With just a few weeks remaining before the opening of the January transfer window, there's plenty of gossip swirling about who's moving where. Transfer Talk brings you all the latest buzz on rumours, comings, goings and, of course, done deals!
TOP STORY: Bayern watching De Jong
Bayern Munich are keeping close tabs on Netherlands star Frenkie de Jong, reveals Sport.
The Barcelona midfielder was linked with an €85 million move away from the club in the summer but, despite his intentions to fulfil his contract until 2026 at Camp Nou, it is reported that the LaLiga side are still attempting to persuade him to lower his salary.
That has alerted the Bundesliga champions to his situation. While they were unable to make a move for De Jong after they acquired Matthijs de Ligt for €77m from Juventus in July, there is now hope that an approach for the 25-year-old could be possible.
Julian Nagelsmann's side reportedly believe Barcelona will be forced to part ways with him if they have not reached a new contract agreement by the end of the season, with Bayern optimistic that he would be open to making the switch to the Allianz Arena.
De Jong has remained an important part of Xavi Hernandez's squad this season, making 20 appearances across all competitions.
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21.52 GMT: Chelsea are hoping striker Romelu Lukaku's desire to stay at Inter Milan will help them secure the signing of Denzel Dumfries, according to Gazzetta Dello Sport.
Dumfries, who starred for Netherlands in Qatar, sees his contract come to an end next summer, and Inter are keen to recoup a fee for him in January rather than lose him for free in June.
With that in mind, the Nerazzurri are open to offers in January, and Chelsea hope Lukaku's willingness to continue his spell in Milan will aid their cause. Manchester United and Bayern Munich are also interested in the 26-year-old.
21.41 GMT: Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United have joined the race to sign Rangers teen sensation Jack Wylie, according to Football Insider.
Wylie, 15, has impressed in performances for both Rangers' youth sides and Scotland's U16s, and is attracting interest from a host of top clubs.
Manchester United, Arsenal and Leeds United have all also registered their interest ahead of the January transfer window. Wylie is unable to sign professional forms at Rangers until he's 16 next August, which means any of his English suitors could lure him from Ibrox when the window opens.
21.33 GMT: Galatasaray are the only club to have made a concrete bid for Dutch international Memphis Depay, according to Sport.
Depay returns to training at Barcelona next week after the World Cup looking to discuss his options beyond the end of the season.
He will meet with Barca boss Xavi Hernandez ahead of the January transfer window. His contract ends in June next year and Barca would rather recoup a fee for him in January than lose him for free in the summer. However, Galatasaray are the only club to so far back their interest with a bid.
20.44 GMT: Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot has been offered to Barcelona at the end of the season, according to Sport.
The France midfielder was a target for the Catalan club back in 2019, but he moved to Juventus as a free agent instead.
Rabiot's contract at Juventus finishes at the end of the season, and the 27-year-old would welcome a switch to Spain. The move would also suit Barca's budget.
20.22 GMT: Manchester United's pursuit of PSV Eindhoven star Cody Gakpo has hit a snag, with Real Madrid joining Newcastle United in the race for the 23 year old.
That's according to the Mirror, who believe that Madrid are also interested in the Netherlands international, who scored three goals in his country's march to the quarterfinals.
Gakpo has scored 16 goals for club and country in total this season. Manchester United were close to signing Gakpo last summer, but with Madrid now interested it appears they might miss the boat on their attacking target.
20.01 GMT: Bayern Munich are preparing to make a move for Moroccan World Cup hero Yassine Bounou, according to Estadio Deportivo.
The 31-year-old goalkeeper kept three clean sheets on Morocco's run to the World Cup semi-finals, and saved three penalties to help knock out Spain in the last 16.
Sevilla are willing to listen to offers over £26m for clubs interested in signing 'Bono', who is contracted to the club until 2025. Bayern are looking for reinforcements following Manuel Neuer's long-term injury. Aston Villa are also rumoured to be interested.
19.36 GMT: Nottingham Forest have seen their bid for Salernitana midfielder Lassana Coulibaly rejected, according to the Sun.
Forest offered £7m to sign the 26-year-old Mali international, but the Italian side are holding out for £8.5m.
Coulibaly has impressed in Serie A this season, and Forest boss Steve Cooper has fresh funds to strengthen his squad in January, despite having already signed 23 new players during the summer.
