Friday's papers have Chelsea shopping at the top of the market and Manchester United shopping for a centre-forward. The headline name is Trent Alexander-Arnold, and the reported price tag that will raise most eyebrows belongs to a 23-year-old at Bournemouth.
Chelsea linked with two England internationals
Football Insider reports that Chelsea have been linked with a move for Alexander-Arnold should the 28-year-old Real Madrid right-back become available. Nothing in that sentence is a done deal, and the conditional is doing a lot of work, but it is the first time this season his name has been attached to a return to the Premier League with a club other than the one he left.
The Mail, behind its subscription wall, says Chelsea could have a deal in the region of £90m agreed with Bournemouth for England midfielder Alex Scott before January. Scott is 23. That is a serious number for a player most supporters outside the south coast would struggle to describe, which tells you how aggressively Chelsea's recruitment still operates.
United want a striker, and Leeds have one
The Athletic reports that Manchester United are considering a January move for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the 29-year-old Leeds United striker. Given where United's centre-forward situation has been this autumn, the logic writes itself.
Elsewhere, Teamtalk has Manchester City as favourites to sign 17-year-old United States winger Mathis Albert from Borussia Dortmund with Chelsea also interested, and Football Insider says Arsenal, United, Tottenham and Chelsea are all watching German youth international Nicolo Tresoldi, though Club Brugge have no intention of selling the 22-year-old striker in January. Chelsea are also monitoring Como's 21-year-old Spanish defender Jacobo Ramon, who has been linked with Arsenal and United too.
The rest of the column
Teamtalk reports that Paris St-Germain or Barcelona may edge out Liverpool and Arsenal for Galatasaray's Russian midfielder Aleksey Batrakov, 21, who is said to be open to a move to one of Europe's elite clubs. Barcelona president Joan Laporta, meanwhile, is keen on bringing Tottenham full-back Pedro Porro, 27, to the club, according to Catalan broadcaster 3Cat.
And the tidiest item of the day has nothing to do with January. Goal reports that Tottenham will not receive any additional money from Bayern Munich following Harry Kane's Ballon d'Or, because the 2023 transfer did not include a clause for it. Someone in north London drafted that contract and will have spent this week thinking about it.
Transfer context: All items above are press reports rather than confirmed deals, credited to Football Insider, The Athletic, Teamtalk, the Mail, Goal and 3Cat as published in Friday's gossip round-up. No club has confirmed any of the moves.
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