SOUND THE ‘NO DIS-RESPECT BUT’ CAVEAT KLAXON!

No dis-respect to Leyton Orient I can’t bear to end on that note, so here’s confirmation of Kyle Naughton’s undisclosed (£5m) transfer from Tottenham to Spurs.

“I’m sad to be leaving Spurs because it’s a great club. I was there quite a while and the lads are a great bunch. But now I just want to settle into life at Swansea and try to play regularly. It all comes down to playing football – after all, that’s my job.’’

It sure is Kyle!

Hold the front page! DONE DEAL!

If Pulis doesn’t prize Wigan diamond Callum McManaman from the steely grip of Malky Mackay/Dave Whelan, he can always fall back on QPR’s Matt Phillips, who isn’t getting a look in down at Loftus Road. Goal.com understands that Phillips would cost West Brom significantly less than the £5m QPR paid Blackpool for him back in 2013.

Guess who wants to sign another 16-year-old? Yep, that’s right, Real Madrid.

Milan’s Hachim Mastour, one of Europe’s best known is apparently being tracked by the La Liga giants, according to Cope Deportes.

If you don’t know all about Mastour, read Marcus Christenson’s profile on the talented little brat, written in May last year.

He also scored this quite prepostorous goal back in October.

DONE DEAL!

In today’s most pathetic news, it seems someone at Real Madrid has convinced Martin Odegaard to delete a couple of tweets praising Lionel Messi. I wish the person bullying me when I was 16 was REAL MADRID CF.

VERY IMPORTANT FOOTBALL NEWS:

Ukrainian footballer banned after using mobile phone during friendly

Today’s Fiver has just dropped:

The Fiver neither knows nor cares what you were doing when you were 16 years old. Chances are, if you were anything like the Fiver at 16, you were drinking yellow-pack rot gut in a bush then furiously chewing gum so that when you walked in the door at 10.30pm, Mr and Mrs Fiver thought you had spent the night playing pool against yourself at the local arcade rather than drinking yellow-pack rot gut in a bush. (They knew, by the way. Oh they knew.)

And chances are, if you are now spending your time reading this, then you were probably not doing what 16-year-old Martin Odegaard was doing today and that is putting pen to paper for a deal to sign with Real Madrid for a reported £3m with a reported £80,000 landing in his Credit Union account each week. Yes, you read that right. A 16-year-old is signing for Real Madrid for £3m and £80,000 is going to land in his Credit Union account each week. Makes you sick to your back teeth doesn’t it?

Read the rest of it right here.

“The existence of NorthEast United (soon to be ex-owners of Joan Capdevila) has really brightened my day,’ writes Matthew Taylor. “I like to think they are an Indian version of Newcastle Utd in an early-2000s style Pro Evo Soccer tribute. I dearly hope they play in black and white stripes, and have regular fixtures against Merseyside Reds.”

EASILY THE BEST TRANSFER OF THE DAY. I’ve half a mind to change the header and main picture.

Eagle-eyed John Chapman has noticed that…

“Lierse - bottom of the Belgian first division - have taken Joan Capdevila (36) on loan from Indian league side NorthEast United. Spain went on to win the World Cup with Villarreal’s Capedevila the only player not from Real Madrid or Barcelona.”

Here’s the Spaniard. And correct me if I’m wrong, he’s shaking hands with the former Everton and Fulham man Tomasz Radzinski!!!

Liverpool fans will have been pleased that Raheem Sterling’s name hasn’t graced this transfer blog thus far … and they’ll be even happier to learn that he’s on the verge of signing a new contract. Brendan Rodgers has been talking the talk.

Obviously the club are speaking with his representatives on it. I would think that will be concluded very imminently. You can see he’s very happy, it’s nothing to do with Raheem - he wants to be here. Hopefully we’ll get a solution on that very soon.

How old do you think Andy Johnson is? 33! Just 33!