18.40 GMT: Arsenal are also believed to have moved ahead of Barcelona in the race to sign Belgian international Youri Tielemans from Leicester City, according to Sport.
Tielemans, who is out of contract next summer, was a key target for Barca at the end of the season, but the Gunners may jump ahead of the queue by making an offer in January.
Mikel Arteta has been tracking Tielemans for some time and is believed to be readying a bid of £20m. That figure is half what Leicester City paid to sign the 25-year-old in 2019, but could represent a better option than losing him on a free transfer at the end of the campaign, if they fail to renew his contract.
17.51 GMT: Arsenal are in talks with Shakhtar Donetsk over winger Mykhaylo Mudryk, according to the Evening Standard.
The Gunners are making a wide forward a priority in January, and the board are prepared to back Mikel Arteta in the club's title push.
Arsenal have been tracking Mudryk for some time, but have not entered negotiations for the 21-year-old. Shakhtar officials value the Ukraine international at £85m, but could be prepared to soften their stance.
17.27 GMT: Chelsea are on the verge of signing striker David Datro Fofana from Molde, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Fofana, 19, has scored 21 goals and added seven assists this season and has been attracting interest from clubs around Europe.
Fofana will join the Blues in January, and the fee to sign the Ivory Coast international is believed to be in excess of €10m. Personal terms are yet to be agreed. The move comes following the news that striker Armando Broja will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL.
16.26 GMT: Chelsea are ready to make a move to sign Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic, says Corriere dello Sport.
Vlahovic, 22, only moved to Juve in January for €70m from Fiorentina, but Juventus' board of directors, president Andrea Agnelli and vice president Pavel Nedved resigned en masse last month following a preliminary investigation by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office into fraudulent accounting and alleged hidden payments to players.
The Serbia international, who has nine goals in 19 games this season, has been scouted by Manchester United and Arsenal, with a possible move coming in January.
15.36 GMT: Manager Erik ten Hag said the Glazer family's decision to explore a sale of Manchester United could be a good thing and that he has been reassured any change in ownership would not impact the "objectives, goals and culture" of the club.
United's U.S. owners last month began looking at options for the 20-times English champions, including new investment or a potential sale, 17 years after buying the club.
The club's fans have been clamouring for a change of ownership and the Glazers have been the target of intense criticism as the team, which has a record 13 Premier League titles, have gone five years without winning a trophy.
Ten Hag said he had not spoken with the owners but had instead discussed the plans with United CEO Richard Arnold.
"My information is that it will only be good things because there will be more investment possible, which is good," Ten Hag told reporters at United's training camp in Spain. "We spoke about the culture we want, we spoke about objectives, goals and the culture and he [Arnold] confirmed it won't change, it will be even better because more money will become available for this project."
15.06 GMT: Real Madrid have reached an agreement to sign Palmeiras forward Endrick in 2024, the club announced on Thursday.
Endrick -- who is 16 and will move to Madrid when he turns 18 in July 2024 -- is one of the most exciting young talents in Brazilian football.
Palmeiras said the terms of the deal would remain confidential, but sources told ESPN that the teenager will join for a transfer fee worth a total of €72m including variables and taxes.
"Real Madrid, Palmeiras, Endrick and his family have reached an agreement that allows the player to join Real Madrid when he reaches legal age in July 2024," Madrid said in a statement on their website. "Until then, Endrick will continue training with Palmeiras. The player will travel to Madrid in the upcoming days to visit our club's facilities."
14.17 GMT: Juventus have offered Brazilian right-back Danilo a two-year contract extension, Tuttosport reports.
Danilo's current deal expires in 2024 but the former Manchester City star is a key player for Juve, who want to reward him with a new deal at the end of this month.
The Brazil international, who featured three times at the World Cup in Qatar, had made 20 appearances for Juve in all competitions this season.
Meanwhile, Juventus have agreed a new deal with England U20 winger Samuel Iling-Junior, according to Sky Italia.
Iling-Junior's contract was due to expire next summer but the 19-year-old has agreed to extend until June 2027.
Although he has played only 43 minutes in three appearances since being promoted to the first team in August, he has convinced Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri of his potential, having joined from Chelsea in September 2020.
13.55 GMT: Chelsea are considering paying Ousmane Dembele's €50m release clause to steal him away from Barcelona next summer, according to Mundo Deportivo.
