Life at Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjær is going swimmingly, with the caretaker manager’s latest grand plan to massage the ego of his squad with a warm-weather training camp in Dubai.
But the Norwegian may have to prevent one of his stand-in captains from hot-footing it to another city break favourite first, for Ashley Young has caught the eye of Internazionale, with the San Siro club acutely aware that time is almost up on the 33-year-old’s current deal.
Inter are supposedly among a throng of Serie A clubs battling it for the signature of the full-back, who is out of contract this summer.
If that does not get the pulses racing, then how about this? Another England old boy, Gary Cahill, is so desperate for a loan move away from Chelsea that he has hired a personal trainer to help get into peak condition.
Fulham are determined to smooth over the edges of a six-month loan move, while Arsenal are said to be monitoring the defender’s situation.
Arsenal are light on numbers, with injuries and suspensions totting up, though Unai Emery is not expected to recall Reiss Nelson or Calum Chambers from their respective season-long stints at Hoffenheim and Fulham.
Chelsea will be fighting off interest left, right and centre this window. Not only is Callum Hudson-Odoi attracting admiring glances from the Bundesliga and Ruben Loftus-Cheek from Premier League rivals, but Tammy Abraham’s Midas touch in the Championship has got the juices of various chief executives flowing across the country. Wolves, Burnley and Huddersfield are all keen on making a move for the young striker, who has scored 16 goals on loan at Aston Villa this season. Villa, meanwhile, are closing on a £2m deal for Wolves centre-back Kortney Hause.
So Samir Nasri has joined Jack Wilshere & Lukasz Fabianski at West Ham. The Hammers’ next targets include Johan Djourou, Andrey Arshavin & Robin Van Persie.
— Patrick Timmons (@PatrickTimmons1) January 1, 2019
After already snapping up Samir Nasri on a free, West Ham have the appetite for more moves and fancy James McCarthy from Everton. The 28-year-old midfielder is out-of-favour under Marco Silva and could depart on loan.
Elsewhere, Thierry Henry wants to sign his former Arsenal teammate Cesc Fàbregas with Monaco confident of sealing a deal for the Spanish midfielder, while Tottenham are willing to flog Georges-Kévin Nkoudou on loan and Southampton have given Steven Davis the green light to return to Rangers.