He’s still got it. Or so thinks Luton Town’s manager John Still, following the THIRTY-THREE-YEAR–OLD’S release from Crystal Palace earlier this month.

“Having spoken he’s still in a situation where he’s not 100 per cent sure what he wants to do. By and large if he plays, he’ll play here. What I don’t want to do, I don’t want to badger Andrew,” badgered Still.

“People might think he’s got an injury, he’s got no problems at all. It’s whether he wants to continue playing.”

WE HAVE A WINNER!

And give yourself another pat on the back for the red card trivia. Beating Twitter’s Liam Barry by just 23 seconds.

BONUS TRIVIA ROUND

Babayaro was named after Pope Celestine V and, I’m sad to say, he was declared bankrupt in 2011.

Nasty Sneaky Leeds have circumvented their transfer embargo to sign Palermo pair Sol Bamba and Granddi Ngoyi, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post, with a permanent deal possible in the summer.

Your quiz answers are coming in thick and fast … and they’re all wrong. Although I like the last answer.

“Is that Joel Campbell?” asks Mathieu Grodwohl.

“Josh McEachran? Currently warming the bench at Cobham East I believe,” believes Laurence Makins.

Hull City have enquired over the availability of Aaron Lennon, according to the Hull Daily Mail. Tottenham have been told he is very, very available, with the London club keen to get the 27-year-old off their books this month. Hull, it seems, would prefer to sign him on loan with a view to a permanent deal in the summer, similar to the deals they struck with Spurs for Jake Livermore and Tom Huddlestone.

TRIVIA!

If Martin Odegaard plays for Real Madrid against Schalke next month, he will become the youngest ever player to play in the Champions League.

QUIZ! FASTEST FINGER FIRST.

Whose record would Odegaard break? Email and tweet in your answers, please. And you’re not allowed to just Google it.

Clue: Player in question later went on to play in the Premier League for two different clubs.

Another Albion, Brighton and Hove, will complete a deal to bring Celtic’s Beram Kayal to the south coast tomorrow, according to The Argus. The 26-year-old only needs to cough for Brighton’s club doctor, after agreeing personal terms.

The Calum McManaman-to-West Bromwich Albion story has been doing the rounds for a few days now, but Tony Pulis has an update on the deal (via PA).

It is going on along with two or three others. We are exploring the situation to see if we can bring him in. We need to decide if it’s a good deal for us or not and it has to be right for everyone. The clubs have to agree but it’s got to be right for the player as well.

One of the club’s goalkeepers, Sebastian Blanco, is on the brink of moving to San Lorenzo whilst Georgios Samaras is set to join Al-Hilal on loan.

“I’ll be hoping to bring players in and the club is hoping we can bring players in so we will be working very hard over the next 10 days. The chairman will ask me if it’s value for money or not but I don’t get involved in the wages.”

Albion may also offload record signing Brown Ideye with the £10m man struggling in the Premier League. He has scored just one league goal and only two in 15 appearances since joining from Dynamo Kiev in the summer.

“At this present moment Brownie is still here,” said Pulis. “If he’s still here when the window closes that’s fine because he’s been very good behind the scenes. He’s trained well, his attitude has been first class. He’s not without talent. The problem is we’ve needed him to score a goal and he hasn’t scored a goal.”

Now that the Nainggolan deal appears to be dead, let’s throw another big story into the mix.

Tottenham are preparing a £20m+ bid for Everton’s James McCarthy, and are willing to throw in a squad player, possibly captain Younes Kaboul or Aaron Lennon, to sweeten the deal, according to Goal.com. If I was Bill Kenwright, which I’m not, I would bite Tottenham’s hand off.

Ah nuts. Just when we were getting a bit excited.

This is by no means a transfer story, but it’s an extraordinary story, written by Dominic Bliss, that requires your attention.

The story of Ernö Erbstein, who survived Hungary’s Holocaust to take Serie A by storm with Torino.