Dembele, who helped France reach the World Cup final on Wednesday, only signed a new two-year deal with Barca earlier this year but it included an affordable clause for any club keen on signing him.
Premier League side Chelsea were strongly linked with the winger before he renewed his deal at Camp Nou and could return to the scene at the end of the season as they look to rebuild the squad under new coach Graham Potter.
Dembele, 25, is enjoying his best spell at Barca since joining the club from Borussia Dortmund for €105 m in 2017. Barca coach Xavi Hernandez has made him a regular on the right side of the attack, despite competition from Raphinha and Ferran Torres, and he has responded with five goals and seven assists in 20 appearances this season.
His current deal expires in 2024, though, so Barca will have to sit down for renewal talks again soon or risk losing him in the future.
13.18 GMT: Barcelona and Memphis Depay could be set for a "tug-of-war" over the Dutch forward's future in January, according to Sport, with Galatasaray the only side currently willing to pay a fee to sign him.
Memphis, 28, is the sixth-choice forward at Barca and, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season, will be allowed to leave when the January transfer window opens.
However, while Barca want to bring in some cash for the ex-Lyon and Manchester United attacker, he wants to be allowed to leave as a free agent to enhance his salary at this next club.
Manchester United and Roma have been linked with a move for him, but Sport report that Turkish team Galatasaray are the only side that have so far been prepared to pay a fee to force a deal through.
Memphis, though, per the same report, is not seduced by the idea of moving to Galatasaray and will continue to push for Barca to allow him to leave for nothing.
12.30 GMT: Morocco stunned the world by reaching the semifinals at Qatar 2022 and a number of their players will now be transfer targets for big clubs in January.
Rob Dawson praises Morocco's performance at the World Cup after their 2-0 loss to France in the semifinals.
12.03 GMT: Real Madrid expect to take up the €10m option to make their loan deal for full-back Vinicius Tobias, 18, permanent next summer, Marca reports.
The Brazilian youngster has impressed for Madrid's reserve team Castilla since joining from Shakhtar Donetsk in April.
Madrid expect to send Vinicius on loan to a LaLiga club next season to gain first-team experience, according to the newspaper, although their plans could change if Castilla win promotion to the Second Division.
11.22 GMT: Fabrizio Romano reports that Chelsea are on the verge of signing Molde striker David Datro Fofana.
Fofana, 19, has scored 21 goals in 37 games and has a contract which expires in 2024. The Ivorian has attracted Chelsea's interest and the club look set to land him for around a €10m fee.
10.50 GMT: Real Madrid would be willing to let Eden Hazard leave in January, according to Marca.
Hazard, 31, has flopped at the Bernabeu -- with a series of injuries limiting his impact since joining for €100m from Chelsea in 2019 -- but still has 18 months left on his contract.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti has said Madrid's squad "won't change" in the January window, while also admitting that "if a player is unhappy, we could think about it."
Hazard, who has made just three appearances in LaLiga this season, scoring no goals, said before the World Cup that a January move was "impossible" with his family settled in Madrid, but admitted that he would accept a departure next summer.
10.04 GMT: Cristiano Ronaldo trained alone at Real Madrid's Valdebebas training ground on Wednesday, sources have told ESPN, as he prepares to take a decision on his future.
Ronaldo, who is without a club after leaving Manchester United last month, returned to Madrid after Portugal's exit at the World Cup in Qatar, where he made a second-half substitute appearance in their quarterfinal defeat to Morocco on Saturday.
Sources have told ESPN that Ronaldo asked for permission to train at Real Madrid City on Wednesday to maintain his fitness, a request that was welcomed by the club. He worked alone on a separate pitch, away from where Madrid's first-team squad were training with manager Carlo Ancelotti.
The relationship between the five-time Ballon d'Or winner and Madrid took a hit when he left in 2018, joining Juventus in a €100m deal, but has improved since then.
09.22 GMT: Argentina international Nicolas Otamendi has not made a decision regarding his future, according to his wife.
Otamendi has had a starring role with Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar and could be crowned world champion if the Albiceleste beat France in Sunday's final.
The Benfica centre-back becomes a free agent next summer but the Portuguese outfit is already looking to offer him a new deal to fend off competition.
"We don't know what the future will bring," Celeste Rey told Record. "But we are happy at Benfica now. He is here now [in Qatar] and wants to have a great World Cup but we are happy at Benfica.
