🚨 New Arsenal deal "very close", Man Utd consider winger move, Xavi Simons' future, latest on Joao Palhinha, and more
Today's transfer round-up, featuring Arsenal, Man Utd and more!
Good morning everyone and welcome to another Daily Briefing - thanks as always for reading, and hope you enjoy! :-)
Today’s top stories:
Al Gharafa
One of South America’s biggest young talents has made the shock move to Qatar! More here.
Arsenal
Martin Odegaard’s new Arsenal contract is getting closer - full details here.
Barcelona
Lamine Yamal and Alejandro Balde have both already signed new deals at Barcelona - it took place in July before the pre-season tour. Lamine signed until June 2026 as it’s the limit for the 16-year-old. Balde signed until June 2028, five year contract. It’s just a matter of time before it’s announced.
Joao Felix: “Joining Barca, good for me and my family. I’m very happy here. It's easy to play on this team. When you have a good structure, with all players in their place and ball circulating quickly, it’s easier for goals to arrive.”
Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich director Christoph Freund: “Palhinha deal? We are not thinking about that right now as we have a really good team. We’ll see what happens in January.”
Brighton
How did Roberto De Zerbi end up at Brighton rather than a top Serie A club? More on that here.
Chelsea
Mauricio Pochettino: “We’re happy in the process and the way that the team is showing the way we are wanting to play. We were better than Liverpool, better than West Ham. In five games, I think we deserved to win.”
Pochettino: “Players are not machines. For example — Real Madrid paid big amount of money for one player and his name was Zinedine Zidane. He was an amazing player, and after six months you can ask the fans of Real Madrid and they say: what have we bought? He started to perform after seven, eight months. Zinedine Zidane was 26, 27 years old. When you bring a player that is 18, 19, 20, 21 - be careful and give them time.”
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace yesterday announced that “unfortunately Roy Hodgson was taken unwell earlier today and is not at Villa Park”. Wishing Roy a speedy recovery!
Fulham
Bayern Munich director Christoph Freund: “Palhinha deal? We are not thinking about that right now as we have a really good team. We’ll see what happens in January.”
Juventus
Juventus director Cristiano Giuntoli on the Paul Pogba doping case: “We wait for final outcome of this story and then we’ll decide with the player’s agent.”
Termination of the contract is one of the possibilities being considered — but it depends on the process/investigation.
Liverpool
Could Thiago Alcantara really be leaving Liverpool for Turkey? More info here.
Lyon
Official, confirmed: Fabio Grosso has signed in as new Olympique Lyon coach, bringing four members of his coaching staff with him.
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola: “Kalvin Phillips decided to stay after we discussed internally — also about loan. As a good guy who accepts everything and stays, they are welcome. He has to be ready — Kalvin will be important.”
Five Premier League games, seven goals for Erling Haaland so far this season - the goal-scoring machine helped City to another win yesterday as they came from behind to beat West Ham…
[Pictures courtesy of Man City/YouTube]
Manchester United
Will Jadon Sancho play for Manchester United again? Erik ten Hag: “With fans it’s the talk, with you it’s the talk, but with the players, it is not the talk. They want to perform. For players who didn’t have so much opportunities, it’s chance to come into the team.”
Could the Sancho situation see Man Utd enter the market for a new winger? Full info here.
Ten Hag: “It’s not ‘crisis’ — but we’ve to be disappointed. All the teams have spent a lot of money. Brighton have spent money. When Man Utd come, it inflates the price. That is also true.”
Man United fans booed Ten Hag’s decision to remove Rasmus Hojlund. The manager’s response: “It was positive. Reception was great —he performed very well and it was good they gave this signal, will give him belief. He was just not ready for a whole game.”
PSG
Xavi Simons has made an impressive start to life on loan at RB Leipzig, but what next for the young Dutch midfielder?
RB Leipzig
Real Madrid
Carlo Ancelotti on Luka Modric situation: “We were all in agreement for his renewal. It's true that he has not played a lot, his status has changed a bit but now he will play more — and he has always been important.”
Ancelotti on Vinicius not being included in FIFA The Best nominees… “Oh… he was very, very sad. He cried for 3-4 hours!” Ancelotti added laughing.
Tottenham
Son Heung-min: “Seeing Richarlison score felt better than me scoring! Richarlison has had difficulties since last week, and I’d been thinking about how I could help him. It was unfortunate that he was blaming himself due to bad luck and other reasons.”
[Richarlison goal courtesy of Tottenham Hotspur/YouTube]
For all the very latest transfer news, read caughtoffside.com