The Guardian’s Paul Wilson attended Manchester United’s press conference today and has procured a couple more lines from Louis van Gaal on the future of Darren Fletcher.

Darren Fletcher is the only player in my selection who has already won the FA Cup. He is also my captain - one of the three. That is what I can tell you. I am not sure if he will leave but he might be the subject of offers because it is the transfer month.

Some very juicy news from the continent.

Jurgen Klopp has decided that Roma’s mohawked enforcer Radja Nainggolan is the man to drag his Dortmund team out of their domestic mire. The Belgian has been excellent this season and is currently negotiating his contract at Roma – which is set to rise from €1.8m a year to €2.5m – but Dortmund have steamed in with a €3m-a-year offer, plus a €26m transfer fee which would be divided down the middle with Roma and Cagliari, who both own the player’s rights.

How Nainggolan wasn’t in Belgium’s World Cup squad, I’ll never know.

Whilst we’re on Newcastle, Goal.com are reporting that the north-east club are about to bid for MK Dons’ Delli Alli. Bad news for the Dons that, especially as they lost the on-loan Benik Afobe about a week ago after his parent club, Arsenal, sold the striker to Wolves.

Word on the street is Newcastle want to give Steve McClaren the keys to the castle, but they will have to persist with John Carver until the summer, as the former England manager wants to see out the current campaign with Derby.

Incidentally, the Newcastle-based Chronicle seem convinced that Bernd Schuster isn’t going to be offered the job. Christophe Galtier of St Etienne, plus free agents Remi Garde and Thomas Tuchel are also said to be in the running. Doesn’t feel like we’re going to get a decision anytime soon.

DONE DEAL!

I can’t quite believe Marcus didn’t flag this one up, but Sweden international Isaac Kiese Thelin has signed for Bordeaux from Malmo. The striker has signed a deal until 2019.

Richard Graveling has got in touch with this heart-warming tale of alcohol and hangovers.

“It’s the heady summer of 1993 and myself and two friends are holidaying in Albufiera, Portugal. One night as we stroll along the strip we are touted into your average slightly dodgy bar and, lo and behold, there’s Roy Keane with a bottle of Becks in each hand.

Now Roy is big news in June 1993 because he’s deciding which of Blackburn, Arsenal or Manchester United should be the lucky recipient of his undoubted footballing talents for the upcoming season. Being young shavers we head over and are soon enjoying a cracking conversation about his football past present and future. “Norwich City fans, eh?” he chuckled with a glint in his eye. “I love playing at Norwich. Always score there!”

We decided to forgive him this once, and after a few more comradely beers moved on to pastures new, revelling in our new-found status of Official Friends of Roy Keane.

The following night we pass the same bar and decide to see if Roy is at home. Sure enough, there he is with a Becks in each hand. We greet him like the lifetime buddy he has become and pick up the conversation where it left off, like all good friends do, eventually raising once again his prolific scoring record at Fortress Carrow.

“Norwich City fans, eh?” he chuckled with a glint in his eye. “Strange, I was talking to some lads from Norwich last night!””

Following the rumours that Darren Fletcher might be headed for the Manchester United exit door – with alleged interest from West Ham, West Brom and Valencia – Louis van Gaal has said two sentences: one which is a straightforward fact, and the other that implies he’s going nowhere.

He is a Manchester United player. He is one of my three captains.

Want to hear Arsene Wenger’s dulcet tones? You’re welcome.

Maybe it’s just me – and this opinion is formed off nothing but a couple of YouTube videos – but Odegaard’s playing style feels very suited to Barcelona, rather than Real. Would have been interesting to see if the Catalan club were interested if weren’t under a transfer embargo. But they are, so we’ll never know.

Hi again! The answer to Marcus’s question a couple of posts ago is … Odegaard! So here’s a few choice quotes from the big man small boy at Real Madrid..

“Real Madrid has the best options, both from a sports point of a view and also from outside. And the best conditions. It’s a dream come true, it’s unbelievable and it’s incredible that I am ready for the best club in the world. It’s an honour.