Otamendi, 34, joined Benfica in September 2020 from Manchester City.
08.39 GMT: Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe is keen to keen to extend goalkeeper Loris Karius' short-term contract, which expires at the end of December, until the end of this season, sources have told ESPN's Mark Ogden.
Karius, 29, is attempting to relaunch his career in English football with Newcastle United more than four years after playing his last game for Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League final defeat against Real Madrid. The former Mainz goalkeeper was blamed for two mistakes during the 3-1 final defeat in Kyiv, but despite subsequent revelations that Karius had been concussed earlier in the game, manager Jurgen Klopp replaced him with Alisson weeks later and did not select him for the first-team again.
Having spent three seasons on loan away from Liverpool since the Madrid defeat -- two seasons at Besiktas and a year at Union Berlin -- Karius saw out the final year of his Anfield contract without a single appearance last season.
Karius, whose only appearance for Newcastle to date was in a friendly against Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, said his career is now moving forward again, despite accepting that he cannot escape memories of the Champions League final against Madrid.
"It made me go to another club," he said. "It was maybe a move that wouldn't have happened otherwise. I have said everything about this [the 2018 Champions League final]. For me it is tiring to keep talking about it, it's football and things happen.
"In my case there were a lot of unfortunate things, but I don't think about it anymore. Four years in football feels like eight or 12. I was out of the spotlight in Turkey and Germany, so I haven't been in England. But people know me in England.
"I am ready, I needed to train and needed time to adapt [at Newcastle] because I was training for three months alone. I am now really pleased with the training and know now I can do it in a match moving forward.
"It's been a great few months. Of course, I don't play yet, but how I've been training, how I was welcomed by the whole group makes me believe I can achieve more things here. That's my aim, to be here for a long project instead of a short one."
08.00 GMT: Manchester United are set to make an enquiry about the availability of Benfica striker Goncalo Ramos ahead of the January window although manager Erik ten Hag has been told it is not certain a striker will arrive next month, sources have told ESPN's Rob Dawson.
United are looking to add a forward in the January window following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. Ramos is among a number of players being followed including Cody Gakpo, Rafael Leao and Joao Felix, although there remains a view at Old Trafford that January is not the ideal time to bring in new players.
Sources have also told ESPN that there are significant budget constraints as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and a higher than expected outlay on transfers last summer. Ten Hag, however, believes the squad is short of firepower following Ronaldo's exit and would like the club to explore whatever options are available.
Taylor Twellman joins SportsCenter and makes quite the grand comparison between Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.
PAPER GOSSIP (by Adam Brown)
- The race to sign Lazio's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is heating up with Arsenal interested in landing him, according to Relevo. He has recently been linked with a move to Juventus, but it looks as though they will now be challenged by the Gunners, who are looking to add reinforcements in January. Milinkovic-Savic, 27, has maintained impressive form this season, having contributed to 10 goals in 14 Serie A matches.
- RB Leipzig are hopeful of reaching an agreement over a new contract with Dani Olmo, Ekrem Konur reports. The 24-year-old attacker was on the radar of Barcelona in the summer, and it is reported that the Bundesliga side are prepared to allow Olmo to leave if they cannot sign him to an extension by the end of the season.
- N'Golo Kante is being watched by Barcelona, reports Mundo Deportivo. The LaLiga side are keen to continue their trend of acquiring players on free transfers, and with the 31-year-old Chelsea midfielder yet to sign new terms at Stamford Bridge, he could be approached by the Blaugrana in January ahead of a potential pre-contract agreement. Real Sociedad's Martin Zubimendi also remains on their radar, as Barca continue to search for a future successor for Sergio Busquets.
- Juventus want to keep hold of Adrien Rabiot beyond the end of the season, but they are prepared to offload him in January if it looks unlikely he will agree to a new contract, writes Calciomercato. The 27-year-old France international has been in improved form this season and is reported to be enjoying his football with the Bianconeri, forcing a U-turn on previous plans to part ways with him last summer.
- Joao Felix is not a transfer target for Paris Saint-Germain, says Le10 Sport. The 23-year-old Atletico Madrid star has been strongly linked with an exit from the LaLiga side recently, but the latest indicates that it is unlikely he will end up at the Parc des Princes. A number of Premier League clubs are reported to be interested in his signature.