Paper Talk
Neymar is set to show his commitment to Barcelona by signing a new five-year deal to end interest from Manchester City and Manchester United.
Andriy Yarmolenko's agent has talked up the chance of his client joining Arsenal this summer, claiming he will turn down Barcelona to move to the Premier League.
Michael Carrick has turned down the chance to join the Chinese Super League exodus, with Manchester United remaining his priority despite his contract expiring this summer. Newcastle are monitoring the midfielder's situation.
Pep Guardiola wants Manchester City to make a move for young Ajax midfielder Riechedly Bazoer, a reported £24m target for Chelsea.
Tottenham are plotting a summer move for Napoli striker Lorenzo Insigne as long as they secure a place in the Champions League.
Leicester City are planning an audacious move for Roma great Francesco Totti, who has had a public falling out with the Serie A club's boss Luciano Spalletti.
Real Madrid and Barcelona will battle it out for Leicester City midfielder Riyad Mahrez this summer, with a £25m offer on the cards for the impressive Algeria international.
Chelsea will make a summer move for £30m rated AC Milan defender Alessio Romagnoli as they look for a long-term replacement for John Terry.
Manchester United are facing a challenge from Chelsea in their bid to sign Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani.
Harry Redknapp says Jose Mourinho's move to Manchester United is a done deal.
Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is facing at least another four weeks on the sidelines with a knee injury.
Italy coach Antonio Conte expects to learn in the next 10 days whether he will be appointed as Chelsea’s next manager.
Antonio Conte has edged closer to becoming the next Chelsea manager after positive talks between his representatives and the Premier League club yesterday.
BBC
taly boss Antonio Conte has held talks with Chelsea and is hopeful that he will conclude a deal to take over at Stamford Bridge in the next 10 days. (Guardian)
Real Madrid and Barcelona are both determined to bring Leicester's Riyad Mahrez to Spain in the summer with a fee of £25m mooted for the 25-year-old Algeria winger. (Sun)
Barcelona striker Neymar, who has been linked with a big-money move to Manchester United, has signed a contract extension to stay with the Spanish side until 2021. The 24-year-old's previous deal was due to expire in 2018. (ESPN Brasil - in Portuguese)
Chelsea have contacted Edinson Cavani's agents about ending the 29-year-old Uruguay striker's mixed spell at Paris St-Germain with a move to Stamford Bridge. (Mercato365 - in French)
The Blues are planning for life without captain John Terry with a £30m bid planned for 21-year-old AC Milan centre-back Alessio Romagnoli. (CalcioMercato - in Italian)
Manchester City's incoming manager Pep Guardiola hopes to beat Chelsea to the signing of Ajax's £24m-rated 19-year-old midfielder Riechedly Bazoer. (Daily Mirror)
City also hope to see off competition from Manchester United to buy highly-rated West Ham centre-back Reece Oxford, 17. (Sun)
Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote, 29, could move to China as Super League teams look for last-minute deals before their transfer deadline day on Friday. (Daily Mail)
Arsenal are planning moves for Newcastle goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, 19, and winger Roland Aarons, 20, who are both out of contract in the summer. (Daily Express)
Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick, 34, has rejected the chance to move to the Chinese Super League in the hope of extending his stay at Old Trafford when his contract runs out in the summer. (Daily Mirror)
Manchester United have earmarked Barcelona defender Marc Bartra as a possible £10m signing. (Sun)
Tottenham hope to boost their striking options by signing Napoli forward Lorenzo Insigne, 24, in the summer for a fee of around £18m. (Daily Mirror)
Notts County chairman Ray Trew wants between £8m and £10m to sell Notts County. (Nottingham Post)
Seattle Sounders have completed the transfer of forward Obafemi Martins to Shanghai Shenhua of the Chinese Super League for an undisclosed sum. (ESPN)
Port Vale top scorer Ajay Leitch-Smith, 25, is hopeful of agreeing a new contract over the next couple of months after initial talks with manager Rob Page. (Stoke Sentinel)
Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, 22, says Everton wanted to sign him in 2014. (Sport Witness via Liverpool Echo)
Barnsley caretaker boss Paul Heckingbottom is hopeful of making a loan signing before Saturday's match at Crewe. (Sheffield Star)
Best of social media
Former Manchester United, Leeds and West Ham defender Rio Ferdinand is unimpressed that his son wants to play for Arsenal rather than any of his father's former clubs. (Instagram)
West Ham defender Angelo Ogbonna posted a cheeky picture of himself outside a phone box asking Italy boss Antonio Conte to give him a call-up
Manchester United full-back Luke Shaw, who has been out since September after suffering a broken leg against PSV Eindhoven, tweeted this after United's 5-1 win over FC Midtjylland in the Europa League.