“I describe myself as a player who likes to have the ball, I like to touch it and keep it. If Ancelotti wants to use me for the 1st team I’ll be really happy and if he doesn’t I’ll play for Castilla and I’ll be happy”

And have a gold star for loyalty, Martin…

“Do I prefer Messi or Ronaldo? So far Ronaldo. Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world. Gareth Bale and Isco are amazing players.”

(That is of course Emilio Butragueño, Real Madrid’s director of Institutional Relations, whatever that means)

And with that I am handing over back to Michael, who’s had a six-minute lunch break

So who are people more interesting in at the moment … future Fifa president David Ginola or Martin Ødegaard?

Well I never … I thought a Swede invinted the cheese slicer

I wonder what Martin Odegaard said to them … ‘You’re smiling now ‘Serge’ but wait until I nutmeg you in training…’

Hopefully not.

More from the busy Ed Aarons.

More things Norwegian. At first I wasn’t sure whether this was good or bad but having watched again I’ve decided that this is BRILLIANT. Tore André Flo? Tick. Norwegian Strictly Come Dancing? Tick. Old Norway kit? Tick. Sliding tackle...? Tick. Wow

So with Martin Ødegaard set to be unveiled by Real Madrid why don’t we take a pause and consider all things Norwegian (good or bad). Here is an obvious place to start (good). Blow them away Morten …

Over in Spain, there are reports that Real Madrid may be willing to offload Asier Illarramendi to Athletic Bilbao. They are unlikely to get the €32.2m they signed him for if we put it that way…

Afternoon everyone. News from Italy: Inter just won’t give up on Liverpool’s Lucas Leiva. Roberto Mancini, who is now resigned to not signing Mario Suárez from Atlético Madrid, is going to renew his efforts to sign the Brazilian midfielder. La Gazzetta dello Sport say that Inter need to pay €10m for Lucas but I doubt Brendan Rodgers would let him go for that considering his recent fine form.

I’m off for some lunch, leaving you in the very capable hands of Marcus Christenson. Ta ra.

“What I am worried about is is that the transfer window closes in the next 10 days and ‘Arry hasn’t rolled down his car window yet,” writes Rohit Dixit. “Has he already signed all the players that he has previously worked with?”

He hasn’t worked with Michael Essien yet, although he’s trying to. What a Redknapp sort-of signing this would be. Mike isn’t playing ball though.

Meanwhile, Jonah Wildwood gets us in the mood for lunchtime.

“I was making my way back to England after spending a fortnight on the Costa del Sol and was surprised to find the entire Barnsley football team (circa summer 2009) on the same budget flight as me. I should mention that throughout this ordeal the plane was without air conditioning. The heat was sweltering and I had the kind of pounding hangover where the urge to vomit had to be suppressed constantly.

There followed a 3 hour wait for an engineer to come out and fix the problem followed by a further 1 hour delay waiting for an available take off slot. Eventually some 7 hours after boarding the plane, we landed at Leeds/Bradford and I had a risky Burger King having not eaten since the night before. This proved to be a mistake. I made a dash for the exit and spewed my guts out into the nearest grate. Once finished, I looked up to see the large frame of the lumpen-headed Darren Moore directly in front of me. Neither of us said anything and I skulked off to get on a bus.”

This is exactly the kind of plastic-furniture-based anecdote we were after. All hail Patrick Smith.

“Back in the mid - late 80s I was on holiday with my parents and brother in Tobago for a week and the whole Stoke City team were there on summer holidays too. At the time it was hard to watch soccer on TV in the US and the only player I recognized was Mick Mills. Such a fun bunch - they thoughtfully put all of the pool chairs and beds etc into the swimming pool and caused a big commotion getting drunk. England captain and ambassador as well.”

The Metro are reporting that the Norwegian has reportedly been handed an eye-watering £80,000-a-week. We’ve have some quotes from his press conference soon.

