He plays for the champions of Europe, the likely champions of England come May, and is in the form of his career, so what could possibly turn Sadio Mané’s head? Real Madrid, inevitably. That’s according to the French site Le10 sport, which reports that Zinedine Zidane is drooling over the idea of the Senegal striker teaming up with Karim Benzema to spearhead Madrid’s attack. Not least because he’s likely to rid himself of Wales and golf’s Gareth Bale and Colombia’s James Rodríguez. Le10 claims Mané’s people have already had a chinwag with Madrid’s people about a summer move. Rumour has it that Zidane and Mané have even had a direct human conversation about the matter.
José Mourinho is unhappy: with ball boys, with members of opponents’ coaching teams, with technology and with the absolute state of Tottenham’s defence. Accordingly, he’s got his eye on the Leicester full-back Ricardo Pereira and is prepared to wave £30m in the Foxes’ faces in the hope of persuading his Portuguese compatriot to swap probable Champions League qualification at the King Power with a desperate scramble over fourth and fifth places in Tottenham’s craft ale emporium. They may face stiff competition from Paris Saint-Germain, however. Another defender Spurs have their eye on is West Brom’s Nathan Ferguson, with Crystal Palace also keen on the 19-year-old.
Heading in the other direction might be Jan Vertonghen, with Ajax and Napoli looking to tempt the Belgian central defender, whose contract expires in the summer, away from north London.
If The Mill had a penny for every time Paul Pogba has appeared in this column, we’d have very heavy pockets and knowing our luck would probably be told it’s card-only at this till, but anyway, despite his latest injury setback – needing surgery on an injured foot – the Manchester United midfielder is being courted by his former club Juventus. Calciomercato reports that the serial Serie A champions are pushing strongly for a reunion with a player whose days in the Premier League look numbered. Coming into Old Trafford could be Leipzig’s Timo Werner in a deal that would involve the forward remaining at the Bundesliga club until the end of the season.
In the here and now – which is kind of important given their injury problems – United are keen on the Lille midfielder Boubakary Soumaré, but Spurs are sniffing around too – six bids have reportedly been tabled for the Frenchman already. Another midfielder attracting Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s interest is Benfica’s Gedson Fernandes; United are understood to be exploring the option of signing Fernandes on a six-month loan deal that would carry a £34m option to buy in the summer.
With Chelsea now able to sign players, they’re also able to offload their young’uns in the customary style and their teenage midfielder Conor Gallagher is attracting considerable interest after a fine loan spell at Charlton in the first half of the season. Burnley, West Brom and Swansea are all duking it out for the 19-year-old. And in other Championship tittle-tattle, Nottingham Forest are pondering over an offer for the seasoned Birmingham City striker Lukas Jutkiewicz.