And finally
A two-year-old Arsenal fan has shown off her extensive repertoire of terrace chants, including a ditty taunting north London rivals Tottenham. (Metro)
A fan has been charged with attempting to punch Crystal Palace's bald eagle mascot Kayla during the Capital One Cup match against Charlton in September. (Evening Standard)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Alan Smith
Buongiorno, today is the day the Premier League announces its assault on Serie A with several clubs readying a war chest to sign the Italian league’s best talents. Apparently.
First off: so much for a one club man. Francesco Totti of Roma might soon become Francesco Totti of Leicester City if reports emanating from Italy are to be believed. The striker, who has so often said he will only ever play for his hometown Serie A club (because that means something – Mill Ed), is eyeing up a move to the Premier League leaders after falling out with the giallorossi head coach, Luciano Spalletti.
The row surrounds an interview given by Totti last week in which he aired grievances about Spalletti not talking to him enough. Naturally the veteran striker irked the coach and he was booted out of the squad for last weekend’s trouncing of Palermo, forced to watch from the posh seats. A move to the east midlands makes sense of course, what with Leicester’s rapid counterattacking game – a style that would obviously suit a player who will be 40 in September and is incapable of sprinting. Then you have the moderately important fact that in Ranieri’s latter days as Roma manager he left Totti on the bench due to him not being mobile enough. That was five years ago, so draw your own conclusions.
Not satisfied with a night of coefficient busting, Tottenham now want to lure one of Serie A’s best attackers to north London. Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne, valued at around £18m, is being lined up to bolster their attacking options next season with a small caveat – for Daniel Levy to sanction the move, they must be in the Champions League.
With Italy’s head coach, Antonio Conte, in advanced talks over the Chelsea job, last season’s Premier League champions are prepared to spend £30m on Milan defender Alessio Romagnoli having subsequently realised that money can’t buy you Stones. Arsenal had also been interested in signing Romagnoli – dubbed the new Alessandro Nesta on the basis that he is a centre-half for the rossoneri – but Conte is keen on the 21-year-old.
Arsenal and Chelsea are also set to battle each other for Gonzalo Higuaín with the Napoli head coach, Maurizio Sarri, conceding lucrative offers will be made to take the Argentina striker away from the San Paolo. “I think that for a striker like that will come many more requests, not only by these two clubs” Sarri said.
And after scoring twice on debut to defeat a team wearing stock kits from an advert on the back of a magazine, Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford has been linked with a host of clubs that possess a genuine chance of winning a trophy. Pione Sisto, who gave Midtjylland an unlikely lead at Old Trafford, is already eyeing a break from joy-sucking expected goals per game ratios and chance creation models because football is meant to be fun and not about maths.
OS
Chadwell Chatter
Hello everyone,
I am extremely proud to announce and have to admit that I am blown away that tickets for my Testimonial has now sold out – that is something special.
When we first announced it I thought I would be lucky to get 20,000 with the amount of money that the fans have to spend during a season, but when I think about the support that our fans show, nothing surprises me.
I am grateful and humbled by it and I just want to make the day special for everybody.
I have got some great names playing and can announce that Gianfranco Zola wants to play some part! He called me and I was over the moon to speak with him. He asked about the Testimonial and I said I would love him to be there.
I have also spoken to Glen Johnson and Paul Konchesky recently and he wants to play which is great because they were in the Academy.
There are still some Corporate Hospitality packages available from £99 - don't forget we will be raising money for three great charities in the DT38 Foundation, Richard House Children's Hospice and Help for Heroes.
It has been an amazing few weeks for the Club, especially the feeling around the place after our FA Cup victory over Liverpool which was an amazing night for the players, staff and the fans.
We then went to Norwich and went two goals down which was undeserved, but we showed a great reaction to come back into the game and everyone, including the substitutes, played their part.
We then had the FA Cup win at Blackburn last weekend which was another special day for the 7,200 fans who made the long journey to Ewood Park. It felt like a home game for us. We don't want to stop there and want to keep progressing.
The players we have got now and the players who are coming back from injury shows the quality we have got in the squad.
