Gossip: Man United to make Ozil approach. Sure.

Daniel Storey

MAN UNITED TO TARGET OZIL
Well you have to hand it to Mark Irwin for his exclusive in The Sun. It certainly doesn’t hold back.

Irwin reports that Manchester United are looking to target the uncertainty over Mesut Ozil’s future by attempting to sign Arsenal’s star player next summer.

Ozil’s contract remains unsigned, and Irwin believes Jose Mourinho is looking to take advantage of that.

In fairness, this is one of those nothing stories that never come to fruition. Of course Manchester United would want to sign Ozil, because he’s really bloody good. You could probably do the same story for Manchester City and Chelsea too.

‘The Special One suspects there is only a remote prospect of landing him but is happy for his interest to throw a spanner into the Arsenal works,’ Irwin writes. We’re about to give up on the ‘A special one’ argument.

However, Ozil will sign a new deal at Arsenal, thus making the story null and void. He really isn’t going to Manchester United, is he?

 

LIVERPOOL INTERESTED IN HERRERA
No, not Ander Herrera, although that would be absolutely wonderful if only for the p*ss-boiling in Manchester.

Liverpool were reportedly interested in Porto midfielder Hector Herrera last summer, and the Portuguese media believe that they’re not going to go without a fight.

A Bola reports that Liverpool will go back in for Herrera in January, with competition from Napoli for his signature.

You do wonder quite where Herrera fits into this Liverpool team, given Adam Lallana’s brilliance (go here to read about that). Georginio Wijnaldum’s not going to lose his place so soon after joining, is he?

 

WEST HAM TO PAY GOKHAN TORE TO LEAVE
There are several indicators that a transfer hasn’t gone well:
1. Player mysteriously dropping out of matchday squads.
2. Supporters groaning every time said player loses the ball.
3. Player staying away on international duty longer than is necessary.
4. Player’s agent talking up interest from abroad, or mentioning homesickness as a factor.

However, West Ham have usurped all of those in the case of Gokhan Tore. The Sun claim that Slaven Bilic will instruct the club to send Tore back to his parent club Besiktas, but that West Ham will still have to pay all the pre-arranged fees for the midfielder.

That means that Tore has been so poor that West Ham will pay £2.5m to not have him around the place. Ouch.

 

AND THE REST
Antonio Valencia wants to sit down with Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho to thrash out a new deal… Tottenham face a battle to keep hold of captain Hugo Lloris with contract talks stalling… Sevilla boss Jorge Sampaoli says he has no interest in Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas, despite admitting that the World Cup winner is a player “any coach would love to have”… Derby are ready to offer Joey Barton a new start, following the termination of his contract with Scottish side Rangers… Aston Villa’s former England defender Micah Richards is a target for Turkish side Trabzonspor… Memphis Depay is ready to make a bid to save his Manchester United career – by heading out of Old Trafford on loan… Manchester United are plotting an Old Trafford return for Michael Keane – but a swoop for the Burnley man will cost them a major cash windfall… Borussia Dortmund are keen to extend Christian Pulisic’s contract amid reported interest from Liverpool.