Our resident Crystal Palace know-it-all has spoken.

For those of you that need a catch up, Palace have already made a bid of around £3.5m for the Benin striker, who has scored 12 goals in 23 Championship appearances this season, but Blackburn are thought to want closer to £6m.

Hull City and West Bromwich Albion have made enquiries, while QPR - who had initially been resigned to operating purely in the loan market this month - are ready to offer £2m plus their under-used former Blackpool winger, Matt Phillips, in part-exchange for the forward.

This could be a pretty desperate month for Blackburn, with their other striker, Jordan Rhodes, the favourite to replace Wilfried Bony at Swansea. There are reports that the Welsh club have opened talks for the Scot…

Chelsea fan Mayur Kamath has got in touch from Mumbai, India.

“Only makes sense if Chelsea are selling both Schürrle and Salah for a combined fee of somewhere between 35-40 million pounds and sign Cuadrado for 25-26 million pounds.

We have many players in that position who’re on loan, but none good enough to fill the spot of that 4th attacking player. José needs 5 such attacking players in his squad, and my sense is that if Cuadrado signs, then probably Thorgan Hazard / Lewis Baker might be that 5th player next season.”

This is the story that we touched on a few posts ago (Real Madrid closing in on signing of Cruzeiro’s Lucas Silva for €15m), but if you fancy seeing a photograph of the young Brazilian in question, click here.

Sheffield Wednesday are well keen on Will Keane. The Daily Mail is reporting that the Manchester United forward will sign on loan for the rest of the season in the next 24 hours.

“Karren Brady is married to Paul Peschisolido?”, writes a startled Matt Dony. “How have I missed that piece of information? Seeing’s how nothing interesting seems to be happening, I’m going to go and watch Seaman’s save from Peschisolido’s header a few times. I mean, I do hate Arsenal and all that, but I never tire of watching that save.”

Let’s all watch it, shall we?

Here is some pretty interesting spiel from PA, regarding Real Madrid and a Brazilian.

Real Madrid have won the race to sign Brazilian midfielder Lucas Silva from Cruzeiro, according to reports in the Spanish press.

Spanish sports newspaper Marca claimed on Thursday that Real have reached an agreement with Cruzeiro to sign the Brazilian starlet for a reported £15m.

Silva, 21, will pen a six-and-a-half year contract with the Merengue and will be unveiled next week.

The South American player had been linked to Real since August, with the Madrid outfit looking for a replacement for Xabi Alonso, who joined Bayern Munich last summer.

Silva has been linked with a host of Premier League sides - including Arsenal - during the last few months, but the player revealed he is keen on a move to the Spanish capital.

No interest? Really? Apparently the striker has gone AWOL from Internazionale, and has decided that going on a jolly to Madrid with friends is a better idea than turning up to training. Still, whadddyathink Harry?

Not one for January, but would anyone take a chance on Abou Diaby in the summer? The glassman Frenchman is out of contract in the summer. This morning Wenger had this to say.

At the moment he is not in a position where he will be able to play soon because he is not on the field at all. If he comes back, I will keep him. I will have a decision to make about his contract.

And whilst we’re on the subject of club suits, Hamilton’s vice-chairman Ronnie MacDonald (yep you read that right) has kicked off at West Ham, labelling them “shambolic” after the London club scrapped a tasty £2m deal for full-back Stephen Hendrie.

Apparently, the 20-year-old was all set to move to the Hammers and could have also moved to Crystal Palace before Neil Warnock got the sack.

We had agreed terms with Crystal Palace for Stephen to go there but Neil Warnock lost his job so that fell away.

Prior to that West Ham had expressed an interest so we opened dialogue with them. They made an offer which was acceptable. The fee was agreed, Stephen agreed personal terms and they were meant to come up to our place on New Year’s Day to sign off the deal and didn’t appear.

They then said they would ring up on the 4th but didn’t so I cancelled it.

