Juventus, storied heavyweights of the European game and a club who knows a decent defender when they see one, are scanning Europe for their next recruit and have zoned in, a tad improbably, on The Hawthorns. Reports this morning suggest that the Old Lady is eyeing a young man in the form of West Brom prodigy Nathan Ferguson. The 19-year-old has stood out for the Championship leaders in the past few weeks, so much so that he could be playing alongside Cristiano Ronaldo rather than Hal Robson-Kanu come January – although not if Atlético Madrid have any say on the matter. Leeds are also interested, it seems, so all the best to them.
Olivier Giroud is apparently desperate enough to flee Chelsea that he’s considering heading to Crystal Palace, backing himself to succeed where Christian Benteke, Michy Batshuayi, Loïc Rémy, Connor Wickham, Emmanuel Adebayor, and Marouane Chamakh, among others, have all failed. If Palace can’t lure him, they may turn their attentions to Rangers’ red card machine and occasional goalscorer Alfredo Morelos.
Manchester United, meanwhile, have looked forensically over their last six years of transfer activity and discerned that hurling fistfuls of cash at the sexiest name on the market mightn’t be the best way forward. They’ve earmarked RB Leipzig’s bullish goal-getter Timo Werner and Leicester’s James Maddison, a shortlist that seems suspiciously sensible. The latter might have to, erm, wrestle a starting berth off Fred, who is determined to prove himself at Old Trafford despite early struggles. And after halting the winning streak of his old pals down the East Lancs Road, Ole Gunnar Solskjær has reportedly nipped ahead of Liverpool in the race to sign the long-lost-wonderkid-but-still-only-20-year-old Martin Odegaard, who has impressed this term for Real Sociedad on loan from Real Madrid.
And while we’re talking all things Bernabéu, Real are reported to be ready to offer bearded bedazzler Isco to Spurs in part-exchange for the longtime apple of their eye, Christian Eriksen. And Zinedine Zidane has reacted to Saturday’s shock defeat to Real Mallorca by claiming he wants to stay at the club for ever. Pipe dreams are good, Zizou.
Finally, at the other end of the glamour spectrum, is some news emanating from Tyneside. “The most important thing for us to work on is at the top end of the pitch,” said Newcastle head honcho Steve Bruce after Saturday’s defeat to Chelsea. “We can improve on that.” As such, he’s after Burnley’s no-frills centre-back Ben Gibson for £15m.
