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LIVE Transfer Talk: Zidane wants Pogba

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LIVE Transfer Talk: Zidane wants Pogba

2:55 PM GMT

The winter window opened Jan. 2, and as always, Transfer Talk has its finger on the pulse when it comes to all the latest rumours and gossip. See the latest deals here.

TOP STORY: Zidane wants Pogba at Real Madrid

Success surrounds Paul Pogba. The French international is playing in his fourth season for Juventus and has won the Serie A title every year since he arrived at the club in 2012. He’s been a vital part of Juve’s recent domestic domination as well their route to the Champions League final last campaign.

However, how much longer the the 22-year-old will be in Turin is unknown. New Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane wants to bring the French midfielder to Madrid to be his first Galatico signing, according to AS.

Elsewhere, Mediaset Premium are reporting Manchester United are preparing a ¬40 million (£30m) summer offer for AC Milan’s despicably young keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The Italian doesn’t even turn 17 until the end of February, but has become Milan’s No. 1 this season and is attracting the attention of Europe’s top clubs while earning comparisons with Azzurri great Gianluigi Buffon.

LIVE BLOG:

14.53 GMT: Bayer Leverkusen officials are not overly concerned with recent statements from Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, which suggested that he could leave the club at the end of the season. Full story available here.

14.36 GMT: Ezequiel Lavezzi‘s agent has said the Paris Saint-Germain attacker is in talks with Chelsea but Inter Milan remain favourites for his signature. Read the full story here.

14.27 GMT: It looks like Celta forward Nolito could be on his way to the Nou Camp, perhaps…

14.11 GMT: Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has responded to transfer rumours surrounding his future:

“Nothing is for eternity in football. But I am under contract until 2020, that’s a fact,” Aubameyang said.

On offers during the winter, he added: “When you score a lot of goals for a big Bundesliga club, there are always rumours and enquiries, but I did not busy myself with it.”

Full story can be found here.

13.55 GMT: Kevin De Bruyne to Bayern Munich? Not now, but it could’ve happened if the German side stumped up the cash. Read the full story here.

13.33 GMT: He declined Leyton Orient, but will Kevin Nolan take up Eskisehirspor’s offer?

13.20 GMT: Decent strikers are hard to find, and it’s a wonder why no Premier League club is taking a punt on Luiz Adriano who is reportedly set for a ¬15m move to Chinese club Jiangsu Suning.

The striker — who is currently at Milan — has admittedly only scored five times in 20 games for the Serie A outfit, but his 0.48 goals-per-game ratio at previous club Shakhtar Donetsk is definitely proof he knows where the net is.

Read the full story here.

13.08 GMT: Saint-Etienne have completed the signing of Dutch under-21 winger Oussama Tannane.

The 21-year-old scored nine goals in 13 matches for Heracles this season and has left the Netherlands to sign a four and a half year contract with les Verts. L’Equipe says the transfer fee was around ¬2 million.

12.50 GMT: Stabaek attacking midfielder Yassine el-Ghanassy has returned to his homeland by signing for high-flying Belgian club KV Oostende.

The former Gent player, 25, who was capped twice by Belgium in 2011, was also wanted by French clubs Saint-Etienne and Reims. He has signed a two-year contract with Oostende, who are currently fourth in the Belgian Pro League only five points off the top.

12.37 GMT: Bayern Munich sporting executive Matthias Sammer on Mario Gotze to Liverpool speculation: “I said a winter transfer is nonsense, he discussed the summer, and maybe tried to tell us that we have to talk about the plans in the spring. That’s a logical consequence.”

12.26 GMT: Newcastle target Bas Dost has been ruled out for a minimum of six weeks in training, reducing the possibility of the Woflsburg striker getting a transfer to the Premier League or elsewhere. Read the full story here.

12.13 GMT: Tottenham Hotspur’s Connor Ogilvie has extended his loan stay at Stevenage Borough for another month.

12.02 GMT: L’Equipe says Leroy Sane will quit Schalke for Barcelona in the summer. They say Barcelona will pay Sane’s release clause of over 37 million and that his agents have already worked out the details on a six-year contract with the European champions.

11.46 GMT: Benik Afobe‘s recently left Wolves for Bournemouth, and a source has told ESPN FC that the south coast club are also interested in pinching an old teammate of his, Danny Batth.

11.38 GMT: According to ITV, Athletic Bilbao striker Kike Sola is set to stay at Middlesbrough on loan for the rest of the season.

11.26 GMT: Former Arsenal and Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant revealed that a deal to play for Tampines Rovers in the S.League is likely to be announced in the next 24 hours following a successful week long trial at the Singapore club. Read the full story here.

11.18 GMT: West Bromwich Albion have made an offer of ¬10 million for Angers central midfielder Cheikh Ndoye but the French club hope to hold on to him until the end of the season, according to L’Equipe. However, Sunderland are expected to enter the race with a bigger offer for the Angers captain.

