The potential transfer claxon is sounding at the Etihad this morning after Joshua Kimmich, versatile German ace and former Pep Guardiola protégé, declared of his current situation at Bayern Munich that “I’m not satisfied with it and I want to change it”. The 22-year-old has completed 90 minutes of league action only once since the start of December, starting seven of the 11 games he has been fit for on the bench and remaining on it three times. Manchester City are now, the Mirror declares, “on red alert” and preparing a summer splurge. Meanwhile Bayern could steal a midfielder away from England, and Arsenal in particular, with the former Bavaria bench-warmer Ottmar Hitzfeld declaring the German giants “certainly have Granit Xhaka on their radar” because he is “always a topic for current top clubs”, presumably because he is currently stranded at a former top club.
Chelsea want to take another step – it would only be their second, to be fair, but still – towards having a team populated entirely by people called Costa by splashing £20m on the Wolves winger Helder Costa, who only completed a permanent move to the Midlands in January but is now being regularly scouted not only by the champions-in-waiting but also by Arsenal. Antonio Conte’s merry men also plan to pad out their youth team by signing 15-year-old Rangers wonderkid Billy Gilmour – “rated as the best talent Scotland have produced for 20 years”, according to the Mirror (so even better than Chris Iwelumo) but also good enough to attract scouts from Barcelona, Bayern Munich and both sides of Manchester – as well as Ajax’s 16-year-old prodigy Daishawn Redan, whose other suitors include RB Leipzig and that Manchester duo.
Talking of which, Manchester United are also keen on another teenager, in the shape of Lyon midfielder, “Little Deschamps” and former European Under-19 Championship-winning captain Lucas Tousart, only 19 and potentially available for just £5m. Lyon’s Under-19 coach, Joël Fréchet, says he “embodies the values we want to pass on at this club, namely humility and enthusiasm”, which could lead to some personality clashes with the permanently-exasperated walking ego José Mourinho.
David Moyes spent his Friday night at Tannadice Park, scouting not one nor even two but three players who he is might soon sign for Sunderland. Of the three on the field as Hibernian beat Dundee United, the 21-year-old striker Jason Cummings became Jason Goings after getting sent off for punching the ball into the net with 15 minutes to play – though he did score the only goal of the game – while 28-year-old Nigerian defender Efe Ambrose, who failed to get a work permit when Blackburn tried to sign him on loan in January, and 22-year-old midfielder John McGinn both completed the match.
QPR are readying a summer swoop for Ryan Inniss, the Crystal Palace defender who is spending the season on loan at Southend, where he has started only five league games, having spent the first week of the season in HMP Belmarsh after being convicted of assault. On the plus side, he’ll be out of contract and totally free. And in managerial news, Gary Rowett remains favourite for the newly-vacated Derby County hotseat, but worryingly Alan Pardew is “hoping his CV could get him the job”.
