🚨 Hojlund's Christmas CRACKER, Guardiola throws down gauntlet, Gerrard's plea, Wood haunts Magpies, Sinisterra STUNNER and more
Today's transfer round-up, featuring Man United, Liverpool, Barcelona, Chelsea and much more!
Good morning everyone and welcome to another Daily Briefing with all your essential football headlines in one place and completely ad-free. Enjoy!
Top stories:
AC Milan
AC Milan are advancing in talks to bring Matteo Gabbia back to the club with Villarreal ready to give the green light. Italian centre-back is not a key part of Marcelino’s plans and he’s expected to re-join Milan soon.
Furious Milan directors give Pioli one last chance [Calciomercato]
Al Ettifaq
Steven Gerrard asks for new signings for Al Ettifaq. “We need to show in this window, and also the summer window, that we mean business and we want to be competitive at the top of the league, and not where we are at the moment.”
Al Nassr
Cristiano Ronaldo scores two penalties for Al Nassr and makes it 53 goals in the calendar year. The Portuguese helped his side to defeat Karim Benzema’s Al Ittihad 5-2. The former Real Madrid team-mates enjoyed a brief chat in the tunnel pre-match.
Arsenal
Arsenal keen on technically-gifted playmaker, €40m would get deal done [Tuttomercatoweb]
Barcelona
Man City beat Barcelona to signing of €25m wonder kid [Gaston Edul]
Vitor Roque, at the airport yesterday as he’s flying to Barcelona. The Brazilian striker will land in Spain later this morning, as expected.
Boxing Day Games
Newcastle v Nottingham Forest: Chris Wood returned to St. James’ Park to haunt his old side, his hat-trick giving Forest a vital 3-1 away win after Alexander Isak had opened the scoring for the Magpies from the spot [pictures from Amazon Prime Video Sport].
Bournemouth v Fulham: Andoni Iraola’s side won their sixth match in the last seven with a comfortable 3-0 home victory over the Cottagers. The game’s best goal came from on loan ace, Luis Sinisterra. What a strike! [pictures from Amazon Prime Video Sport].
Sheffield United v Luton Town: A five-goal thriller at Bramall Lane saw Luton win 3-2, courtesy of two late own goals from the Blades, the winner coming from the unlucky Anis Ben Slimane [pictures from Amazon Prime Video Sport].
Burnley v Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp’s Reds go to the top of the Premier League table for 48 hours at least, after a 2-0 win at Turf Moor courtesy of goals from Darwin Núñez and Diogo Jota [pictures from Amazon Prime Video Sport].
Manchester United v Aston Villa: Unai Emery’s side were 2-0 up before half-time through John McGinn and Leander Dendoncker, leading to boos at Old Trafford. It was a totally different story in the second half as an Alejandro Garnacho double and a late winner - his first goal in the Premier League - from Rasmus Hojlund, gave the Red Devils a famous 3-2 comeback win [pictures from Amazon Prime Video Sport and Canal+ Foot Direct].
Chelsea
Pochettino on Chelsea: “We are in a big club, you feel the pressure. It’s normal. When you are frustrated, and you dont have maybe the experience of other teams, you make a mistake… We need to win. We are so far away from what our targets were. To be honest our target was to be on top. We are Chelsea, it demands us to be near the top. We knew it’d be tough, but never this tough, because of injuries, suspensions… made it worse.”
Si Phillips with some incredible insight and the latest on Conor Gallagher’s future at the club.
Chelsea enter race to sign €40m-rated Real Madrid target [Fichajes]
“Nothing more” on £56m Chelsea ace’s situation as £72m man’s future has “guarantee” [Fabrizio Romano]
Juventus
Understand Gleison Bremer is set to sign new long term deal at Juventus — agreement done and contract set to be sealed. Juve expect it to be signed in the next days, five-year deal and salary rise for the Brazilian centre-back.
Allegri happy to have disagreements with Juventus players [Ilbianconero]
Liverpool
“Very clear” – Gerrard wants January signings and Saudis “still dream” of Liverpool ace Salah [Fabrizio Romano]
Manchester City
Manchester City star could return against Everton [Manchester Evening News]
Pep Guardiola: “In the moment you don't win, there are going to be doubts. They all will say: crisis, disaster… as always. That is ok. Doubt us again. We'll see what happens...”
Manchester United
European giants preparing talks with out of favour Man United star [Gazzetta]
Real Madrid “still discussing” transfer targets as Man United ace waits for next steps [Fabrizio Romano]
Man United join Chelsea in race to sign La Liga defender [Fichajes]
Rasmus Højlund in his post-match interview: “I am the happiest man in the world right now.”
Garnacho: “We are Manchester United. We never give up. I am so happy for Rasmus. Too many people are used to talking about the strikers at Man United…”
Ten Hag on the INEOS project: “We are optimists. We have been kept informed during the whole process. It's very good, we are looking forward to working with them. It’s positive for Manchester United.”
INEOS’ Sir Dave Brailsford, in attendance at the Manchester United game at Old Trafford.
Newcastle United
Eddie Howe clearly wasn’t happy with another defeat for his Magpies side: “The answers always lie within… We're on a difficult run and any expression to that (boos from supporters) I respect and understand. But the atmosphere at the stadium was good, that’s what I ask. We had so many injuries, it has been a difficult period… I'll be prepared to make any change that I think can benefit the performance or result. Players are accountable for what they deliver. No amount of credit in the bank is big enough, you have to earn everything you get from the game.”
Three first-team players now at risk of being sold by Eddie Howe [CaughtOffside]
Paris Saint-Germain
Gabriel Moscardo to PSG, here we go! Verbal agreement with Corinthians has been reached for €20m fixed fee. Package also includes €2m add-ons. Moscardo will travel to Paris as soon as clubs sign the formal agreement.
Transfer Window - Preview
Ben Jacobs, Angus Scott and Fabrizio Romano give a full preview of the biggest names and clubs rumoured to be moving — or to be making moves — in January.