According to the Manchester Evening News, Manchester United are interested in signing Napoli midfielder Jorginho as a replacement for Michael Carrick.
What’s the story?
Carrick is still United’s captain, but the 36-year-old has not represented the Red Devils since undergoing a heart procedure on September 20.
It is widely thought that the Englishman will retire next summer, whilst there are question marks surrounding the future of Marouane Fellaini, who is also out of contract at the end of the season.
According to the Manchester Evening News, United boss Jose Mourinho wants to sign at least one new central midfielder, and the Portuguese has identified Jorginho as a potential signing.
The report claims that United would like the deal to be completed in the January transfer window, although Jorginho would not be eligible to represent the 20-time English champions in the Champions League.
What are Jorginho’s credentials?
Previously linked with Arsenal, Jorginho is a classy midfielder who combines mobility with a slick passing style.
The 26-year-old started his professional career with Verona before joining Napoli in the summer of 2014, and he has made more than 130 appearances for the Naples club in all competitions.
This season, Jorginho has scored twice and provided three assists in 15 Serie A appearances, whilst he has also netted once in the Champions League term.
It is understood that Mourinho sees the midfielder as the perfect foil for Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic as the United boss looks to spend big once again in a bid to close the gap on Manchester City.
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Jorginho, who is valued at £25.2m by transfermarkt.co.uk, might well command a high transfer fee, but he has all of the qualities needed to be a star in the Premier League.
According to reports in French publication L’Equipe, Liverpool have been boosted in their January pursuit of Monaco star Thomas Lemar after the Ligue 1 club’s manager Leonardo Jardim refused to rule out selling the Frenchman during the January transfer window, but The Mirror says they will have to pay £90m to land him.
What’s the word, then?
Well, according to L’Equipe when Jardim was questioned about the future of Lemar, he said: “We are not used to selling in the winter, but the transfer window lasts until the end of the month and many things can happen.”
The France international is a target for the Reds to replace Philippe Coutinho after the Brazilian joined Barcelona over the weekend, but The Mirror says they will have to pay a club-record £90m fee if they want to bring the 22-year-old to Anfield.
The latest reports in L’Equipe suggest that while Monaco haven’t ruled out selling Lemar if they receive an acceptable offer, it seems unlikely that they will be willing to negotiate on their asking price this month.
How has Lemar done this season?
He certainly hasn’t been as good as he was during the previous campaign, but he has still done well.
The versatile Frenchman, who has proven that he can play on either flank or in more of a central attacking midfield role, has scored two goals and provided a further four assists in 19 appearances in all competitions this term.
That record is relatively disappointing when you consider that he netted 14 goals and picked up 17 assists in 55 outings in total for Monaco last season, but there is no doubt to the potential that he has.
Will Liverpool bid £90m for him this month?
It’s difficult to say, and depends on how desperate Jurgen Klopp is to bring in a replacement for Coutinho.
The German boss will likely know that he will have to pay over the odds for a player in January given the huge fee they received for the Brazilian, and it is up to him to decide whether they can through to the end of the campaign without replacing the 25-year-old, or whether they need to do it now.
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The Merseyside outfit have certainly shown that they aren’t afraid to splash the cash on the right players, and they will risk missing out on Lemar if they don’t sign him before January 31.
According to Sky Sports, Southampton could sign reported target Andy Carroll from West Ham United if they offer £20m for the striker.
What’s the word, then?
Well, The Sun reported on January 4 that the Saints were eyeing up a move for the Irons centre-forward as they look to find cover for the injured Charlie Austin, with Chelsea also said to be keen on the 29-year-old.
Sky Sports’ Transfer Centre, via the Daily Star, had claimed earlier this week that West Ham were demanding £35m for the former Liverpool and Newcastle United man, but now Sky Sports understand that they are in fact willing to listen to offers of around £20m.
Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino is still looking to make his first signing this month with his side just one place and one point above the Premier League relegation zone, and Carroll could now be an option with little progress in a deal for Monaco’s Guido Carrillo.
How has Carroll done this season?
It has been another injury-hit campaign for the 29-year-old, who has scored two goals and picked up one assist in 12 top flight appearances.
The striker has only played a role from the substitutes’ bench in recent weeks with Marko Arnautovic preferred in the lone striker position, while he was left out of the squad altogether for the Premier League clash with Huddersfield Town last weekend and the FA Cup third round replay against Shrewsbury Town at the London Stadium on Tuesday night.
Carroll would certainly prove to be useful at both ends of the pitch for Southampton in the air though, as according to WhoScored.com he has won 70 of the 118 aerial duels he has faced in his dozen league matches this term.
Would he be a good signing for Southampton?
If he stays fit he would certainly be a good addition and prove useful in their fight against the drop, but you can’t help but feel that they may prefer a loan deal rather than shelling out £20m for a player who will likely have little re-sale value.
