Hot on the heels of Monday night’s scratchy win over Fulham, Tottenham will attempt to complete their first signing of the January window by bringing in Pedro Porro from Sporting. The Spanish right-back has a release clause of £40m but it is believed his Portuguese employers may be willing to let him go for considerably less if Spurs offer sufficiently enticing inducements in the form of add-ons and bonuses. Talks between the clubs continue.
Antonio Conte is also after Nicolò Zaniolo, the Roma midfielder, who spat the dummy and refused to travel with his teammates for Sunday’s win over Spezia in an attempt to force through a move. “All of us in football know there are two different seasons, one where the transfer market is closed and we can all relax a bit more, another when the transfer window is open and someone tries to put individual interests in front of those of the collective,” said the Roma director Tiago Pinto of the 23-year-old’s blatant act of insubordination.
With Milan also interested, Roma’s asking price for Zaniolo is believed to be around £30m, but Tottenham may well offer Bryan Gil as makeweight in any prospective deal.
Chelsea’s winter trolley-dash shows no sign of abating, with Malo Gusto the free-spending club’s latest target. While Lyon are not particularly inclined to sell their teenage right-back in the current window, the feeling is that Todd Boehly may make them an offer they simply won’t be able to refuse.
Chelsea are also determined to sign Moisés Caicedo from their feeder club Brighton and are ready to offer £65m for the Ecuadorian, who arrived on the south coast two years ago for £4m. Manchester United and Liverpool are also interested in the central midfielder, who has just switched agents, but may struggle to compete with Chelsea’s financial muscle.
Nicolas Jackson, the Villarreal striker, could be Bournemouth-bound, although Southampton may yet throw a spanner in the works of any deal struck between the two clubs. Out of favour at El Madrigal since the departure of Unai Emery for Aston Villa, the Gambia-born Senegal international is open to a move to the Premier League, while Villarreal are similarly open to offers of around £18m plus extras.
Having kept their bottomless resources of powder dry this month, Newcastle could yet splash some cash before the window closes. Fans making the long journey for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Southampton will almost certainly be discussing potential moves for Everton whelp Anthony Gordon, while the club could yet torpedo any Chelsea move for the aforementioned Caicedo. Eddie Howe has also been trying to sign Real Valladolid’s teenage right-back Iván Fresneda in the face of stiff competition from Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund, but has apparently cooled his interest in the past fortnight.
And so to Everton, where the news of Frank Lampard’s dismissal has prompted no end of wild speculation about who might succeed him. Celtic fans remain understandably twitchy about losing Ange Postecoglou to the Merseyside club, while Brentford are rumoured to have rejected an approach for Thomas Frank. While the usual suspects such as Duncan Ferguson, David Moyes and Wayne Rooney are being linked with the job, the Everton hierarchy have also held talks with Marcelo Bielsa.
With such an eclectic shortlist of potential new managers boasting such a dizzying array of different footballing philosophies, it’s small wonder fans are exasperated with their board’s apparent cluelessness when it comes to running the club in an even remotely efficient manner.
