Liverpool scout Ben White
Liverpool are keeping tabs on Ben White, the on-loan Leeds United centre-back, but have not officially firmed up their interest in the Englishman as of yet, per reports.
Reports last year claimed that Reds scouts had been blown away buy the £20million-rated defender, who is on loan at Leeds in the Championship from Brighton.
The 22-year-old has been an ever-present for Marcelo Bielsa’s promotion hopefuls, not missing a single minute of action in the league all season with the Whites a point off leaders West Brom after 27 games.
He was even named PFA Player of the Month in August while was named the Championships’ Best Young Player in a poll ran by Sky Sports, beating the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Aleksandar Mitrovic.
But The Athletic say that while Liverpool are watching White, they have not done any more than that.
The Poole-born defender has caught the eye as Liverpool canvas potential back-up options to Dejan Lovren in the summer.
Sporting coach on Bruno Fernandes to Man Utd
Sporting Lisbon boss Silas has admitted Bruno Fernandes “deserves” to play in the Premier League – but insists neither he or the player yet know whether he will join Manchester United before the Portuguese club’s next match.
The two clubs have been in negotiations this week having also held face-to-face meetings in United’s London offices.
Sporting captain Fernandes was in action for the Primeira Liga derby with neighbours Benfica on Friday night, as a Rafa Silva brace condemned the Lions to defeat.
Afterwards, Silas was asked whether his skipper – who has 15 goals and 13 assists across all competitions this term – would still be a Sporting player by Tuesday night, when they take on Braga in the Taca da Liga semi-finals.
“I hope not,” the manager told journalists. “So far we don’t know, nor does Bruno know.
“We will try to keep him for more games, but it’s not up to us.”
Arsenal close in on Layvin Kurzawa
Express Sport understands Mikel Arteta looks set to get PSG left-back Layvin Kurzawa over the line but he has been left counting the cost of a miserable Arsenal window in the summer.
Incredibly, with a centre-back and defensive midfielder still the long-term holes in the Arsenal squad, Unai Emery spent £73m on another attack-minded player to bolster a squad full of under-delivering creative players.
Although Arteta was interested in his former protégé John Stones at Manchester City, it quickly became clear that the money is simply not there to fund such a move. Ditto Nathan Ake.
Another season without Champions League revenue looks on the cards and the board will be nervous about over-investing this month until they can do a proper restructuring job in the summer under their new manager.
That looks likely to involve a bit of additional fundraising – with the luxury of carrying Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre-Lacazette possibly something that needs to be sacrificed.
“What remains the same is that the window is open and if there’s anything when can do to improve us then we will attempt to do it.
“We are working on that, but also I’m very aware of how I want the squad to be, and how much we must focus on what is our job in hand which is winning matches.”
But on Barkley, the Chelsea manager insisted: “There’s no talk here of Ross Barkley going anywhere.
“He is our player, he played the last couple of games and he has done very well and because of certain circumstances, Ross hasn’t featured as much here. But I have got a lot of faith in Ross. I am very happy with him.
“Willian is also not going anywhere. We know his contract is up at the end of the season and he is in conversations with the club which is still ongoing. There’s no news on that. He is certainly our player.”