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Hello and welcome to the Premier League transfer roundup for the day! Here are the top stories surrounding the Premier League!
#5 Duncan Castles on Manchester City
According to journalist Duncan Castles, Manchester City might have problems surrounding Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling, who has only recently signed a new deal with the Etihad outfit.
It was also reported that the German was left out of the training session by manager Pep Guardiola as he wasn’t happy with the way he was performing in the routine.
“They realise that they have potential problems with Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane,” he said.
“He was left out of the team earlier in the season by Guardiola because he wasn't happy with the way he was training.”
He also believes that there are some issues with the contract of Sane and that the German would be open to a move away from the club should he get an enticing offer from another team or use that as a means to get a better contract with the Etihad outfit.
“There is a potential contract issue there and a suggestion that Sane would be prepared to move elsewhere if he got a good offer, or use a good offer from elsewhere to leverage his contract situation at Manchester City in exactly the same way that Raheem Sterling has been doing over the last couple of months.”
Finally, Castles revealed that Guardiola is looking for players who can play in the attack and singled out the name of Lille’s in-form superstar, Nicolas Pepe.
“They are looking for players who can play in that key position, the second line of attack, either as a winger of playing slightly more inside, who can score goals, who can create goals.
“And one of the top talents in Europe at present is Nicolas Pepe at Lille.”
#4 Arsenal
The Gunners are playing some good football of late and have backed it up with great results. They even held the mighty Liverpool at bay but they may just not have what it takes to win the Premier League.
According to analyst John Hartson, the only difference between Manchester City and Arsenal is that the former uses the transfer market to sign the best players in the world while the latter don’t walk the same path, citing the example by using former Tottenham star Gareth Bale as an analogy.
“No disrespect to Arsenal, if say for argument's sake, a Gareth Bale becomes available [they won’t go in]. I know he’s ex-Spurs and it may not happen,” he said.
“But if a top player like that became available and he’s £95m with £40m wages over the next four years, will they go in for him? They might not.
“But someone like City would and they have. It’s going to take investment, time with Emery and backing from the football club for Arsenal to come close to challenging again.”
To be fair to the Gunners, however, they have spent the money of late on players like Aubameyang and Lacazette.
#3 London
Chelsea are currently playing their best football in a long time and are backing it up with brilliant results under the tutelage of Maurizio Sarri. The Italian former Napoli boss has been a breath of fresh air at the Stamford Bridge and has been able to implement his ideologies on the team.
He might want to go a step further and use the transfer market to sign players that suit his style of play. According to Marca, the Italian tactician wants to sign Denis Suarez from Barcelona.
Despite the fact that the Londoners have a plethora of midfielders, Sarri is a fan of the Barca star and tried to sign him during his time in Napoli.
Meanwhile, Express are reporting that Javier Hernandez will be allowed to leave West Ham on loan in January should manager Manuel Pellegrini give his permission. Besiktas are one of the clubs interested in him.
#2 Manchester madness
And so here we are to cover the madness in Manchester. The Red Devils might be winning games regularly now but it doesn’t hide the fact that their squad isn’t good enough to compete with the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City.
According to Express, Jose Mourinho is set to be handed a £100 million budget and CalcioMercato claim that one of the players they are currently eying is Lorenzo Pellegrini.
Romea are aware of Manchester United’s interest and could offer him a new contract as his current contract has a puny release clause of £26 million.
Meanwhile, according to another report from Express, Juventus are so interested in signing Paul Pogba that they are willing to give the Red Devils a pool of three players of their own, from which they can choose one.
The players are Mehdi Benatia, Alex Sandro and Mario Mandzukic and United can take one of the three players in order to let go of the Frenchman.
#1 Barcelona-Manchester madness
Talking about Manchester City now somehow almost always reminds people of Barcelona. After all, the man connecting the two teams is none other than Pep Guardiola.
The ideologies that the former Barcelona manager has applied on Manchester City thus far have turned them into the best team in England. Guardiola has carved out a team capable of beating just about any other team.
However, it seems as though Barcelona are eying a move for someone from Manchester City and the departure of that certain someone could make the Etihad outfit weaker in the attack.
According to Don Balon, the Catalans are preparing €150 million to make a bid for Gabriel Jesus and the best part is that the 21-year-old is liked by the one and only Lionel Messi. However, it should also be added that the amount quoted might not be enough to entice City into selling their star youngster.
