Euro Paper Talk: Spurs make January approach for midfield schemer
Tottenham hope to get a jump on their rivals for an in-demand Mexican midfielder, while Eden Hazard has made a honest admission over his Chelsea future, according to Monday’s European papers.
SPURS MAKE CONTACT WITH PORTO STAR
Tottenham are reported to have made contact with Porto captain Hector Herrera over a possible move to London in January.
The Mexican star is a man in demand with his contract due to expire at the end of the season and has been linked with Arsenal, Roma, Barcelona and Inter Milan.
However, Portuguese outlet A Bola claims it is Spurs who have made the first move for the player, reportedly offering Porto €8m to sign him in January so the player does not at least let his contract run down, where he would leave on a free.
Porto will try and resist the urge until they’re 100% sure Herrera wants to move on and much will depend on how the Portuguese giants fare in the Champions League.
If they’re still in the competition come the knockout stages, it’s likely they’ll reject any offer from Tottenham, leaving Mauricio Pochettino’s side to likely fight it out with all other competitors next summer.
Like our dedicated Tottenham Facebook page for the latest news to your timeline
EMERY WANTS ZIELINKSI
Unai Emery wants to sign Piotr Zielinski to replace Aaron Ramsey at Arsenal, according to a report.
Ramsey look all set to leave The Emirates on a free transfer at the end of the season, despite being a favourite of the Gunners boss.
Emery has made no secret of the fact that he wants to keep the Wales star, but the money is not right for the 27-year-old.
And now Sport Mediaset claim Poland midfielder Zielinski is the player Emery wants.
Zielinski was a firm target for Klopp in 2015, but the Udinese man made the move to Napoli for around £12million in 2016.
Calciomercato have claimed that Klopp is still tracking the progress of the 24-year-old, who is under contract in Naples until 2021.
The Italian source even claim the German remains “enthralled” with what Zielinksi has to offer.
Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham have all been linked with summer moves for the player, with Klopp and now Emery hoping to get Zielinksi next summer.
Napoli are apparently well aware of the interest in him and want to give him a new contract until 2022, while increasing his €65million release clause.
AND THE REST
Real Madrid target Eden Hazard has confessed that he wanted to leave Chelsea last summer ‘because my dream is to play in Spain’ (BT Sport)
Sergey Milinkovic-Savic has finally signed his new long-term deal at Lazio (various)
Barcelona will give Samuel Umtiti’s knee surgery a plasma treatment before proceeding with surgery – leaving the Frenchman facing an unspecified time on the sidelines (AS)
Juventus and Italy icon Marcello Lippi admits it is ‘likely’ he will retire from coaching once his contract with China expires early next year (Radio Anch’io Sport)
Arsenal and Man Utd target Nicolas Pepe says he is staying at Lille (Telefoot)
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior ‘will never forget’ his debut for the club after coming from the bench in Saturday’s draw against Atletico Madrid (AS)
Antonio Cassano claims he rejected an offer from Silvio Berlusconi’s Monza because Virtus Entella are the only lower-League team he would join (Il Secolo)
Diego Costa has criticised the behaviour of former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte and again reiterated the Italian was the only reason why he left Stamford Bridge (Marca)
Top Liverpool target Nicolo Barella would prefer to stay in Italy than move to Anfield after Serie A giants Inter Milan joined the €40m race for his services (Calciomercato)
Manchester United are being tipped to appoint former Juventus man Fabio Paratici as their new director of football (Corriere della Sera)
Fiorentina defender Nikola Milenkovic wants to stay with the Serie A outfit, despite being linked with Manchester City, Manchester United and Atletico Madrid (Tuttosport)
Lazio president Claudio Lotito has revealed the club rejected a big-money offer for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic this summer (Il Tempo)
AC Milan coach Rino Gattuso has revealed Andre Silva asked to leave the club as soon as it became clear they were signing Gonzalo Higuain from Juventus (Calciomercato)
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has explained his motives behind his desire to help his side beat Barcelona on Tuesday (Marca)
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has broken his silence on their reported interest in signing Paul Pogba (Mundo Deportivo)
EXCLUSIVE: Tottenham are ready to raid Holland again – but not Ajax, this time their arch-rivals PSV Eindhoven
Manchester United have held early talks with Zinedine Zidane about replacing Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford (Le10 Sport)
Diego Godin insists the goalless draw against Real Madrid at the weekend was a fair result and he can have no complaints at the outcome (AS)
Juventus star Rodrigo Bentancur insists he is desperate to earn a regular shirt at the club rather than seek a loan move away in January (Sky Italia)
Genoa will attempt to re-sign teenage sensation Pietro Pellegri on loan from Monaco when the transfer window reopens (Sport MediaSet)
More from Planet Sport:
ATP betting preview: 28/1 Daniil Medvedev to shine at Japan Open (Tennis365)
Matt Cooper’s Golf365 Gallery of sizzling Sunday at the 2018 Ryder Cup (Golf365)