Kalidou Koulibaly to Manchester United?

Despite the great demander of centre-backs José Mourinho being banished, Manchester United remain in the market for a replicant Jaap Stam or Nemanja Vidic (both, in fairness, would make an excellent Roy Batty) and while Kalidou Koulibaly may not have seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion or even watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate, he is a pretty damn fine defender and one who appears perfect for the Premier League.Napoli have told United the Senegalese will cost €120m (£107m) which, given neither we nor probably they know the identity of their next permanent manager, a deal of that magnitude may only be concluded in the summer.

At the other end of both the field and price range, Wolves, Huddersfield, Burnley and Crystal Palace all lie in the bottom half of the Premier League for goals scored and the latter three clubs boast Mathias Jørgensen, James Tarkowski and Luka Milivojević among their top-scorers.

It’s no surprise, therefore, to hear of them sniffing around Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham, whose impressive 14 goals in 19 games for Aston Villa could mean his loan is cut short this month, if someone throws sufficient cash the way of Stamford Bridge.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have turned their noses up at an initial £20m offer from Bayern Munich for Callum Hudson-Odoi and told the Bundesliga champions to come back with £36m for the winger.

Another wanted man, if the BBC is to be believed, is Aaron Ramsey. The Arsenal midfielder can negotiate a pre-contract agreement with clubs outside the Premier League from today and is set to hold talks with Bayern, Internazionale, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid.

He “will consider moves” to all five and “has not yet made a decision”, although Juventus are “confident” they are at the front of the queue having offered a package between £31m and £40m. The Mill can only look on in admiration and jealously at Aaron’s life choices.

As for another soon-to-be-out-of-contract midfielder with a who’s who list of suitors, 2019’s Mill hasn’t properly shaken off 2018 with Adrien Rabiot yet to leave the party, hanging around the kitchen, tucking into dad’s spirit cabinet, flicking his fringe around and upsetting poor Tottenham Hotspur by declaring they’re “below” him. Rabiot’s impending departure to Barcelona/Manchester City/Juventus and PSG’s failure to replace Thiago Motta last summer means Thomas Tuchel wants a midfielder this month and has around £30m to spend.

Like the most frustrating of evening experiences, it could be one in, one out at Manchester City. Brahim Díaz’s move to Real Madrid should be confirmed any time soon with the 19-year-old already selecting the No 21 shirt once worn by Christophe Metzelder.

The only issue is the fee with City trying to insert all manner of clauses in order to bump it up to around £20m. In Brahim’s place will arrive Espanyol starlet Oscar Tarensi, but the versatile wide player can’t sign until January 10 when he turns 16 and therefore will have sufficient fluff on his chin to slip past any unsuspecting bouncers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *