Paper Talk: Piatek lift for Mourinho – but Levy wants Chelsea striker instead

Jose Mourinho and Daniel Levy disagree on the striker Tottenham should sign with Krzysztof Piatek and a Chelsea man in their sights, while Arsenal are set to spend £5m on a Southampton full-back, according to Wednesday’s Paper Talk.

 

STRIKER OPTIONS DOWN TO TWO FOR TOTTENHAM 

Tottenham will select from two strikers to sign before Friday’s transfer deadline, according to reports.

The North London outfit are desperate to bring in a new frontman to cover for the absence of Harry Kane, who could be sidelined until April with a ruptured hamstring.

AC Milan hitman Krzysztof Piatek remains Jose Mourinho’s top target, with reports on Tuesday suggesting the Spurs boss had held a conference call with the player to sell him a move to the Premier League.

And those hopes of landing Piatek were given a significant lift on Wednesday when the Daily Express claimed the Poland striker had made a move to Tottenham his No 1 priority, despite reported interest in him from West Ham and Manchester United

Milan are said to be seeking €30m for the former Genoa frontman and their refusal to entertain a loan has seemingly ruled United out of the equation.

But there appears a catch, with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, as per The Sun, settting a £10million limit on any new striker signing this month. That’s because the Spurs chief has already spent the best part of £54million on Steven Bergwijn – the Holland winger is expected to be confirmed as a Spurs player on Wednesday in a £27million deal – and Giovani Lo Celso, who has made a permanent £27million move to the club after impressing on loan.

 

As such, reports on 90min claims Levy prefers a deal to sign Olivier Giroud, who is said to have been made available for a knockdown fee of £6million.

The signing of the former Arsenal man, however, would be seen as controversial, despite his record of 215 goals in 534 career appearances.

Giroud is desperate to move on to keep alive his dreams of playing for France at Euro 2020 and had been expected to sign for Inter Milan.

 

 

AND THE REST

Arsenal are ready to firm up their interest in Cedric Soares with a late £5m move for the Southampton defender (Daily Mail)

Chelsea youngster Tariq Lamptey has a pre-contract offer on the table from Lille, with his future looking likely to be away from Stamford Bridge (Daily Mail)

Arsenal remain in advanced talks with Flamengo as the two clubs continue to negotiate a deal for Pablo Mari (Daily Mail)

Genk’s Sander Berge is discussing a £27m move to Sheffield United (Daily Mail)

Florentin Pogba, brother of Manchester United star Paul, has put a host of Football League sides on red-alert following his training stint with Charlton Athletic (Daily Mail)

Florentin Pogba: Wants Prem switch

Emmanuel Adebayor is chasing a return to the Premier League, with Aston Villa, Newcastle and Brighton interested in the Togo striker (The Sun)

Southampton have joined the growing chase to land Dundee United’s Lawrence Shankland before the transfer window closes on Friday (The Sun)

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder is snapping up Dutch striker Richairo Zivkovic in a surprise deal (The Sun)

Shkodran Mustafi’s ankle injury is not as bad as Arsenal first feared after the Germany defender was taken off on a stretcher in their FA Cup fourth-round victory at Bournemouth (The Times)

Manchester City predict that there will be about 4,000 empty seats at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night despite Pep Guardiola calling on fans to attend the derby against Manchester United (The Times)

 

Chelsea are set to miss out on signing Napoli forward Dries Mertens as he is not keen to leave the Serie A side (Daily Star)

Barcelona made a late bid to try to hijack Manchester United’s move for Sporting Lisbon’s Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes – but planned to loan him to Valencia for the 2020/21 (Daily Mirror)

Tottenham forward Troy Parrott is set to find himself at the centre of a tug-of-war between Charlton and QPR (Daily Mirror)

Wolves are set to finalise a £1.6m deal for French starlet Enzo Loiodice (Daily Mirror)

Italian giants Roma are chasing Chelsea winger Pedro (Daily Mirror)

Newcastle United is wanted by three bidders as Mike Ashley ponders whether to sell up (Daily Mirror)

Bayern Munich made a late inquiry about Steven Bergwijn but Tottenham had already pushed ahead with the deal for the winger (Daily Telegraph)

Goalkeeper Craig Gordon wants out of Celtic and has pleaded with the club to let him go (The Scottish Sun)