Tuesday's papers put a price on Eddie Howe before Manchester United have even made their move. The former Newcastle manager is the name everyone has settled on, and two separate reports have now filled in what hiring him would actually involve. Elsewhere Arsenal are looking at a 21-year-old in Serie A, Crystal Palace are trying to hold on to a winger who wanted out in the summer, and half of Europe is circling a teenager at Brighton.
The Howe question gets expensive
Howe would want his entire backroom staff to come with him if United approach him about the job, according to the Express. That is not an unusual demand from a manager who has built every side he has had around a settled coaching group. It still adds bodies, and cost, to a hire that already carries plenty of both.
The Telegraph reports that United would owe Newcastle £6m in compensation under the terms of Howe's departure from St James' Park. Neither figure stops a club the size of United. Together they do explain why nobody at Old Trafford is in any hurry to say something out loud, and why the people briefing the papers are doing the talking instead.
Arsenal look to Monza, Palace dig in on Sarr
Gazzetta dello Sport, via Calciomercato, has Arsenal and Napoli both watching Gustavo Varela, the 21-year-old Portuguese striker who has started the season well at Monza. Benfica want him back. Arsenal's recent recruitment has leaned hard toward players already in their prime, which makes a 21-year-old forward a departure from the pattern rather than a continuation of it.
Crystal Palace, meanwhile, are not planning to sell Ismaila Sarr in January and have opened talks over a new contract, Football Insider reports. The 28-year-old Senegal winger wanted Liverpool in the summer and did not get the move. A club whose manager is already being asked about his future does not need to spend January answering questions about its best attacker as well.
Vuskovic, Nmecha, Scott and the rest
Luka Vuskovic is 19. Liverpool, Real Madrid and Barcelona are all paying attention, according to Teamtalk, and Brighton have made a habit of both halves of this: developing them, then getting paid. Felix Nmecha is rated at Liverpool but Florian Plettenberg says the 26-year-old Dortmund midfielder is not near the top of their list.
Bournemouth owner Bill Foley has signed off another club-record contract offer for Alex Scott, with Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham all watching, Teamtalk says. United have been told Lewis Hall will cost more than £70m. Ajax want to keep Tolu Arokodare permanently after his loan from Wolves. And if Palace do sack Pierre Sage, Football Insider expects them to go for someone already out of work, with The I naming Thomas Frank and Sean Dyche as candidates.
Transfer context: All items above are press speculation collected in BBC Sport's gossip column, published 26 October 2026. Original sources as credited: Gazzetta dello Sport via Calciomercato, Football Insider, Teamtalk, Florian Plettenberg, Express, Telegraph, Sport Witness, The I.
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