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Even if Saints decide to push ahead with a move for the 6ft 3in centre-forward they will likely face stiff competition from Chelsea, who according to The Telegraph have opened talks with West Ham about signing the 29-year-old on a permanent deal this month, while West Ham may not want to sell to a potential relegation rival.
Manchester United fans will be very keen to see Alexis Sanchez for the first time if he makes his debut at Huish Park against Yeovil Town in the FA Cup this evening.
The Chile international stunned everyone by joining the Red Devils after being heavily linked to United’s local rivals Manchester City for months.
Sanchez moved to Old Trafford from Arsenal in a swap deal, which involved Henrikh Mkhitaryan joining the North London outfit.
While fans will be happy to see their new signing pull on the United shirt for the first time, there is another player who the supporters are desperate to watch.
Seventeen-year-old Angel Gomes could feature against Yeovil this evening as the Manchester Evening News reports that the teenager was part of Jose Mourinho’s travelling squad.
The London-born midfielder has been associated with United since he was six years of age and has been lighting up the youth ranks in recent seasons.
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Ahead of this evening’s FA Cup fourth-round encounter, fans have been calling for Gomes to play.
Tottenham Hotspur recovered from a disastrous start in their Champions League knockout tie against Juventus in Turin on Tuesday night to secure a 2-2 draw, but Spurs fans were left unimpressed with Serge Aurier’s performance at right-back and are demanding more from him.
The summer signing from Paris Saint-Germain, rated at £18m according to Transfermarkt, started ahead of Kieran Trippier at full-back, but he looked shaky throughout the first half as his side quickly found themselves 2-0 behind.
Things got worse for the 25-year-old when he gave away a penalty on the stroke of half-time after he brought down Douglas Costa in the area, but fortunately for him Gonzalo Higuain missed the chance to get his hat-trick.
Tottenham supporters were quick to have their say on the Ivory Coast international via social media, and while one said “another terrible performance from him last night”, another labelled him as “a total liability”.
Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…
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When Sam Allardyce took over at Everton, it looked like he was finally being given the ‘big job’ he’s always talked about deserving.
The former England boss was never seen as sophisticated enough for a top four club back in the day, and over the last few years none of the new ‘big six’ would have dreamed of coming to call on him. But Everton, a team with aspirations to break into that cabal at the top of the table did.
In some ways it was a panic appointment: without a manager and seemingly in freefall, the Toffees looked to a ship steadier rather than a system builder. But in other ways it looked like it could have been inspired. Allardyce is known as one of the most meticulous and detailed managers in the league, and whilst that might be something of an outdated viewpoint (the likes of Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino and Antonio Conte are no stranger to the finer points of micromanaging) it’s certainly true that the man who kept Crystal Palace in the top flight last season is more than just a get-out-of-jail-free card.
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For Everton, a club with some fabulous players, but some serious squad limitations, I thought Allardyce was somehow the perfect man: the man who would find the strengths and play to them whilst also turning a flaky defence into one that stopped shipping goals.
It occurred to me that the former England boss had a point to prove and that for the first time in his career, he had the players at his disposal to do it. Whatever you think about Everton’s summer recruitment, there are some good players in the team who wouldn’t look out of place in a top six side.
Indeed last season the Toffees were threatening the Champions League places before a Merseyside derby effectively ended their hopes for a top four spot, and with nothing else to play for, the season fizzled out.
But instead of taking the technical side Ronald Koeman was trying to build and running with it to prove he can manage a top team, Allardyce seems to have out-Allardyced himself. He has taken a struggling team and positioned them squarely in the upper mid-table, which was his remit, but he’s done it in a way that’s proven the point of those who said that steering the liner away from the iceberg is about the height of his managerial abilities.
I don’t like reactionary football, but I also don’t like snobbery in football. If Allardyce had to play long balls in order to take unfancied Bolton into the UEFA Cup, then so be it: that’s simply playing to your strengths. And in fact, he did it in a particularly modern way at the time, becoming one of the first managers to really use statistics and player monitoring to their fullest.
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But we have to accept that there’s one rule for a plucky underdog and another when you’re in charge of a team who can spend £45m on one player: Everton and its fans don’t just want more, they demand it and so they should.
Everton will be safe, and they may even finish seventh. If they do, Allardyce should be lauded because in order to finish as the best of the rest from this position they’ll have had to win more games than an in-form Leicester who already have an extra point and a much better goal difference. If Allardyce manages that, he’ll have won plenty of games and you have to play well in order to do that.
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The worry, though, isn’t that the evidence doesn’t point to this being the case.