I’m getting calls from London saying they want to resurrect it but as far as I’m concerned it’s off. West Ham are shambolic and if that’s how they carry on their business that’s up to them.

Ouch.

Regarding the last Sampdoria post, can we also give it up for the man on the right Sampdoria’s owner and president, Massimo Ferrero, conducting his biz on the phone. What a guy…

In stark contrast, Bradford’s joint chairman Mark Lawn has just appeared on Sky Sports News (to discuss their FA Cup fourth-round clash with Chelsea on Saturday).

DONE DEAL!

Sampdoria have officially confirmed the signings of Andrea Coda and Luis Muriel from Udinese. My Italian isn’t the best, but from what I understand, Muriel has signed a deal until 2019 and Coda, a defender, has penned a deal to 2017.

Muriel is a promising striker, but he hasn’t been in great form of late, and hasn’t scored in the league since February! Regardless, will be interesting to see what his arrival means for the future of Everton’s Samuel Eto’o …

DONE DEAL!

The 29-year-old is a former Slovenian Under 21 international and after training with the club for the past few weeks, he’s joined on a short-term deal until the end of the season.

Steve Clarke said, “Jure is an experienced player who has shown enough in training to suggest that he can help the squad between now and the end of the season. Due to contractual difficulties at his previous club he didn’t play as often as he would have liked and, after a protracted transfer, he now has a chance to show us if he can earn an extended deal here at Reading FC.”

Mike MacKenzie has emailed in regarding Martin Odegaard, who has been confirmed as Real Madrid’s new man.

“If I was Odegaard I’d have chosen another club and not just because I don’t like RM. RM doesn’t have a very good record of bringing young talent through; other than Casillas who has come from their academy? Far better had Odegaard gone to a lesser team known for developing players.”

It’s true, Real’s record ain’t great, although off the top of my head, Álvaro Morata (now at Juve), Jesé and Nacho have all been given notable first-team action. That said, it would not be wholly surprising if Odegaard never actually got a chance. I know Ajax were another club that wanted to sign him – perhaps that would have been a more sensible move, especially with Dennis Bergkamp there.

Oi! Chelsea fans! How do you feel about Cuadrado? With Willian there, is he even needed?

If you transfer (geddit?) £11.99 into West Brom’s pockets, you too can look like Tony Pulis!

One of the many faces to have graced Sky Sports News this morning is Karren Brady’s husband Paul Peschisolido. The Canadian may have a more interesting name and accent than Alan Curbishley, but you can’t help but think SSN are scraping the barrel a little bit there: Paul last worked in the game in 2012 when he was sacked as Burton Albion manager. Still Paul, what do you think of Juan Cuadrado?!

Here’s an interview Richard Williams did with the former Derby and Fulham man, back in the 2011 day.

Polite notice: Barry Glendenning went for afternoon tea with Emile Heskey. Enjoy.

With Sebastian Giovinco hot-footing it to Canada, Juventus have got some extra moolah, and are about to exercise their buyback option on Simeone Zaza, according to Football Italia. The Turin side had bought half his registration rights for €1m in 2013, sold them for €7.5m in 2014 and now have the option of buying him outright for €15m this season or €18m the next. Got that? Good.

Sure you already know but if you don’t, he’s really, really good, and made his debut for Italy in September.

SIGNING! We all knew it was coming but…

Real Madrid have confirmed the signing of 16-year-old Martin Odegaard from Strømsgodset. There’s a official statement on Real’s website and everything.

Here’s a couple of nice pieces we’ve on the young Norwegian.

• Will Odegaard cope with the limelight?
  
• Martin Odegaard: a case of too much, too young?
  

I would be inclined to answer yes to both questions.

SIGNING!

Defender Mauricio dos Santos Nascimento has joined Lazio on a six-month loan deal from Sporting Lisbon. The Italian club can buy him permanently for £2m in the summer.

They’ve also signed Wesley Hoedt from AZ Alkmaar on a pre-contract agreement.

