Straight down to brass tacks for the Mill this morning, which is exactly how José Mourinho and his embattled Chelsea will be having it later on. That’s when Mourinho isn’t plotting to strengthen his defence with the acquisition of Valencia left-back José Luis Gayà, over whom he might be set for an arm wrestle with Manchester City and Real Madrid. The 20-year-old has played for Spain at all youth levels and established himself at the Mestalla last season.
When Mourinho isn’t agonising over the threat posed by Maccabi Tel Aviv, he’s also pondering the most plausible way of prising holding player Rúben Neves, just 18, from his old club Porto. “Offer them a large amount of money” is probably the best advice here. Slightly less money could be offered to Under-21 league aficionado Víctor Valdés, who could be deployed to join Asmir Begovic in deputising unsteadily for Thibaut Courtois.
Swansea don’t want a defender or a defensive midfielder – they have designs further forward and, having been linked with Ahmed Elmohamady on Tuesday, there’s now a suggestion that they would like Leeds’ versatile wide man Sam Byram, one of an very exciting crop of young players currently developing at Elland Road.
Bournemouth haven’t had a lot of luck with the fitness of their bigger-money signings, Tyrone Mings and Max Gradel both succumbing to long-term injury within weeks of arriving on the south coast. Perhaps the freebie market will bring them better luck, and they’re said to be closing in on the ex-Inter Milan midfielder Alessandro Cannataro, who has also piqued the interest of Leicester.
Everybody loves a serialised autobiography because it means you don’t actually have to buy it. In the latest offering from Steven Gerrard’s memoir, he waxes lyrical about Philippe Coutinho and says it won’t be too long before he’s snapped up by Real Madrid or Barcelona. Yes, we know, but it’s mid-September and it’s the night after another Champions League out-tacticking so we take what gruel is available.
Is Saido Berahino staying at West Brom? Never judge a boy on rash social media postings, they said – but his latest offering is a picture of him participating in the Baggies’ team photo and, for that matter, not getting completely Ashley Coled.
And finally, another player who might be going absolutely nowhere – or not to another club, anyway. Remember the buccaneering season enjoyed by Michu in 2012-13 – the same Michu who was believed to be among the No1 picks of the Premier League’s top club after scoring 22 goals for Swansea, whom he had joined for a relative pittance. Well, Michu is apparently pondering retirement at the age of just 29, having reached an impasse with the Swans over the paying-off of the final year of his contract. It’s either that, or join Celtic. They’ll come to some kind of compromise, of course, but there seems a chance that no new sets of supporters will be saying “pleased to Michu” in future.