Allardyce had a huge chance with this job. He took over a team who were capable of so much attractive football and all he had to do was let them play it whilst shoring up the defence – something he’s an expert at already. He could have proved to the world that he’s not a reactionary coach or a dinosaur, and should have been given more of a chance years ago.
Instead, his Everton side is now just what most people think of when they think of the phrase ‘Big Sam’. He has time to fix that, but for this season it’s starting to run out.
Sam Allardyce was never expected to be a long-term solution to Everton’s managerial malaise, but there is no doubting that the veteran Premier League manager has fulfilled his MO.
Everton were teetering above the relegation zone when he came in at the end of November, having won just three games all season despite spending £130m on players last summer.
The Allardyce bounce effect has worked to a certain extent, though, with Everton seven points clear of the drop with ten games remaining.
The formerly disgraced England boss has always performed better in his first 10 games at a club than that club’s previous 10 games, and Everton owner Farhad Moshiri will need to think hard before releasing Allardyce from his 18-month contract in the summer.
But that is exactly what Moshiri is planning to do, with Diego Simeone and Luis Enrique being discussed as potential replacements for the current man in charge.
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Everton fans – we want to hear from you – do you think Moshiri should get rid of Allardyce in the summer? Have your say by voting below…
According to reports by Turkish media outlet Haberler, Newcastle United are interested in signing Besiktas midfielder Tolgay Arslan this summer, but they could face competition from Bundesliga duo Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen in a potential deal that could have a big bearing on Jonjo Shelvey’s future.
What’s the word, then?
Well, even though the Tyneside outfit don’t know which league they will be in next season as they find themselves amidst a Premier League relegation battle right now, Haberler reports that they are already lining up potential transfer deals for this summer and that Arslan is on their shortlist of targets.
Haberler says that the two German clubs are also interested in the 27-year-old, who has become a key player for the Turkish giants with his current contract with them not due to expire until 2022.
How has Arslan done this season?
The central midfielder has impressed in the middle of the park for Besiktas, making 33 appearances in all competitions, and was a reported Tottenham Hotspur target last year.
The 27-year-old started three of his side’s six Champions League group games – it probably would have been more had it not been for illness and injury – while he was a late substitute in the 5-0 defeat against Bayern Munich in the first leg of their last 16 tie at the Allianz Arena last month.
According to WhoScored.com, the German’s main strengths are his passing, ability to make key passes and his dribbling, and he has an average passing accuracy of 89.4% in 25 appearances in the Turkish Super Lig and in Europe this term.
He has also made 14 key passes and successfully completed 36 of the 45 dribbles he has attempted, while he has also won 51 tackles from a defensive point of view.
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Would he be a good signing for Newcastle?
He certainly would be.
Arslan obviously has a good range of passing and is a midfielder that can dictate the play and have a positive effect in terms of defending and creating.
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The fact that he has played in the Champions League and is wanted by the likes of Dortmund show the quality he has, and point to the fact that he would be a huge success at St James’ Park.
He sounds similar to Shelvey?
He is certainly similar, with his variety of passing and his ability dictate the tempo from the middle of the park just a couple of his main attributes.
The arrival of Arslan on Tyneside would certainly more than hint at a summer exit for the 26-year-old, rated at €10m (£8.9m) by Transfermarkt, who was heavily linked with a move to West Ham United during the January transfer window and who has already been sent off twice in the Premier League for the Magpies this term.
West Ham United midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate has been called up by Senegal for their friendly matches against Uzbekistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina later this month, and Irons fans have no idea how following his poor performances on the pitch this season.
The 28-year-old has been a key player for the east London outfit in recent years, but his displays have often been below-par this term – including in the successive 4-1, 4-1 and 3-0 defeats David Moyes’ men have just suffered – and he has come under huge criticism from some of the London Stadium faithful at times.
Nevertheless, he has got the call for his country and he may well be starting for them at the World Cup in Russia in just a few months’ time, where they will come up against Poland, Japan and Colombia.
West Ham supporters have been quick to have their say on the news of the midfielder via social media, and while one said “literally no idea why”, another said “not a clue how he managed this”.
Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…
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Leeds United fans are worried attacker Pablo Hernandez will leave the club this summer after Paul Heckingbottom’s latest comments on the 32-year-old.
Speaking in his press conference on Wednesday, the Leeds boss was rather cryptic about the prospect of Hernandez signing a new deal, although the club are in discussions with the player.
Hernandez has been a stand-out for the Elland Road outfit this season, scoring seven goals and providing another seven assists and supporters are eager for him to extend his stay at the club beyond the summer, when his contract expires.
He may be entering the latter stages of his career at 32 years of age, but still has plenty to offer in the English Championship and could help the club in their quest for promotion to the English Premier League next term.
Fans though have been left worried at Heckingbottom’s latest comments, with some believing he could be the latest talent that is allowed to slip through their fingers.