Rumours:
>Manchester United hope to cool any interest Antoine Griezmann might have in moving to Barcelona next summer by meeting Atlético Madrid’s £89m summer release clause and offering him an eye-watering £400,000 per week. It’s a lot more than they would have had to pay him if they’d pulled off their mooted move for the France striker last summer, but with Barcelona now in the race for his scrawl, he can more or less name his price.
Dumped out of the FA Cup in the third round for the first time during Arsène Wenger’s reign, a bad month for Arsenal fans is about to get a little bit worse. Manchester City are deep in negotiations with the north London club over the transfer of Alexis Sánchez to the Etihad. Despite being unwilling to match Arsenal’s £35m asking price, they remain hopeful of getting a deal over the line sooner rather than later. City sporting director Txiki Bergiristain is reported to have spent Friday and Saturday discussing numbers with the Arsenal bean-counters and is confident of securing Sánchez’s services for £25m. In the aftermath of the embarrassment at the City Ground, Wenger took time out from berating his underperforming players to deny speculation that he is on the verge of signing West Brom defender Jonny Evans, who is also a City target.
>Having bid adieu to Philippe Coutinho, Liverpool will ramp up their well-documented interest in Monaco’s Thomas Lemar and also plan to offer RB Leipzig a little extra on top of the agreed fee for Naby Keita to bring the midfielder’s move to Anfield forward from the summer to right now. With a hectic festive period behind them, Liverpool’s players have been sent to Dubai for a few days of rest and relaxation, but their recruitment department will enjoy no such luxury. Despite speculation to the contrary, the Liverpool Echo reports they have not yet made an official approach to Leicester City for Riyad Mahrez, a state of affairs that’s soon expected to change.
