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Hello and welcome to Sportskeeda's daily transfer roundup. Much like the last winter transfer window, a lot of big deals are expected to go over the line this time. As such, the rumour mill is abuzz.
The clubs have had adequate time to identify their own weakness and they will look to address the problems within their squad in January- be it clearing the deadwood or bringing in reinforcements to bolster their ranks.
With giant European clubs like Real Madrid and Manchester United struggling in their respective leagues, we expect a great amount of cash to be splashed in this upcoming window.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the top transfer stories and rumours that made headlines on 13th December 2018.
Manchester United make progress in Kalidou Koulibaly pursuit
According to Duncan Castles (via Daily Star), Kalidou Koulibaly is on top of Manchester United's wish-list. Manchester United are in desperate need of a centre-back after having conceded 26 goals in 16 games in the Premier League.
Duncan Castles has now claimed that United have made progress in their pursuit of the Napoli defender.
Talking in the Transfer Window Podcast,
“Koulibaly is the guy. If you give [Mourinho] a blank sheet of realistically available centre-backs, he’s the one he is advising the club to sign,”
“There has been progress in that, which tells you that Manchester United’s board are at least prepared to show willing when it comes to doing something in January in the market, in that they’ve had a meeting with Napoli to enquire about Koulibaly and got the response that he would cost over €100m, they don’t want to sell the player and he’d cost over €100m.
“I think there’s a question mark over whether Ed Woodward would sign him for a fee of that amount, or even a fee approaching that amount, unless his immense, gargantuan team of scouts were saying that that player was the right player in their mind to strengthen the position as well as in Mourinho’s mind.”
The Senegalese defender has emerged as one of the best centre-backs in Europe over the past couple of years, being named in the Serie A team of the season thrice.
United have reportedly had their initial move for Koulibaly rebuffed. About that, Castles said,
“What I would say is, I think it’s a very odd strategy to go to Napoli while they were still in the Champions League, to ask the price of a player in the January market."
“If you set yourself up and you actually want to sign Kalidou Koulibaly, you want to strike at a moment of weakness, so the more intelligent strategy would have been to wait and see if Napoli were knocked out of the Champions League and see if you could tempt their owner with a sale at that point, knowing that the player is open to the move, knowing that although he’s renewed his contract at Napoli in September, that his wage level isn’t so high that you can improve it at a reasonable cost to the club.
Arsenal consider shock move Eric Bailly
Arsenal are eyeing a move for Manchester United defender Eric Bailly, according to the Daily Mirror. As per the report, Arsenal have Gary Cahill, Eric Bailly and Fernando Calero on their radar.
The Gunners' are in desperate need of a solid centre-back following Rob Holding's season-ending injury (cruciate knee ligament). Though Laurent Koscielny is back in the reckoning and all set to start his first match in 7 months, manager Unai Emery wants to get more reinforcements to his backline.
Eric Bailly has been deployed only intermittently at Manchester United and the defender is expected to be open to a move. Emery sticks a 3-man defence and is against the idea of full-backs stepping into that role and hence wants a proven centre-back to join the ranks at Arsenal.
Gattuso given green light to sign Julian Weigl
Gennaro Gattuso, the AC Milan manager, has been given the green light to sign Borussia Dortmund midfielder Julian Weigl, according to Calcio Mercato. Weigl has garnered interest from a variety of top clubs including AS Roma and Manchester City.
Roma sporting director Ronchi has reportedly also offered to take Weigl on loan with an idea to make the move permanent in the summer.
Weigl has seen his playing time curtailed under the new boss and could be open for a move away from the German giants. AC Milan are looking to their midfield ranks and Weigl could be a worthy addition.
According to the exclusive report, AC Milan are now all set to make a move for the 23-year-old.
Chelsea set price for Eden Hazard
The Eden Hazard-Real Madrid transfer saga seems to be nearing its end. According to OkDiario, Chelsea have asked Real Madrid to pay £163 million (approximately €180 million) for the Belgian.
The 28-year-old has not held back whenever he's been asked about a potential switch to Real Madrid and said very recently that he has a lot of admiration for Los Blancos.
Hazard said,
“The new coach [Sarri] thinks football like me, so we’ll see, the family is in London, I’m also going to be 28.
“Me, you know me, I’ve always loved Real, even before [Zinedine] Zidane, we’ll see what happens. As I said, I’m already finishing this year with Chelsea, I still have a year of contract after this year, we’ll see.”
Hazard's current contract with Chelsea runs till 2020 and it is highly likely that they'll try to cash in this summer when they can still get a great amount of money than risk losing him for free as a move certainly looks inevitable at the moment.
Barcelona linked with a shock move for Alvaro Morata
Alvaro Morata, who has endured a dismal spell at Chelsea and his agents are trying to broker a deal that will help him ship out of Stamford Bridge. According to The Mirror, Barcelona could offer Morata a way out of his North London misery.
Barcelona are facing the possibility of going through the rest of the season without Luis Suarez who is undergoing stell cell treatment to cure a knee injury. With former backup striker Paco Alcacer enjoying a fresh lease of life at Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona are currently relying on youngster Munir for goals.
The report claims that a potential loan deal is on the cards with an option to make the move permanent in the summer. Morata had joined Chelsea amid huge fanfare but he has struggled to meet the expectations and has fallen out of favour.
