Hello and welcome to the Premier League latest news and rumours of the day! Here are the top stories surrounding the clubs in England…
#5 Sarri speaks
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has spoken of the club’s plan in the winter transfer market. The Blues manager stated that he is not the controlling the transfer market but admitted that the Blues need two players.
When asked about which position he wanted to strengthen, Sarri gave no clear answer but informed that he has made the Blues aware of his opinion on the players that they should sign.
"As you know very well I am not in control of the transfer market," Sarri said. “In my opinion, we need two players, but then it is up to the club.”
"As you can understand, I cannot tell you where. The club knows my opinion. My opinion is important for the club, but I cannot tell you my opinion.”
Speaking of Cesc Fabregas, Sarri believes that having an unhappy player as important as the Spaniard won’t be good for the team, which is why he thinks that the former Arsenal man should leave.
"You know very well my opinion, I think he needs to go," he said. ”At the moment for his mental condition. He is not able to play I think.
"I need a replacement, but I don’t need an important player like Cesc unhappy here.”
Finally, he refused to rule out a move away from the club for Alvaro Morata, stating that should the Spaniard leave, the Blues would need to find a replacement. He also called for the former Real Madrid to focus on the pitch.
"Of course if he was to go to another club then we need a replacement," he said.
"But at the moment he is here, he has to think only to play.
"There are 300 players involved in the market and they need to think only to the next match otherwise it is impossible to play.”
#4 Marco Silva on Everton
Everton manager Marco Silva has spoken about the Toffees’ possibility to sign players in the winter market. The Toffees have been linked with some players of late but according to their manager, it is unlikely that they will buy.
Silva insisted that the only way the club would sign players is if they sell some of their very own players. He also added that strengthening the team in January is quite difficult.
"I tell you every time we talk about the situation that we did very good things in the summer to improve the squad, and for us to do something in this window means we must improve out squad and it is not easy in January," he said.
"For us to do something at this moment will means some players will leave the club and at the moment it is not in our mind.”
#3 Sarri wants Higuain
The priority for the Italian manager this window seems to be signing a striker. The former Napoli boss has a great camaraderie with Gonzalo Higuain during their time together in Naples.
As a result, he wants to work with him again. According to Dharmesh Sheth, the striker is at the top of the list of the Italian. However, there is a bit of complication to bring him in since Milan have him on loan with an obligation to buy at £32 million.
"A striker seems to be top of the agenda,” he said. “Argentine Gonzalo Higuain is boss Maurizio Sarri’s choice. Higuain is currently on loan at AC Milan from Juventus. Milan have an obligation to buy for £32m in the summer.
“Now Chelsea would have to take over the terms of that deal and at 31 years old it’s thought director Marina Granovskaia is not overly keen.”
#2 Pep Guardiola’s stance on January window
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed that the club are unlikely to make a signing in the January window.
While he did admit that the Etihad outfit have, in the past, signed players in the winter, their main ideology behind signing players is to be able to utilize them in the long term.
And that is difficult to achieve in the mid-season market.
"Sometimes we have done [made January signings],” he said.
"But normally, we buy one player, it's for the next five, six years - and normally these kind of situations in this transfer window don't happen.”
As a result, signing players in January is hard. Guardiola did admit that bringing someone on loan is easier in the January market but top clubs rarely make loan deals. He then added that if there are no injuries, then they can go on with the squad that they have.
"For loan players, maybe it can happen, but I think the big clubs don't buy players for just five or six months, and they don't sell in that period.
"If you don't have injuries if you are satisfied with the players, the squad you have, you go with them."
#1 The want for Hazard and Manchester Madness
Eden Hazard has been linked with a move to Real Madrid for a while now and it seems as though the Galacticos may have finally found the way to bring the Belgian to the Santiago Bernabeu.
According to Don Balon, Real Madrid are planning to make a bid of €30 million and Isco for the Belgian. The Merengues rate the Spaniard at €80 million, which means the total price of the deal goes above €100 million.
Meanwhile, Tuttosport claims that Manchester United are willing to let go of Paul Pogba to Juventus should they get Douglas Costa in return.
However, the word around the campfire is that while the Old Lady are interested in bringing Pogba back, they don’t want to do it at the expense of the Brazilian.
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