11.05 GMT: Turning to the managerial market, Rudi Garcia‘s been sacked as manager of Roma.

10.52 GMT: Despite recent difficulties, it’s being reported that Arsenal target Mohamed Elneny is currently in London to seal his move to the Premier League side. And, if you still need convincing that the deal is to go ahead, Basel have already found their replacement…

10.36 GMT: The father of Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez says his son is happy where he is at the moment despite links with Manchester United. Read the full story here.

10.22 GMT: Bordeaux want to use some of the money they received from the sale of Henri Saivet to Newcastle in order to buy Red Star Belgrade centre back Vukasin Jovanovic. Bordeaux manager says the 19-year-old has “almost exceptional maturity” for his age and wants to join.

But he says the Serbian club do not necessarily need the reported ¬2.5 million on offer after selling Marko Grujic to Liverpool.

10.11 GMT: Bild reports Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has ruled out selling any key players in the winter window, adding that the club want to prolong those who are only under contract until 2017.

He has “totally ruled out” sales of Mats Hummels, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Ilkay Gundogan all at once. With regards to possible incoming players, he says that it should not be a player “riding into the sunset” but one who can immediately help BVB.

09.56 GMT: Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti‘s agent says his client is more likely to join Carlo Ancelotti at Bayern Munich than move to Spain, although the player is unlikely to leave France in the near future. Story here.

09.45 GMT: AS says Zinedine Zidane wants Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba to be his first Galactico signing at Real Madrid, although they face serious competition from Barcelona. ESPN FC’s Julien Laurens has tipped Pogba for big things in 2016 — read that one here.

09.38 GMT: The Daily Star is reporting that Manchester United are pursuing Valencia midfielder Andre Gomes after their move for Atletico Madrid’s Saul Niguez was blocked. The 22-year-old Portugal midfielder is also attracting interest from Napoli and Juventus.

09.18 GMT: Andriy Yarmolenko is a star in Ukrainian football and has Premier League suitors. So why is he staying at Dynamo Kiev? Michael Yokhin explains here.

08.59 GMT: Bayern Munich would love to sign Gonzalo Higuain but Napoli are not willing to sell, club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said at an event in Italy. Story here.

08.47 GMT: Sky Sports News reports that Basel midfielder Mohamed Elneny is in London to complete his move to Arsenal and could be available to make his debut against Stoke at the weekend.

08.41 GMT: Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs says Nicklas Bendtner is still in the club’s plans, despite the former Arsenal striker making it pretty clear he isn’t happy.

“I have received no offers, we don’t want to sell any player, and Nicklas does not have the desire to leave us,” Allofs told kicker.

08.28 GMT: Ciro Immobile is set to return to Torino after a disappointing spell with Sevilla. Story here.

07.47 GMT: Paris Saint-Germain are keeping an eye on Partizan Belgrade winger Andrija Zivkovic, according to L’Equipe. Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool and Manchester City are also said to be interested in a player who won the Under-20 World Cup with Serbia last summer.

07.19 GMT: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is not ruling out a return to Ajax once his Schalke contract ends in 2017 but added in Bild: “I am not interested in a Qatar or China move, no matter what they pay!”

07.07 GMT: Inter Milan could be ready to make a number of moves in January to bolster their squad ahead as the Serie A title race has tightened considerably in the last month. As such, it sounds like the injury-plagued Nemanja Vidic experiment in Milan could be coming to a close, with the Serbian requesting a move and Inter looking likely to grant it.

06.51 GMT: Alessandro Diamanti has found minutes hard to come by with Watford in the Premier League. Now, according to Gazzetta World, the Italian could be heading back to Serie A and Atalanta on a deal that would run until June, 2016. The move is contingent on approval from Diamanti’s parent club Guangzhou Evergrande.

06.23 GMT: Good morning transfer fans and welcome to our latest edition of the ESPN FC winter window live blog.

We kick things off in Bavaria today, where Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has told reporters that he doubts Napoli would be willing to part with prospective target Gonzalo Higuain. The Argentine is part of a Napoli squad that moved into first place in Serie A over the weekend and Rummenigge said: “Clearly Higuain is a player we like, he is doing very well and I think he’ll be happy with that. Despite that, I doubt my friend Aurelio De Laurentiis [Napoli president] will sell.”

PAPER ROUND

Berahino off to the Bridge?

Chelsea interim boss Guus Hiddink admits he is short of options up front, though Wednesday’s match against West Brom offers the Premier League champions the perfect chance to scout a potential new recruit: Saido Berahino. The Express reports that the Blues are considering a January move to beat London rivals Tottenham to the 22-year-old’s signature, though Hiddink said of any winter business: “I am thinking. And it’s not good talk when you are thinking in this case because, why shall we go public?” What a clever sausage.

Meanwhile, The Sun suggests that Chelsea have offered Branislav Ivanovic a one-year contract extension after the 31-year-old defender recovered from an appalling start to the season, with the Serbian likely to accept.

