CB Watch 90mins claim we're looking at Union Saint-Gilloise CB Koki Machida, and it has to be said he is everything we need for a Mickey Van understudy as he's left-footed, has physical presence at 6'3", and is both a dab hand with buildup play while also having a decent turn of pace - plus Ange would know him from his time in Japan, as he was a standout at Kashima Antlers for a couple of years before moving to Belgium There's just one potential drawback: firstly Saint Gilloise signed him in July on a three-year contract and on top of that they're currently top the Belgian league, so instead of bringing him in for €1m as they did in July we're likely going to be paying a minimum of £10m for him in January and likely closer to a premium in the £15m+ range, which is still perfectly affordable Football BSider, meanwhile, claim that Genoa's Radu Dragusin is another target - but given he joined Genoa in the summer from Juve, something tells me that he'd be a much costlier solution to the depth problem, plus he's right-footed so doesn't have the like-for-like flexibility Machida would offer
Gee, I wonder why The Sheikh Mansour Team wouldn't want to block loans between clubs with the same owners...?
Perhaps it didn't occur to the Premier League that allowing teams who could (and, in some cases, have) benefitted from loaning in players from one of their satellite clubs might not be the wisest approach...?
90mins (uh oh...) claim we're looking at St Patrick's Athletic RB Sam Curtis, who will presumably be headed to the youth teams given he's 17 Seems like another potential land grab, given he's a regular with the Irish U21s in spite being just 17, and it does have to be said he does seem more of a WB than a FB so it also fits in with our replicating our first team tactics throughout the academy sides There's also the advantage that the Irish season ended a couple of weeks ago as it runs February-November, which means that if we do sign him we can spend the remainder of the season bedding him in with (presumably) the U18s and see what's what in the summer And, yes, he does have a Wikipedia page Iling Junior Watch Calcio Mercato claim that Juventus have put a €20m price tag on him, which certainly makes him a viable squad option for January
CB Watch Bloody hell, the Daily Wail's gone mad today as they've linked us with *deep breath* - Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace) - Jarrad Braithwaite (Everton) - Malick Thiaw (Milan) - Goncalo Inacio (Sporting) - Morato (Benfica)
Dream scenario: we somehow bag 80 milly for him from some Saudis and then tag Everton in his departure tweet with the caption “that’s how you get £80m for a player” followed by a smiley emoji. Realistic scenario: he gets loaned out and will do for the next 2-3 years.
Various Latin American sources are linking us with one of Bentancur's international teammates. Sebastian Caceres is a Uruguayan centre-half that currently plays for Liga MX team America. He's 24, has about a year left on his contract and he's being watched by a lot of clubs.
I'll repost the comps I posted a few weeks back when he was first getting linked in earnest ...make that the comps which haven't been Contend ID'd in the interim
Gary Jacob says we're planning to loan Jota from Al-Ittihad ...and before anyone complains, in the article Jacob says a CB remains the priority but we are looking for short-term cover at LW
CB Watch Nizaar Kinsella at the Standard says we're looking at signing Jean-Clair Todibo from Nice, with a £39m fee being mentioned ...yes, the same Jean-Clair Todibo that Man Utd and Liverpool are being heavily linked with ...yes, the same Nice currently a point off top in Ligue 1 ...yes, the same Todibo whose contract is until 2027 I'm going to suggest that the fee Kinsella mentions is about £15m less than what Nice would actually accept
Championship Rando Watch 90mins claim that we're monitoring Blackburn's 19 year old DM Adam Wharton It is worth noting that his style of play is pretty similar to other recently-linked DMs such as Andre Trindade or Federico Redondo, as he serves as a metronome for Blackburn's buildup play as he either receives the ball from the back or nicks it off an opponent, before moving up the pitch to release the ball into the final third
