Paper Talk: Chelsea rival Utd for PSG star; West Ham swap

Manolo Gabbiadini: Joins Southampton

Manolo Gabbiadini: Joins Southampton

Chelsea will compete with Manchester United to sign one of PSG’s top talents, while West Ham are exploring the possibility of exchanging one of the players for a Napoli star, according to Thursday’s papers.

 

HAMMERS HOPING TO SWAP ZAZA FOR GABBIADINI

West Ham are in talks to swap Simone Zaza with Napoli’s Manolo Gabbiadini, according to reports in the Daily Star.

Italy striker Zaza has been a major disappointment for the club having failed to score in his nine appearances to date.

A clause in the striker’s contract allows West Ham to trigger a permanent £17.5m deal from Juventus once he has played 10 games – but Slaven Bilic is ready to cut his losses already.

The report states that West Ham are exploring the possibility of signing Zaza to then let them negotiate a part-exchange deal with Napoli for Gabbiadini.

Sources close to Zaza have reportedly claimed that talks are now underway to take the 25-year-old to Naples, with Bilic just needing to give West Ham the green light to sanction the deal.

Everton came close to signing Gabbiadini over the summer, though the deal never materialised and the player stayed at Napoli.

West Ham’s other options over Zaza is to simply send the player back to Juventus and write-off the £5million loan fee the club paid the Old Lady.

 

 

CHELSEA TO BATTLE MAN UTD FOR VERRATTI

Marco Verratti: Turned down big move

Chelsea are planning to match any offer Manchester United make for PSG playmaker Marco Verratti if the Italian gives any indication if he will leave Paris.

Blues boss Antonio Conte will make a move for the player either in January or next summer, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.

The paper claims that despite Chelsea’s vastly improved form over the last five games, Conte is determined to revamp the Blues’s squad and will have backing from owner Roman Abramovich.

The Italian will allow Jon Obi Mikel to leave when his contract expires at the end of the season. He is also listening to offers for midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

Conte, who failed in a move for Roma midfielder Radja Nainggollan during the summer, is keen to recruit more quality and is tracking Veratti’s situation.

Veratti signed a new five-year deal in August but his agent, Donato Di Campli, said last month: “The contracts are made and unmade in three minutes.

“We’ll see PSG’s aims, Marco is happy to be there, but he wants to win something important. He can not stay in a team that does not win.”

 

AND THE REST

Sergio Aguero: In danger of missing Man Utd clash

Everton are considering a January loan move for Manchester United’s Memphis Depay

Wayne Rooney is poised to earn a spot in England’s first XI in place of Harry Kane, who needs a late fitness test (Daily Mail)

Arsenal tell Chile to send Alexis Sanchez home to England after his injury on international duty (Daily Mail)

West Ham have been asked to pay for extra police to stop trouble at the London Stadium (Daily Mail)

Tottenham will not break their £100,000 salary cap to hand Hugo Lloris a new contract (Daily Telegraph)

Andreas Pereira is ready to make a January return to Manchester United from Granada if Jose Mourinho needs him (Daily Mirror)

QPR are poised to make Ian Holloway their new manager 10 years after he left Loftus Road (Daily Mirror)

Manchester United’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan has vowed to prove his worth to Jose Mourinho

Striker Sergio Aguero, 28, has dismissed links with Real Madrid and said he will only ever leave Manchester City to join boyhood club Independiente (The Sun)

Manchester United skipper Wayne Rooney, 31, rejected an offer to move to the Chinese Super League last summer, according to the chairman of Beijing Guoan (The Guardian)

Antonio Conte has drawn up a shortlist of four centre-backs to strengthen Chelsea’s squad. He is keen to sign at least one of Juventus’ Leonardo Bonucci, 29, AC Milan’s Alessio Romagnoli, 21, Roma’s Antonio Rudiger, 23, and Burnley’s Michael Keane, 23 (Squawka)

Tony Pulis has made his case to West Bromwich Albion owner Guochuan Lai as he plans improvements to the squad in the winter transfer window (Birmingham Mail)

Burnley chairman Mike Garlick says the club will be looking to the European market to strengthen their squad in January, and want “quality not quantity” (Lancashire Telegraph)

Watford forward Jerome Sinclair, 20, could move to Championship side Brentford on loan after failing to make an impact since a £2m summer move from Liverpool (Watford Observer)

Barcelona striker Luis Suarez, 29, says negotiations over a deal to extend his contract at the Nou Camp are going well (NDTV)