With the Euro-humiliation of Holland complete after their home defeat at the hands of the Czech Republic, the hot salty tears are in full flow as the official postmortem finger-pointing and recriminations begin in earnest. Having pulled off the comically impressive feat of going from the lofty status of football superpower and World Cup semi-finalists to not going to a 24-team European Championship that will be contested by surprise qualifiers Albania, Wales and Northern Ireland takes some doing and in Dutch football circles the vultures are circling.
The manager Danny Blind has vowed to stay in his post and has, for the time being at least, received the backing of the Dutch FA director Bert van Oostveen, but Southampton fans may be experiencing that all too familiar queasy feeling that invariably accompanies the sound of Ronald Koeman’s name once again being linked with the job. With the fate of Holland sealed, Southampton suits are probably bracing themselves for an approach for the man who steered them to the dizzy heights of eighth in the table last season, even if many believe he wouldn’t dream of taking the job now because he feels aggrieved that he hasn’t been offered it before.
Violin-playing renaissance man and Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford could be recalled from his loan spell at Crystal Palace because his parent club are understood to be concerned at the lack of first-team opportunities being afforded to their man. The 22-year-old has started just one match for Palace this season and with the Eagles flying high and far from short of options up front, Bamford might get more playing time elsewhere.
While the Rumour Mill can think of at least one struggling Premier League side who could probably do with a man of his talents, there’s no indication he’s going to be given a chance at Chelsea and may have to cool his heels until January, when he’ll be farmed out on loan once again.
Nathaniel Chabolah is another Chelsea whelp who could find himself summoned back to Stamford Bridge, having played just five minutes in a Napoli shirt since being sent to the Stadio San Paolo to further his football education. Elsewhere in Italy, it’s being reported that Chelsea will attempt to sign the Roma centre-back Kostas Manolas in January, following their thwarted attempts to lure John Stones from Everton during the summer. Valued at £12m, the 24-year-old is contracted to the Serie A club until 2019.
Reports in the Mirror suggest the Rumour Mill could be spared a tedious few months speculating on the future of Saido Berahino, with the young striker apparently having agreed to stay at West Bromwich Albion until the end of the season. Berahino was the subject of much public criticism after falling out with the West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace in August because he was denied a move to Spurs, but looking at the way West Brom have been playing this season it’s no surprise he wanted to play for a team employing tactics that might occasionally lead to him getting the ball.
One-time Rumour Mill staple Keisuke Honda never did get around to moving to the Premier League despite being repeatedly linked with assorted English clubs during his time with CSKA Moscow, but the 29-year-old midfielder is understood to have got antennae twitching at Everton and Spurs following reports that he wants to leave Milan in January.
The Arsenal defender Mathieu Debuchy could be off to Roma, which would free up a training ground car park space for the 19-year-old Ajax central midfielder Riechedly Bazoer.
If James Tomkins thinks he’ll be reunited with his former manager Sam Allardyce at Sunderland he can think again, says the West Ham co-owner David Sullivan. Another man who seems unlikely to join Big Sam’s Massive Mackem Makeover project is Mousa Dembélé, what with reports suggesting the Tottenham midfielder has agreed to join Napoli in January for a fee just north of £10m. Tottenham are also believed to be interested in young Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, but may have to go toe to toe with Manchester United in the battle for the 21-year-old’s services. Currently on loan at Preston North End, where he has impressed fans with a string of impressive performances for the Championship side, Pickford kept a clean sheet for England Under-21s in their 3-0 European Championship qualifying win over Kazakhstan at Coventry City’s Ricoh Arena on Tuesday night.
And finally, Harry Redknapp’s been stirring it up on the airwaves telling anyone with a radio that Jürgen Klopp wasn’t Liverpool’s first choice of manager and that he heard from “good sources” that the club offered the gig to Carlo Ancelotti, but the Italian didn’t want it.
