phillips would be happy enough with not playing every week, but they and he believed he would get far more opportunities than he has had, and he leaves with just six City starts to his name, having failed to even make himself an option for the Rodri-less double pivot.
He now has a chance to show exactly the type of player he is at West Ham, and quite possibly in an England shirt at the European Championship this summer, but City feared very early on that Phillips was not up to the job, and that never changed.