Townsend may be stuck in limbo

Daniel Levy rightly has a reputation as a tough negotiator, and the Mirror reports that the Spurs chairman is standing firm over his £14m valuation of Andros Townsend — heavily linked as part of a switch deal with West Brom involving Berahino — and is “currently refusing to sanction a January loan move” despite the England winger not featuring in Mauricio Pochettino’s first-team plans.

However, Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores looks to be trying to tease down that figure by saying of Townsend: “He has the characteristics we are looking for.” The Express reports that the Hornets will also try to sign ex-White Hart Lane striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who is currently available as a free agent.

To fill any potential gap left by Townsend, Pochettino has called on Dele Alli — who signed a new long-term Spurs deal on Tuesday — to become a player of “big, big value [like Paul Pogba].” No pressure there…

Chicharito non-committal over future

Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez offered a guarded response when asked about his Bayer Leverkusen future on Tuesday. Hernandez, 27, joined from Manchester United during the final days of the 2015 summer window for a reported transfer fee of ¬12 million, and has hit 19 goals in 22 games while also boosting the club’s profile on the North American market.

But of his Leverkusen future, the Mexico international told reporters at Leverkusen’s winter training camp in Orlando: “You can never know what happens.”

The striker also twisted the knife into former club United as he declared his pride when Old Trafford fans tell him Louis van Gaal shouldn’t have sold him, with the Mirror quoting him as saying: “When I hear people think I could have stayed there to play longer, I’m glad. I had four great years in Manchester, I was champion twice.”

Mignolet set for Anfield stay

Question marks have been raised over Simon Mignolet’s long-term future at Liverpool following a fair few blunders this season, but coach Jurgen Klopp seems fairly convinced of the keeper’s talents. The Express reports that the Belgian international has agreed a fresh five-and-a-half-year deal until 2021 at Anfield, and is expected to put pen to paper shortly.

That’s despite Liverpool recalling Danny Ward from his Aberdeen loan spell six months early, but that could simply be because he no longer trusts Adam Bogdan as a reliable backup to Mignolet.

Meanwhile, Klopp has boosted an injury-hit defence by signing QPR centre-back Steven Caulker on loan for the rest of the season after the 24-year-old’s previous spell at Southampton was cancelled. First up for Caulker? Arsenal at Anfield on Wednesday…

MLS movement

The saga surrounding the Colorado Rapids’ pursuit of forward Alan Pulido is inching closer towards a satisfactory conclusion for the MLS club. The Rapids are lining up a one-year loan for the Mexico international, sources have told ESPN FC, but some hurdles remain. Rapids general manager Paul Bravo was in Greece last week to wrap up the deal. Pulido has given his blessing to the move with final negotiations between player and club set to take place in the U.S. But there are issues regarding the status of Pulido’s International Transfer Certificate.

Further south, the LA Galaxy have signed defender Robbie Rogers, forward Jose Villarreal, and midfielder Rafael Garcia to new contracts. The LA-born trio lifted the MLS Cup with the Galaxy in 2014.

Chicago Fire general manager Nelson Rodriguez says his club have agreed terms with a “European centre-back” but face competition from Champions League teams for a second European defender, while United States international Jordan Morris is edging closer to a potential professional contract in Germany. The 21-year-old attacker is currently on trial with Bundesliga side Werder Bremen, and club CEO Thomas Eichin said: “He could be a creative transfer.”

TAP-INS

– Ben Chilwell has reportedly attracted interest from the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool having made the step up at Leicester City, and the Mail claims that the Foxes are ready to offer the 19-year-old left-back a 1000 percent pay rise from his current £800-a-week deal to around £8,000-a-week.

– The Mirror reports that Everton midfielder Steven Naismith will play the waiting game and snub a January switch to Norwich City, instead waiting to see what offers he can get in the summer. Meanwhile, Marca suggests that the Toffees will join Newcastle in the race for Espanyol’s 27-year-old Ecuadorian attacker Felipe Caicedo.

– Bournemouth will attempt to “hijack” West Brom’s £8m move for QPR winger Matt Phillips, according to The Sun.

– Tony Pulis has thrown down the gauntlet to West Brom’s soon-to-be out-of-contract players to earn new deals to give the club an incentive to re-sign them, with James Morrison, Gareth McAuley, Stephane Sessegnon, Jonas Olsson and Victor Anichebe all currently facing a summer exit from The Hawthorns.

– Sunderland may revive a £5m move for Lorient defender Lamine Kone after the original offer for the 26-year-old broke down, according to the Chronicle.

– Stoke boss Mark Hughes has dismissed claims that forward Marko Arnautovic has asked for a new £100,000-a-week deal, saying of the reports: “I think figures get bandied about, and people are taking a stab in the dark. They haven’t got the details of the contract — and why would they?”

– The Evening Standard reports that Nikica Jelavic could leave West Ham this month for Chinese Super League club Guangzhou Evergrande, with the Hammers set to use the freed-up funds to move for Leeds right-back Sam Byram and Juventus striker Simone Zaza.

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