Despite ongoing uncertainty over the future of José Mourinho, who many sages still believe to be approaching his Old Trafford endgame irrespective of a couple of decent recent results, Manchester United continue to be linked with more centre-halves than you can shake a rolled-up copy of Practical Caravan at.
As at home at right-back as he is in the heart of defence, versatile Fiorentina defender Nikola Milenkovic is believed to have an admirer in the Portuguese, but the Serb’s employers have declared they expect to get £40m for a 21-year-old who has also attracted attention from Chelsea, Arsenal, Juventus and Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester United bean-counters, by contrast, are understood to value the player at £30m.
Mourinho also fancies making a Premier League player of Kalidou Koulibaly, who at 27 years of age is considerably more experienced than Milenkovic and would cost a great deal more. United’s boss will attempt to convince his employers to make a bid for the classy Senegalese stopper in January, but knows he won’t come cheap. After signing a contract extension as recently as last September, Koulibaly is tied to the Neapolitan club until June 2023 and could command a fee of over £70m. Bournemouth’s Nathan Aké has also been mentioned as a potential United target, but the £40m-rated Dutchman is also wanted by Manchester City.
Given the ongoing and at times baffling reluctance of top end Premier League clubs to take advantage of the products of their own academies, Borussia Dortmund will reap the benefits instead. With Jadon Sancho continuing to impress for the Bundesliga side (he scored in their 4-0 win at Stuttgart over the weekend), Lucien Favre has ordered his scouting staff to keep tabs on Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden, Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi and Liverpool striker Bobby Duncan – a trio of players who between them have a combined age of just 52.
Arsenal are prepared to forgive Malcom for past snubs, now that his controversial summer move from Bordeaux to Barcelona has turned into something of a nightmare. The winger originally binned off the opportunity of a move to the Emirates when Roma came calling, only to spurn the Italian side’s advances at the 11th hour and upset them by signing for Barcelona instead. He has since played just 25 minutes for the Spanish side and is already agitating for a move away from the Camp Nou so he can play more football. Arsenal are reported to have already opened talks about securing a January loan move for the Brazilian, but may have to duke it out with Spurs for his services.
And finally, having become such a daily fixture in the Rumour Mill that we were considering him his own key so he can come and go as he pleases, it now looks like perennially-unsettled Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Adrien Rabiot won’t be going anywhere and is about to sign a new deal with the Ligue 1 side.
