How things change. It wasn’t so long ago that Alexis Sánchez reportedly refused to board a plane bound for talks with Manchester City; now, word on the street is that the Chilean may be stalling on contract talks with Arsenal, in the hope that Pep Guardiola will add him to his collection of diminutive playmakers. Juventus are also said to be sweet on Sánchez, and will make a move if Arsenal are unwilling to break their wage structure, which on the face of it seems entirely plausible. Sánchez isn’t the only South American superstar Guardiola has an eye on – over the summer, he enquired about the availability of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Neymar in three separate phonecalls, but was told no, still no and to please stop calling.
There’s still more than 100 days until the transfer window opens, so let’s shoot for the moon: Chelsea and Arsenal are both weighing up £80m bids to bring Antoine Griezmann to the Premier League in January. Having spent the weekend gesticulating wildly at his laptop, Antonio Conte is convinced Griezmann is the man to rebuild his Chelsea team around. Him, or Tottenham full-back Ben Davies; he hasn’t decided yet. Manchester United are also after an Atlético Madrid star in the shape of centre-back José Giménez, and could add PSG’s Lucas Moura and West Ham’s Reece Oxford to an eclectic January shopping list.
Over on Merseyside, Everton’s Ronald Koeman is missing Fraser Forster, especially after seeing Maarten Stekelenburg palm one into the net against Middlesbrough, while Jürgen Klopp likes the cut of Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud’s jib. Liverpool are also keeping tabs on the new Raphaël Varane (it says here), Lens defender Jean-Kévin Duverne. Staying in France, Emmanuel Adebayor’s move to Lyon has reportedly broken down over his desire to play for Togo in January’s Africa Cup of Nations. “If they start looking for such excuses, they will kill themselves,” said the ever equanimous striker.
Adebayor will instead keep kicking his heels as a free agent, along with fellow Premier League alumni Peter Odemwingie, Junior Hoilett and Stéphane Sessègnon. One player who won’t be joining them is Jérémy Hélan; the former Manchester City youth player, recently spotted at Sheffield Wednesday and Wolves, is set to retire at the age of 24. Another City academy product who may well be sniffing around the Championship is Joey Barton, who is on the verge of leaving Rangers after an alleged bust-up with team-mates and manager Mark Warburton. How things change ...
