Friday's papers have Manchester United losing a candidate before they have officially started looking. According to the Mirror, Didier Deschamps has told the club he has no interest in becoming their next manager. Whether United were ever going to ask is a separate question, since Sky Sports report that there is still support for Michael Carrick among the hierarchy and that Sunday's game against Aston Villa is seen as the one that matters.
Those two lines sit awkwardly together, which is usually a sign that a club has not made up its mind. A board that backs its manager does not normally need a former World Cup winner to issue a refusal.
Kane, and a clause worth noting
The most interesting item of the morning concerns Harry Kane. The Telegraph reports that Tottenham retain the right to match any bid made for the 33-year-old as part of the new deal he has just signed at Bayern Munich. Spurs cannot force a return, but they would get the chance to meet whatever price another club put forward. For a player who left in 2023 and has spent the time since rewriting Bundesliga scoring records, that is a quietly significant piece of small print.
Elsewhere in midfield, Teamtalk has Arsenal and United both tracking Bournemouth's Marcus Tavernier, 27, while AC Milan are in talks with Adrien Rabiot, 31, about extending his contract according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
Arsenal, Liverpool and the German pipeline
Arsenal are among several European clubs said to be interested in Nicolo Tresoldi, the 22-year-old Club Brugge striker and Germany Under-21 international, per Tuttomercato. United, Chelsea and Liverpool are all credited with an interest in Eintracht Frankfurt defender Nnamdi Collins, also 22, by Fussball News.
Liverpool have two other names attached to them. Teamtalk says they are poised to step up their pursuit of Archie Brown, the English full-back at Fenerbahce, who is 24. At the other end of the age scale, Sport Witness reports that Alisson, 34, has attracted interest from Flamengo in his native Brazil. A goalkeeper of that standing heading home would be the kind of transfer that only makes sense when both parties want it, and nothing yet suggests Liverpool do.
January business taking shape
Newcastle have set their sights on Ivan Toney, says Football Insider, with the 30-year-old England striker currently at Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia and a January move the target. Eintracht Frankfurt are hopeful of bringing Arnaud Kalimuendo, 24, back from Nottingham Forest, according to L'Equipe. And Gazzetta dello Sport has Roma weighing up a January approach for Chelsea winger Jamie Gittens, 22.
None of it is confirmed, which is the nature of a gossip column. The two stories worth watching are the Kane clause, because it is contractual rather than speculative, and the Carrick situation, because Old Trafford on Sunday will settle more than the paperwork around it.
Gossip round-up: All items are press reports, not confirmed deals. Sources as credited: Mirror (Deschamps), Sky Sports (Carrick), Telegraph (Kane matching clause), Teamtalk (Tavernier, Brown), Tuttomercato (Tresoldi), Fussball News (Collins), Sport Witness (Alisson), Football Insider (Toney), L'Equipe (Kalimuendo), Gazzetta dello Sport (Gittens, Rabiot). Compiled from BBC Sport's Friday gossip column.
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