We have now got four of our strikers fit which is phenomenal and everyone is pulling their weight and you are going to need that for the cup run that we are going on and the Premier League.
We need all the players and we have got some real quality here.
The intensity goes up in training because everyone is playing for places in the side. We have also got players coming back from injury who need to get fit and the standard of training this year has been really high – with the squad we have got now it is a little bit special.
We believe as a squad and as a team that we can score goals. We believe in our ability and in our players.
We have got some players who are playing at the top of their game and we just need to make sure they keep enjoying their game and we keep winning.
With the way it has gone this season we have been behind in some games and have come back. The Premier League is a rollercoaster and nothing is guaranteed at all.
We need to keep that belief going and as Julian Dicks has said about the boss, he makes his feelings known when he needs to, but he really believes in his players.
I am looking forward to seeing Big Sam back at the Boleyn Ground on Saturday. I spent four successful years playing under him and we got promoted under him, which was massive for the Club.
He was brought into the Club to get us promoted from the Championship back into the Premier League and he did that. He then stabilised us in the top flight.
I will look forward to seeing Sam, but hopefully only after we have beaten his Sunderland team.
Finally, we are honouring Bobby Moore and our heroes from the Sixties this weekend. As a West Ham fan, an Academy product and being from Canning Town, I always heard stories of what Bobby achieved and what sort of player and man he was.
It’s an honour for me to be following in his footsteps and captaining this great Club of ours.
Come on You Irons!
Nobes
...and, I put this one in very late yesterday so for those who missed it:-
Mail
Chelsea, West Ham and Newcastle among clubs pursuing Sheffield Wednesday legend David Hirst's son George
Sheffield Wednesday starlet George Hirst is attracting top-flight admirers
Chelsea, West Ham, Newcastle and Southampton interested in teenager
England U17 international is one of country's most sought-after talents
David Hirst scored 106 goals for the Owls and won three England caps
By Sami Mokbel for MailOnline
Chelsea are trying to poach Sheffield Wednesday whizz-kid George Hirst - the son of Owls legend David.
The 17-year-old is viewed as one of the hottest prospects in British academy football right now, with Wednesday facing a fight to keep the teenager.
And Chelsea are among the clubs competing for Hirst's future as he prepares for senior football.
West Ham, Newcastle, Southampton and Leeds also have a serious interest in the forward.
Sheffield Wednesday youngster George Hirst is wanted by a host of Premier League clubs, including Chelsea
Hirst is confidently following in his father’s footsteps, growing a burgeoning reputation as a prolific striker.
Despite only turning 17 this month, the youngster has already played for Wednesday’s Under 21 side, having scored a bagful of goals for the junior set-up.
He added to his reputation last week, scoring twice on his England Under 17s debut in a 2-2 draw against Germany, impressing a host of Premier League scouts in doing so.
Remaining at Hillsborough is likely to provide Hirst with a quicker route into senior football, which will help the Owls in their battle to keep the teen.
But a switch to the Premier League may be too hard to resist for Hirst as he looks to makes his name in the game.
Evening Standard
Dimitri Payet: I'm not bothered about France snub because I'm so happy at West Ham
Vaishali Bhardwaj
Focused: Dimitri Payet says he is loving life at West Ham Stephen Pond/Getty Images
West Ham star Dimitri Payet has revealed he is enjoying life with the Hammers so much that he isn't thinking about his omission from the France squad.
Payet has been heavily praised since joining West Ham from Marseille in the summer, and has scored nine goals in all competitions - including two in the club's 5-1 FA Cup win over Blackburn Rovers on Sunday - while having created several others for his teammates this term.
Such has been the Frenchman's impact since arriving at the Boleyn Ground that Payet was handed a new contract by West Ham earlier this month, although his form for the Hammers hasn't been enough to earn the forward a call-up to the France national team.
Les Bleus coach Didier Deschamps explained his decision to overlook Payet as being down to his belief the 28-year-old doesn't play as well for the national team than his club side, but denied suggestions the Hammers star's behaviour has been a contributing factor to his snub.
Payet, though, isn't worrying about the prospect of missing out on the European Championships in his homeland this summer despite having labelled his lack of game time for France as an "injustice" recently.
"I'm so happy at West Ham I don't want to spoil my enjoyment by getting bothered at being left out," he said.
"I'm living a boyhood dream. I'm being rewarded for my hard work and getting recognition for the way I play in the toughest league in Europe."
