Welcome to our daily transfer news roundup from across Europe. Arguably the biggest news of the day does not come from a player moving between clubs but of Spanish giants Barcelona tying one of their superstars down with a long-term deal.
Here are all the transfer news and rumours from December 16, 2016:
Serie A
Chelsea’s Johnn Obi Mikel is on Inter Milan’s radar
The Nerazzuri still consider Lassana Diarra as their prime target. But should they not be able to achieve that signing, they will turn their attention to Mikel. The Nigerian has barely played any football for Chelsea under Antonio Conte and has a Blues contract only until the end of this season.
With Inter having creative players like Marcelo Brozovic and Joao Mario, adding Mikel to the squad would form a solid bedrock for those players to express themselves.
According to Sky Italia though, Mikel could arrive at San Siro in a part-exchange deal that sees Brozovic heading the other way.
AC Milan to offer a new contract to Chelsea target
Giacomo Bonaventura will be offered a new deal by the Rossoneri in an attempt to fend off the advances of Chelsea.
According to Calciomercato, Milan CEO Adriano Galliani will meet Bonaventura’s agent, Mino Raiola sometime this week to finalise the deal. In his current contract that runs until 2019, the former Atalanta man earns €1 million a year. Milan are prepared to offer up to €2.5 million a year.
Bonaventura has two goals and five assists so far this season and has been one of Sinisa Mihajlovic’s biggest weapons this term.
Juventus to further dent Chelsea
In another dent to Chelsea’s transfer hopes after Bonaventura reportedly being offered a new contract, Juventus are set to take one more of their former manager Antonio Conte’s targets away from him.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Sevilla’s Steven Nzonzi is on his way to the Italian champions. The same news was echoed in Italy’s Gazzetta Dello Sport.
Bundesliga
Hoffenheim will not sell Niklas Sule
Well, at least in January. According to Sky Germany, Hoffenheim manager Julian Nagelsmann has told the board to rebuff any and all offers for the young German centre-back. Hoffenheim are currently fourth in Bundesliga and Sule has been one of their lynchpins. Chelsea and Liverpool have been linked for the services of the 21-year-old defender.
Rafinha extends Bayern contract
The Brazilian full-back has extended his deal until 2018. He has already spent four-and-a-half years at the Allianz Arena and has won 12 trophies with the reigning German champions and the current Bundesliga leaders.
Hamburg to raid Premier League club
16th placed Hamburg are reportedly turning their eyes on Sunderland’s German midfielder, Jan Kirchhoff as they look to stave off relegation in what has been a tough start to the season for them.
David Moyes’s Black Cats currently lie at the bottom of the Premier League. Kirchhoff had missed a few games due to injury before he came back to the team in their game against Swansea last weekend.
Bild are reporting that Markus Gisdol is prepared to cough up to €15 million for the 26-year-old’s services.
Premier League
Everton trio sign new deals
Gareth Barry, Leighton Baines and Mason Holgate have all signed contract extensions at Everton. Barry signed a one-year extension to his current deal that expires at the end of this season while Baines commited his future until 2019 to Everton.
The young full-back signed a new five-year-deal that will see his contract not expiring until 2021.
Manager Ronald Koeman said, “He [Baines] is a key player for the team. Of course, sometimes you need to protect older players, with all due respect. Gareth is 35 but he is still so important for the team and I'm very happy he has extended his contract.”
Ranieri looks to replace unhappy starts in January
“I don't like to maintain players who are unhappy,” barked the Italian manager of the reigning champions. It was aimed at Jeffrey Schlupp, Leonardo Ulloa and Bartosz Kapustka who have all barely featured this season.
Kapustka joined the champions only in the summer. Ulloa has dropped down the pecking order with summer signing Islam Slimani, Shinji Okazaki, Jamie Vardy and Ahmed Musa all ahead of him in Ranieri’s preferences.
Ranieri continued, “If someone goes, and we have to replace this or that player, we can get rid of him easily.”
Man City to replace Bravo?
Pep Guardiola antagonised some Manchester City fans by alienating Joe Hart and sending him away on loan to Torino. Guardiola bought former Barcelona custodian Claudio Bravo but the Chilean has struggled to adapt to the pace and physicality of the Premier League.
According to various reports in the UK, the Spanish manager has seen enough. City are reportedly weighing up a £20 million bid for highly-rated Benfica goalkeeper Ederson Moraes.
The Manchester Evening News have also reported that Bravo has had enough of his misery in England and wants to go back to Barcelona.
Koeman says Barkley contract “not a priority”
Ross Barkley’s contract expires at the end of next season, but his manager says there are more important things for the club to attend to right now.
The Dutchman said, “We know it's about 18 months of contract left. It's not the priority now but in the New Year we will have talks about his situation and his future.”
La Liga
Barcelona want Victor Moses
Having missed out on Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin, Barcelona have turned to the Gunners’ London rivals and their right-back Victor Moses to solve their problems at that position. Moses has been a revelation since Antonio Conte has started playing him at right-wing-back and the Catalan giants are reportedly huge fans of the Nigerian.
The Daily Star also said that Luis Enrique has Southampton’s Portugal international Cedric Soares as a backup option, should he fail to land Moses.
Suarez signs new Barca deal
The Uruguayan superstar has signed a new five-year-deal with the Catalan giants, taking his deal through to 2021. This new contract has a €200 million release clause. Suarez joined Barca from Liverpool in 2014 and has scored 97 goals already for the reigning Spanish champions
Spanish clubs target Bojan
The Stoke City forward could well be back on his way to his homeland. La Liga clubs Valencia and Las Palmas have made enquiries for the former Barcelona man’s services already.
Bojan has barely featured for Mark Hughes’s Potters this season, making only four Premier League appearances. Sky Sports have reported that both clubs are looking to offer Bojan a way out of what is turning out to be an extremely frustrating season for him, on a personal level.
Rest of the World
Ibrahimovic weighing up LA Galaxy offer
The Swede signed a one-year deal with United at the start of the season, with an option to extend the deal by a year. But, Ibrahimovic has decided that he will stay at United only if he can aid a title push next season.
This is contrary to what Jose Mourinho had said earlier, that he expected his star striker to extend his deal until 2018.
He could take up the designated player role at the Galaxy vacated by Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard.
Cavani the latest on the Chinese bandwagon
After Oscar was offered £400,000-per-week by Shanghai Shenhua, another Chinese side Tianjin Songjiang have offered a mega deal to another South America. PSG striker Edinson Cavani has been offered £320,000-per-week to play for the Chinese Super League side.
Tianjin are managed by Italian legend Fabio Cannavaro.
