Gossip: Man United to bring back Evans and buy Malcom
MAN UNITED TO BRING BACK EVANS?
You can always rely on the Sunday Mirror to give you a ballsy transfer rumour. Whether they actually happen or not seems to be a lot less certain, but hey. John Richardson writes this Sunday that Manchester United are considering a move to bring back Jonny Evans to Old Trafford.
Richardson says that Jose Mourinho reckons Louis van Gaal made a huge mistake selling Evans for £6m to West Brom, although it’s fair to say not many people were calling out Van Gaal at the time.
We have previously heard that Manchester City and Arsenal are interested in Evans, and City actually made a bid of £20m. The Mirror reckon £30m would do it, but are United really going to take a £24m hit?
AND PAY CLOSE TO £30M FOR MALCOM
Alternatively, you could listen to your man Duncan Castles in the Sunday Times. It’s hard to argue that this story hasn’t come directly from Mourinho.
Castles writes that Manchester United are considering offering £30m to Bordeaux for 20-year-old Brazilian Malcom. Mourinho does have a fine record of trusting young players and bringing the best out of creative wingers. Ahem.
With Henrikh Mkhitaryan now likely to be sold in January (that one went really well), Malcom is apparently on Mourinho’s shortlist. He is attractive because he can play on either wing and is left-footed.
BIG SAM WANTS BENTEKE AND N’ZONZI
As well as John Richardson, another Sunday Mirror man who has no qualms about a punchy transfer story is Steve Bates. This week, Bates writes that Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke is a target for Sam Allardyce in January, as he looks to replace Everton’s need for a central striker.
Bates also writes that Everton hope to beat Arsenal to the signing of Steven N’Zonzi, and would be prepared to pay £23m for his services. What would that been for Tom Davies, Idrissa Gueye and Morgan Schneiderlin?
ARSENAL VS CHELSEA FOR BAILEY
You know where this is going. The final member of the Sunday Mirror’s transfer triumvirate is Steve Stammers. You may remember him from such stories as ‘West to replace Slaven Bilic with Roberto Mancini’, ‘Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain set for Chelsea transfer’ and ‘Arsenal preparing stunning £125m Kylian Mbappe bid’.
This week, Stammers says that Arsenal and Chelsea are set for a ‘transfer battle’ for Bayer Leverkusen winger Leon Bailey. We have already heard of Chelsea’s interest over the last week, but Arsenal are a new name thrown into the mix.
Bailey only moved to La Liga in January for £12m, but you can expect that price to at least treble if Leverkusen are going to let him move to the Premier League a year later. There would seem to be a whole host of clubs across Europe after him.
AND THE REST
Juventus are willing to sell defender Alex Sandro… Jurgen Klopp will allow Daniel Sturridge to leave Liverpool on loan… Manchester City could move for Augsburg’s German left-back Philipp Max to cover for Benjamin Mendy’s long injury absence… David Moyes wants to sign Harry Arter for £15m… Antonio Conte has been linked with a move to Real Madrid in the Spanish media.