Gossip: Liverpool’s ‘golden opportunity’, Utd’s four targets

Matt Stead

GET YOUR PHIL
Do you feel as though you have been missing something for the past couple of months? That there is a gaping hole somewhere in your life? Well fear not, for Philippe Coutinho is being linked to Barcelona again. Hurrah!

According to Mundo Deportivo, Coutinho is the main part of a plan to convince Lionel Messi that he has made the right decision to stay at the Nou Camp. The Brazilian was the subject of three failed transfer bids and one failed transfer request last summer, but the Spanish side will not give up just yet.

Mundo Deportivo stress to Liverpool that they ‘have a golden opportunity’ to cash in on the player, as a club will ‘hardly offer it again’. A January move is even mooted.

It is a different slant to the usual reports, insinuating more that Liverpool would be silly to turn the money down as oppose to the usual Catalan tactic of getting every former and current player to support the move. But it won’t happen in the winter. Next summer? Maybe. Maybe.

 

LEFTIE LUVVIES
Now to the Manchester Evening News, where Samuel Luckhurst brings us the latest news from Old Trafford. And Jose Mourinho has developed a new fetish.

‘Manchester United will attempt to address their lopsided attack by targeting four left-footers in the summer transfer window,’ writes Luckhurst, but this appears to be old news dressed up as new. The four players are Danny Rose, Antoine Griezmann, Gareth Bale and Mesut Ozil, all known targets to the Premier League’s second-placed side.

It is added that Mourinho ‘wants more backing in the transfer market to compete with Manchester City’, while Luke Shaw, Matteo Darmian and Daley Blind have all been deemed not quite good enough at left-back.

But again, it just feels as though this is an article purported to reveal insight into United’s transfer thinking, but it just rehashes and regurgitates four players who have been linked to the club in the last few weeks. Oh well. No harm.

 

ROSE REPLACEMENT
Who will Tottenham sign to replace Rose? Luke Shaw has been touted as a possible signing due to his relationship with Mauricio Pochettino, but the Daily Mail are here to tell you otherwise.

They report that Ryan Sessegnon is seen as ‘the perfect man’ to step into Rose’s shoes if the left-back departs in January or the summer. And by ‘perfect man’, they clearly mean bloody good teenager. He’s still only 17, for crying out loud.

The Mail’s story is a re-work of the Daily Telegraph’s claim, with Matt Law stating that Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea are also interested. Tottenham had at least one offer for Sessegnon rejected by Fulham last summer, but he has only taken forward strides since.

There is no release clause in Sessegnon’s Fulham contract, which means the Cottagers could demand upwards of £30m. Tasty.

 

AND THE REST
Chelsea have been offered the chance to sign Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January… Liverpool are also linked with Aubameyang but the 28-year-old Gabon international’s brother insists he is focused on life at Dortmund… Barcelona will move for Tottenham and Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen, 25, in January… Stoke boss Mark Hughes says any attempts to sign Switzerland midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, 26, in January will be rejected… Hughes is set to oversee a clear out at Stoke, with defender Glen Johnson, 33, and midfielder Charlie Adam, 31, set for January exits… Arsenal will announce the arrival of former Barcelona director of football Raul Sanllehi on Tuesday as part of the restructuring of their scouting and recruitment. The 48-year-old left the La Liga giants club after 15 years on Monday.