Transfer news and rumours of the day: 9 January 2016

Will Mario Gotze reunite with Jurgen Klopp?January brings with it a lot of mid-season crisis as well as solutions. The transfer mill is expected to be the same this time around with many clubs seeking reinforcements and many players seeking a new start. There has been a buzz around many players and clubs, with players seeking moves away from their respective clubs for various reasons from playing time to better contracts. Nonetheless, the January window is poised to give us some interesting news.Here are the transfer news and rumours for the day.

#1 Serie A

- Juventus are interested in signing Marseille midfielder Lassana Diarra according to Tuttosport. The Old Lady have changed their attention to former Real Madrid midfielder Diarra after failing to negotiate a deal for Ilkay Gundogan of Borussia Dortmund. Marseille could be convinced to sell the midfielder for a fee around €7 million.

- Lazio have officially extended Federico Marchetti’s contract with the club till June 2018, the club confirmed today. A Lazio statement read: “Lazio announced that Federico Marchetti has renewed his contract with the [club] until 2018.” The goalkeeper had attracted interest from Juventus and Liverpool before and is currently out of action with a hamstring injury.

- According to Sky Italia, Napoli will be looking to sign Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Christoph Kramer in a deal worth around £11m. However, Leverkusen are not willing to let the 24-year-old go for anything less than £15m.

#2 La Liga

Real Madrid set to join race for Paul Pogba?

- Real Madrid are set to battle rivals Barcelona and Manchester City to try and sign Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba according to the Sun. The former Manchester United player was said to favour a switch to the Camp Nou but he is a huge fan of newly appointed Real manager Zinedine Zidane and that could prove to be the difference. A blockbuster £100m deal is reportedly on the cards for the Frenchman.

- According to L’Equipe, Celta Vigo have agreed personal terms with Lyon striker Claudio Beauvue and are now left with just agreeing a fee for the striker with the French club. The 27-year-old has not hit the ground running after joining Lyon in the summer and has only scored four goals in his 18 appearances this season.

- Newly appointed manager Zinedine Zidane has promoted Mariano Diaz Mejia from Real Madrid Castilla to the first team for the 2016/17 season. The 22-year-old Dominican Republic international has been impressing for Real Madrid’s B-team this term and has scored 12 goals so far.

#3 English Premier League

Manchester United to reignite their interest in Ricardo Rodriguez?

- Manchester United are looking to sign Wolfsburg defender Ricardo Rodriguez according to the Telegraph. Louis van Gaal is looking for a left-back with Luke Shaw out for the rest of the season and the Swiss international is said to be his number one target. Rodriguez is contracted to Wolfsburg until 2019 but a bid of £30million would almost certainly persuade the Bundesliga club to sell.

- AFC Bournemouth are closing in on a club record £10million swoop for Benik Afobe from Wolverhampton Wanderers according to Telegraph.The former Arsenal youngster has been in and out of the team in recent weeks but has scored 10 goals this season for the Championship club.

- According to Kicker, Liverpool are interested in a move to bring Schalke midfielder Sidney Sam to Anfield. The 27-year-old winger, who has five caps for the German national team, is well known for his electric pace but his career has suffered for the past year.

#4 Rest of Europe

Manchester United in touch with Laurent Blanc?

- According to Le 10 Sport, PSG manager Laurent Blanc, a former Manchester United defender, could be in line to take up the job from Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford. The former France national team boss Blanc has claimed back-to-back league titles with PSG in Ligue 1 since taking over control in 2013.

However, PSG do not want to lose their boss and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has already made contact with Blanc's representatives to convince him to sign a new deal.

- According to reports, Turkish giants Galatasaray are planning to launch a bid for out of favour Chelsea winger Christian Atsu. The reports state that Galatasaray officials are in London for talks with Chelsea and are hoping to secure his services for the rest of the season.

Atsu joined Bournemouth on a season-long loan earlier this season, but Chelsea decided to bring him back from an unsuccessful loan spell and are willing to loan him out again.

- Sunderland have agreed on a deal to sign former Hull City striker Dame N’Doye on loan from turkish club Trabzonspor, reports ESPN. The 30-year-old joined Hull from Lokomotiv Moscow for around £3 million last February and scored five goals in 15 Premier League games last season.

Edited by Staff Editor