Rumours: >When Barcelona eventually get around to faxing their offer for Philippe Coutinho through – thought to be £98m up front, with £36m in add-ons – Liverpool will immediately charter a plane to Monaco, scoop up Thomas Lemar, leave £90m on the runway, and scramble back to Merseyside.
Arsenal were previously in pole position to sign the French international but their own deal was scuppered in August when Alexis Sánchez’s move to Manchester City collapsed. Dumped out of Europe and nine points behind Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1, Monaco are open to offers for Lemar, who would become Liverpool’s second record transfer in a week, should he sign.
>L’Equipe suggests that the Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti has already met Manchester City officials as Pep Guardiola looks for somebody to fill in for Vincent Kompany yet again. The Frenchman himself hasn’t played since 2 December due to injury but is thought to have a release clause in his contract of around £53m. West Brom’s Jonny Evans and Real Sociedad’s Iñigo Martínez are more affordable options – the latter also has a release clause, but for £28m.
Antonio Conte has long been trying to add some strength in depth in defence but one man who will not be signing is Giorgio Chiellini. “Giorgio is a fantastic player but I think he wants to finish his career at Juventus and I think it’s right to finish his career in this way,” Conte said after the 2-2 draw at Arsenal. “I do not aim high with my requests, especially as in my history I’ve rarely been given the players I asked for. I always ended up at clubs who were running an austerity programme,” Conte continued, just four months after blowing £189.7m in the summer on Álvaro Morata, Danny Drinkwater, Antonio Rüdiger, Davide Zappacosta and Tiémoué Bakayoko. Cue the violins.
>le copy and paste the guardian rumour mill toothpaste poster
Ryan Thompson
>There are rumours of Chelsea making a move for Bayern Munich’s Arturo Vidal, who Conte managed while at Juventus. “The negotiation began with a first offer of €37m [£33m], the Germans want €60m [£53m]”, writes the Colombian journalist Pipe Sierra.
Arsenal have been working Sven Mislintat to within an inch of his life and the club’s new chief scout has come up with the Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos, already a sworn enemy of the Guardian subs desk. Arsène Wenger confirmed the 20-year-old is having a medical in London but “is not ready to play for us” and will be loaned out for the rest of the season after signing.
>Theo Walcott’s exit from the Emirates edges ever closer. Southampton, Everton, Newcastle and West Ham are all poised with a cheque book, with the deal dependent on Olivier Giroud’s return from injury.
The Mill’s favourite story of the day comes from Wolverhampton, with the Wanderers linked with a move for Robbie Keane, currently doing roly-polys in the India Super League for ATK. Bit of a strange one, seeing as Wolves’ strikers are doing just fine at the minute – and they confirmed the signing of Rafa Mir from Valencia on Wednesday – but in the interests of romance, the 37-year-old is thought to be keen on a return a club he last played for in the 20th century.
Isaiah Mitchell
>the guardian
Christian Parker
Non epl leagues you say? Alright I'll bite
Really hope villa sign Sam Johnstone on a permanent deal
Connor Sanders
uhm, hello?
Hunter Perry
> de gay
Nolan Cruz
spurs v moyes:
Isaiah Baker
*carves*
William Young
Ask a guy on a train anything
Landon Martinez
Sublime post
Julian Evans
any updates on the gf to user situation?
Oliver Perez
Done deal, bit of a journeyman, been through multiple chad fc's but is looking for a fresh start in new lands. The clausule is kinda low tho
Samuel Cruz
Baselwinslol rumours and transfers: >Basel buying Campo and Frei back >Fransson loaned to Lausanne and Enzo Zidane joining him. British billionaire who bought them genuinely seems to want to strengthen the squad >Dynamo Kiev looking at Nuhu >Every good Basel player is moving everywhere
Jaxon Robinson
*walks towards the premier league*
Christian Gray
That's a big sheep
Jack Cruz
enjoying /liverpool/ general lads
Jaxon Nguyen
*blocks your path*
Chase Reed
>not 'continue being nice to Liverpool' edition
Angel Sullivan
Why would Coutinho go to Barcelona? Liverpool has Klopp playing great football and making great new signings. Also, Liverpool is a historical club.
James Walker
The Times saying Coutinho is done and Liverpool will not be looking for a replacement until the summer.
Leo Allen
Why would anyone want to stay in a shithole city full of inbreds with funny accents?
Adam Rivera
Feel like this image is a very accurate depiction of /trans/
Truly baffling innit
Isaiah Adams
Probably wants to win something.
Austin Cook
>why would coutinho leave the 4th best club in england and go to one of the best clubs in the world
Ryder Edwards
Why do you think Liverpool won't win anything?