Here is a very optimistic statement from Lazio. Ten points ahead in Serie A, I’m pretty sure Roma are the number one club in Rome at the moment, but whatevs.

“From July 1, Wesley Hoedt will wear the colours of the number one club in Rome, welcome Wes!”

Nathaniel Chalobah didn’t fare too well in his loan spell at Burnley in the first half of this season – the Chelsea man hasn’t played a game since 1 November – but that hasn’t stopped Reading manager Steve Clarke from ringing up his former club to try and nab the England Under-21 international. Not a done deal yet, but should be confirmed soon.

In other Reading news, their striker Adam Le Fondre is apparently on the verge of signing on loan for Huddersfield, which is spitting distance from where he made his name at Rotherham.

While on holiday, I once ran into the Rotherham team – including Le Fondre – during their pre-season tour. They were all getting bladdered and had just hired a new kit man who was (I think I’m right in thinking) crying into his pint because he was so happy.

Following on from your excellent running-into-footballers-at-gigs stories from yesterday’s blog, I’d formally like to invite you to email and tweet me your running-into-footballers-on-holiday stories. Photos/videos/anecdotes are welcome.

Some interesting below-the-line thoughts on Bernd Schuster potentially becoming Newcastle manager.

fibionaccisequence

22 January 2015 9:28am

Bernd Schuster to Newcastle?

As a Toon fan - may I say to my fellow sufferers - torch the Tyne Bridge, and Bernd it down. Thou shalt not pass.

This manager would be about a successful as Bradley Wiggins on a Raleigh Chopper climbing Mount Ventoux wearing scuba gear.

This is probably an appropriate point to post one of my favourite videos on the internet: a young Bradley Wiggins not being very successful before he went on to be successful. He’s not wearing scuba gear but it looks wet so, you know…

This isn’t strictly transfer news, although it does feature Xherdan Shaqiri, who is one of January’s highest-profile movers. He made the switch from Bayern Munich to Internazionale earlier this month for around €15m and scored this lovely goal last night.

£15m seems a little steep to me, but that’s what the January transfer window can do for you. You could get six-and-a-half Martin Odegaards for that kind of money. The 16-year-old will be ‘unveiled’ at a Real Madrid press conference later.

Here’s another Wenger quote regarding Gabriel Paulista. He thinks there’s a “50-50” chance of the deal going ahead.

“It is £15m. We are ready to pay the right price for a good player.”

More hot Wolfsburg chat: Kevin de Bruyne, a target for Arsenal and Manchester United, will not be leaving the German club, claims his Mr 15%.

There is always going to be interest when things have been going so well but I can tell you Kevin is happy where he is.

After a difficult time at Chelsea he just wanted to be playing regularly. Now that is happening and Kevin is totally focussed on helping Wolfsburg to qualify for the Champions League.

But wait!

But after that, who knows? England and Spain are both interesting championships or he could decide that another season inGermany is for the best.

Aaaaaaahhh. Good to know his agent is earning his corn. There’s a signing-on fee out there somewhere!

Whilst we’re in north London…

Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger is being poked and prodded by journalists at his morning press conference and has disclosed that talks over Villarreal defender Gabriel Paulista are “progressing well.” So that one looks like a goer: here’s our news story on the transfer, for those that want to read more.

Wenger has also confirmed that Coquelin has been given a new contract, and he’s confident that the Frenchman will sign.

Sound the SIGNING KLAXON!

Wolfsburg have signed Koen Casteels from Hoffenheim and then immediately farmed him out on loan to Werder Bremen for the rest of the season. So it’s a double signing: a BOGOF if you will. The former Belgium Under-21 keeper has signed a deal until 2018.

“Koen Casteels is an interesting goalkeeper with great potential. We are now seeing its further development,” “said Wolfsburg manager Klaus Allofs. Excellent.

Todays’ Rumour Mill has landed. Hooray! