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The transfer window for Europe’s biggest clubs might be closed, but they are still working tirelessly behind the scenes to line up the arrival of their next star. Transfer Talk has been scouring the world’s media to see who could be heading to your club when Jan. 1 arrives.
TOP STORY: Arsenal want Ozil-Isco swap
Arsenal are prepared to let Mesut Ozil out on loan this January, the Times reports, with the 30-year-old seemingly not in manager Unai Emery’s plans.
The German World Cup winner was left out of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup loss to Tottenham, and afterward Emery refused to be drawn on Ozil’s future, diplomatically saying the decision was purely “tactical.”
The club was already coming to terms with selling the player just after handing him a new contract, but with his salary so high now (a reported £350,000 a week), they fear they won’t get any credible offers for him. If this still doesn’t help matters, Arsenal might have to subsidise Ozil’s wages in a future transfer away from the Emirates, as Chelsea did with Fernando Torres.
But the Independent reports that the Gunners have a potential solution: sending Ozil and a truckload of cash to Real Madrid in exchange for Isco.
The Madrid playmaker has been all but frozen out by new manager Santi Solari, and the report suggests that Arsenal will investigate returning a player who enjoyed a successful three-year spell in the Spanish capital in exchange for one who seemingly no longer has a future there.
However, there are some complications. For one, Los Blancos value Isco at £l00 million, so it will take Ozil and a sizeable transfer fee to bring the Spain international to North London. Two, Arsenal will face competition from Premier League rivals Chelsea, Tottenham and potentially Manchester City for Isco’s signature.
LIVE BLOG
23.09 GMT: That’s going to bring Friday’s live edition of Transfer Talk to a close. Thanks very much for joining us, and be sure to check back in a few short hours when we return with the latest gossip pulled from Saturday’s papers.
21.16 GMT: Former Crystal Palace, Inter Milan and Ajax boss Frank de Boer is a candidate to become the next manager of Atlanta United, multiple sources have told ESPN FC. Read the full story.
19.06 GMT: What’s the latest with Bayern Munich’s aggressive, wide-ranging recruitment drive? Our own Raphael Honigstein has the latest. Read the full story.
16.26 GMT: Claudio Ranieri is considering a Leicester reunion with defender Danny Simpson as the newly installed Fulham manager searches for a way to remedy the Cottagers’ porous defence, the Mail reports.
15.10 GMT: Arsenal boss Unai Emery has dismissed speculation linking Mesut Ozil with a move away from the club, insisting he still has a future at the Emirates Stadium.
“I want every player with a good mentality for helping us and give us his quality and characteristic, and we need Mesut Ozil,” Emery said.
14.40 GMT: Reports in Italy say AC Milan could be closing in on the signing of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from Lazio.
The Serbia international enjoyed a fine campaign last season, but he and Lazio have struggled to reproduce that form this year.
14.15 GMT: Maurizio Sarri has responded to reports linking Gonzalo Higuain with a move to Chelsea.
“As you know, I like him very much,” he said of Higuain. “He is a wonderful player, a wonderful man. But I don’t want to talk about Higuain. I have two strikers, two and a half at the moment, and Gonzalo is playing for AC Milan. It’s better not to talk about him at the moment.”
Sarri also said his friendship with Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe could get in the way of any potential move for Callum Wilson.
13.35 GMT: If anyone is going to leave Napoli in the January transfer window, manager Carlo Ancelotti says they will have to go to extremes to get their wish.
“In all honesty I can say that we won’t make any moves in January,” he told Gianluca Di Marzio. “I am satisfied with my team and unless someone chains himself up to the doors of our training centre asking to leave, we will stay with the players we have.”
Defender Kalidou Koulibaly has frequently been linked with a move to the Premier League.
13.00 GMT: Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino — enjoying the freedom not having to answer any more questions about the Manchester United job — has hinted that midfielder Mousa Dembele still has a future at the club.
Dembele will be out of contract in the summer and there has been little indication that the 31-year-old will sign a new one.
Asked whether the club will sell the Belgium international in January, Pochettino replied: “That’s for Daniel [Levy, the chairman]. What do you think Daniel’s going to do if he receives a bid?”
12.15 GMT: Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone appears to have confirmed the possibility that defender Lucas Hernandez could join Bayern Munich next month.
On Wednesday, Atletico denied any deal between them and the German champions for the France international had been agreed after Marca reported that Hernandez will move for €80m in the January transfer window.
Simeone, a man usually very careful with his choice of words in news conferences, told reporters on Friday: “It is normal that a team like Bayern, appear to want to pay his clause. They are a very big club, but then there is the decision of Lucas and the work of the club to see what happens. Both Lucas and the club know what I think and what I want.
“At this moment I am thinking that Lucas is here with us. So there is no point in talking about if he is leaving or what will happen, as it might not happen in the end. I don’t like talking about hypotheticals, don’t think about negative things might happen.
“If he is fit he can play for us this weekend. The fans can make him feel tomorrow what they think of him and what this club means.”
11.35 GMT: Paris…
Read more at this link (News Source).
