Hello and welcome to Sportskeeda's daily transfer roundup. It's only a matter of weeks now before the winter transfer window swings open. Club football has come to a brief pause courtesy the international break but the rumour mill knows no quiet days.
The transfer window will open in January and will afford the clubs an opportunity not only to plug the leaks but also to cut their wage bills. As the new season is still settling into a shape, teams that have been off pace could head into the market to bolster their ranks and give themselves a better chance in the latter half of the season.
On that note, let's take a look at the top transfer stories that made headlines on 19th November 2018.
Everton plotting to sign Marcos Rojo from Manchester United for £18 million
According to Metro, Everton have opened talks with out of favour Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo as they expect to sign him in January. Rojo signed a new contract at United in March but going by the way things have panned out so far this season, it looks more like an attempt from the part of the Red Devils to insure their initial investment in the Argentine.
Everton were linked with Marcos Rojo in the summer as well but pulled out of the race after landing Yerry Mina. Rojo is yet to feature for Manchester United this season and it is unlikely that he will want to extend his stay beyond the winter transfer window.
Everton have been playing with the defensive duo of Michael Keane and Kurt Zouma. However, Marcos Silva is not confident of keeping Zouma on Everton's payroll as the Chelsea loanee is tipped to head back to Stamford Bridge at the end of the season.
As a result, the Toffees are in the market for a centre-back who has experience in the Premier League and thus could waste no time settling down.
Manchester United make world-record bid for Kalidou Koulibaly
Manchester United's chase for a top-quality centre-backs is well documented. Jose Mourinho has been quite vocal about the need to sign a world-class defender and though he couldn't get his wish in the summer, he might just be able to get what he wants in January.
As per Italian newspaper La Repubblica (via Daily Star), Manchester have launched a £80 million bid for the Napoli defender. If the Red Devils end up signing him, it will become the most expensive defensive signing. However, the report adds that Napoli have rejected Manchester United's bid.
Aurelio De Laurentiis, Napoli president, will not let the defender leave for a sum less than £89 million and have successfully warded off Chelsea's interest in the past, according to the report.
Whether or not Manchester United decides to meet Napoli's demands remains to be seen.
Real Madrid will look to sign Radamel Falcao or Zlatan Ibrahimovic in January
That Real Madrid are struggling in the goals department is no secret. With Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale misfiring, Los Blancos are struggling to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo. As such, they've been linked with a quite a few strikers over the past weeks.
Now, according to Sport, Real Madrid want to increase their striking options but they want to do it without shelling out a lot of money and are hence looking to sign either Radamel Falcao or Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Falcao, 32, is currently at AS Monaco while Zlatan Ibrahimovic is with LA Galaxy in the United States of America where he enjoyed a spectacular debut season.
The report adds that Falcao is looking to leave AS Monaco as the club is going through a crisis and are languishing at the 19th place on the Ligue 1 table.
Barcelona confident of beating Manchester United and Liverpool to sign De Ligt
Quite a few clubs seem to be heading into this transfer window with quite a few defensive issues to address. Barcelona are perhaps the biggest name of them all. Now, as per Daily Mirror, Barcelona are leading the race to sign Matthijs De Ligt with Ajax asking £60 million for the 19-year-old thereby making him the most expensive teenage defender in the world.
Virgil Van Dijk had claimed earlier this week that De Ligt could very well be a transfer target for Liverpool. The report also credits Manchester United with an interest but goes on to state that Barcelona believe that they're now confident of beating the Premier League giant to the youngster's signature.
Calcio Mercato had earlier reported that AS Roma and AC Milan are also interested in De Ligt. But with Barcelona also interested, Matthijs De Ligt will want to follow the footsteps of the likes of Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens and go to Catalonia.
Barcelona consider De Ligt to be the ideal candidate to take over from Gerard Pique who is walking into the twilight of his career.
Real Madrid to beat Barcelona to sign Pedrinho from Corinthians
Youngster Pedrinho who is making heads turn in South America has been on Barcelona's radar for a while now. But now it looks like their arch-rivals Real Madrid have stolen a march on them as they attempt to beat the Cules to sign the Corinthians winger, according to Marca.
The report states that Florentino Perez met with Corinthians president Andres Sanchez. They reportedly met at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium and the report suggests that it could be over a possible transfer deal for Pedrinho.
Pedrinho's release clause stands at $50 million and Barcelona had already sent one of their representatives to Brazil in order to enquire about his availability, as per the report.
This means that a bidding war could unfold in January over the youngster with Real Madrid confident that they can pip Barca to sign Pedrinho's signing.