Gossip: Liverpool fight to keep Mane, PSG to sell five

Matt Stead

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MANE
Liverpool spent the entire summer fending off interest from Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho. All the while, it felt rather weird that the club was rejecting offers upwards of £100million for a player who is neither their most talented, nor their most important.

It has taken Barcelona until after the closure of the window to realise that, but they are ready to rectify that in the winter or next summer. According to the People, the La Liga side are one of three clubs targeting a move for Sadio Mane.

John Richardson writes that Mane ‘is on the radar’ of Barca, Real Madrid and Juventus. Considering he’s really good, it would be quite strange if he were not.

Mane’s positive performances before his red card in the mauling against Manchester City has seen Barca ‘switch their focus from Coutinho to Mane’, which is framed as ‘a blow’ to the former.

 

THE FANTASTIC FIVE
Who might Liverpool look to replace Mane, who they almost definitely won’t actually sell? They might be best served to look to France.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Paris Saint-Germain are preparing to offload up to five players in the near future.

They report that the ‘tremendous disbursement’ overseen by PSG this summer, signing Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, has pushed a number of players, ‘some of them important’, towards the exit door.

Because of FFP rulings, these players might have to be offloaded as soon as January, and they include a number of stars courted by the Premier League in recent years.

Julian Draxler is one, a reported target for Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. Angel di Maria is another, the winger wanted by Barcelona.

The other names are Lucas Moura, Javier Pastore and goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, all of whom might well tempt Premier League clubs. Wonderful.

 

ANDRE £20m
We finish with The Sun, who report an exclusive that Tottenham want to sign Andre Gomes.

Of course, it was claimed back on transfer deadline day that Spurs were interested in the Barcelona midfielder, so we can’t quite decipher what the exclusive is here.

It might be the line that a move for Gomes ‘puts a question mark over Ross Barkley’s future’, but that seems pretty obvious.

Nevertheless, Spurs ‘have been tipped off Gomes will be let out in the next window’, with the midfielder struggling to establish himself at the Nou Camp. And considering he would cost £20million or even a loan, a move for Barkley would involve a ‘big fee’.

 

AND THE REST
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has started talks with 28-year-oldArsenal forward Alexis Sanchez over a possible move… Watford are interested in Olympiacos right-back Omar Elabdellaoui, 25. The Norway captain is out of contract next summer… Leicester are set to complete the £22m signing of Sporting Lisbonmidfielder Adrien Silva after approval from Fifa… Nice midfielder Jean Seri has vowed to stay until at least the end of the season. The 26-year-old interests Barcelona… Real Madrid midfielder Isco, 25, turned down a move to Barcelona because of striker Lionel Messi… Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale, 28, was told by team-mate Luka Modric to consider a move to Manchester United… Everton have stepped up their interest in Uruguay winger Federico Martinez, 21, who plays for Liverpool FC in Montevideo.