The January window is only two days old but its alloy wheels are already being oiled for some truly outlandish transfer action. Manchester United are looking pretty dandy at the moment but José Mourinho wants more. £145m worth of more, by the way of Antoine Griezmann and Saúl Ñíguez. Mourinho does not want a striker – saying he trusts Marcus Rashford to put the ball in the net – but he is mulling over whether to give Atlético Madrid the pennies they would demand to trigger the combined release clauses for the services of the pair, given they signed new contracts last summer.
Meanwhile, Mourinho has gone stone cold on the idea of bringing defender Victor Lindelof to Old Trafford but he could be set lose centre-back Chris Smalling, with Everton sniffing around the England international.
A good old-fashioned centre-back is all the rage again today, you see, with league leaders Chelsea readying their chequebook to sign Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk from under the noses of Manchester City, who remain keen. Those savvy Saints could cash in on £60m for the man mountain, who has been under-par in the last couple of matches. Chelsea can breathe of a sigh of relief too, with Diego Costa “very happy” at Stamford Bridge and set to snub any lucrative overtures from Chinese Super League outfit Tianjin Quanjian.
Dimitri Payet is supposedly fed up of being West Ham United’s most valuable asset, and the Frenchman could return to his homeland, if Marseille can seal a sensational return for the winger. Payet, who only signed a new five-and-a-half year contract in February, is the subject of a “crazy project”, headed up by American businessman Frank McCourt. Marseille reckon a £32m bid could see him back to Stade Vélodrome.
Liverpool have been whetting their appetite for new players too, supposedly scouting Norwich City’s Jacob Murphy for the past few months, with the aim of landing him in next couple of weeks before sending him back on loan. They are not in for Joe Hart, though, with the wacky races between Loris Karius and Simon Mignolet all part of Jürgen Klopp’s fun and games on Merseyside.
Elsewhere, Henri Lansbury could send the East Midlands into a bit of a frenzy by swapping Nottingham Forest for Derby County in a £2.5m deal. The only stumbling block for Steve McClaren is that Watford have the eyes for the former Arsenal playmaker too. Meanwhile, Brighton goal-machine Glenn Murray could make his loan move from Bournemouth permanent for a cut-price £1.5m, and Peter Crouch could sign a new contract with Stoke City.
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