Liverpool is getting stronger, user.
Daniel Sullivan
>Why do you think Liverpool won't win anything? What are they on track to win?
Hudson Bailey
So any English city then la?
Wyatt Torres
>one of the best clubs in the world lol, literally any Sunday league team could do what Barcelona is doing in Spain. The Premier League is so much more superior.
Brayden Long
This year, nothing, but look at their improvement and how they are playing. How many games without a defeat?
Elijah Allen
I've heard the weather's quite nice in Barcelona.
Jordan Cox
*Blocks your path*
Daniel Cook
Shankley would be livid
Wyatt Mitchell
*gets triggered*
Dylan Morgan
>be coutinho >finally get your dream move to Barcelona >try your occasional blooter on your debut game >hit the Z-row 3 times in a row >Nou Camp tourists start booing you for not trying to walk it in >no more blooters, only passing to Messi >life is empty
Dylan Hall
*stands in the middle like an Anglo God*
Hunter Bell
What's rawk like these days about coutinho. Same as the summer?
Jacob Robinson
...
Evan Gonzalez
>Everton signed a roach Fuck sake :)
Blake Cooper
They've already replaced him with Mahrez, so much so that the last few pages about Coutinho leaving are mainly about Mahrez.
would you rather have a team full of praying-in-the-middle-of-the-match muslim arabs, or midnight dark africans with no religion (except raping children to steal their life force)?
Joshua King
*blocks your path*
Colton Baker
>Another new Royal Blue winter break signing: Marko Pjaca has joined Schalke 04 from Juventus until the end of the season on a loan deal. The agreement with the Italian champions does not include an option to buy. The Croatian was present on Thursday at Schalke’s training camp in Benidorm and had already passed his medical.
Not even an option to buy, so it's purely a deal for him to get some match-minutes under his belt.
Christopher Clark
>talent You already have like 3 better wingers and honestly you're better off without him. And Mangiuscit.
Kayden Green
yeah we have such good left wingers as mandzushit
John Martin
dybala to real madrid confirmed i am a pro sports journalist sceencap this
Bentley Davis
Costa is already far better than both, which says a lot as he's a retarded nigger. Bernardeschi>>>Square. There you go.
Angel Williams
>Moyes
Jaxson Brown
If Bilic had the balls to drop Hart, he'd still be in a job.
David Clark
Someone update me on the qtnho to Barcelona situation
David Richardson
done deal la
saw him at the coffee shop near camp nou
Evan Robinson
*nicks the spoils*
Aaron Peterson
>3 points ahead of Spurs and 5 ahead of Arsenal >Superior GD
Feels good man
Ryder Brown
I'm a real insider from barcelona, it's done
Eli Butler
What you going to spend the 85mil for Salah on, Jürgen?
Nolan Smith
>Spanish flag >Not Catalonian
Nice try Mateo
Jeremiah Hernandez
Poor Isco
Blake Sullivan
perpetual ban, no hope whatsoever
Lucas Cooper
>tfw got banned for tapping up underaged prospects
Xavier Rivera
any juventus or zagreb fans here? how good or bad is pjaca? whats his best position?
t. schalke fan
Brody Morris
I'm using a proxy in murcia to avoid detection, I'm part of the resistance
Juan Bennett
She's keen on a free transfer after a season-ending pregnancy during her short spell with AC Jamal.
Brody Russell
>juventus or zagreb fans They rate him too highly t b h. Bad at teamwork and off the ball, terrible finishing. Dribbling, speed and strength are somewhat redeeming. ''His'' position is mainly LW, then RW and SS but doesn't matter anyway as he won't take any of them.
Hunter Murphy
>Mecca's dat way Bruv! >Nahh I seen da moon over there innit. Thats where Mecca is man. Know wot I mean?!
Owen Smith
Still in talks with exgf about terminating contract early by mutual consent. Any potential move for gf at this stage is likely to put off by the idea of competition for places.
Ryder Green
SIgn her up for the under 21-s, so she can play the moment a squad place opens up
Carter Walker
so that would be...my younger brother? no way
Bit worried about u21 options as they could run into trouble at the summer tournament in Magaluf.
Brayden Davis
Didn't read lol
Benjamin Wright
Can we get an updated carvery pic please
Jeremiah Mitchell
Sounds like a younger version of Konoplyanka
Brody Perry
thx bratan, so he's like the croatian aaron ramsey then? hope his offensive skills make up for his lack of defense
Blake Lee
If it's anything like the Toulon Tournament, it can be a nice place to get some vital experience for the prospective signings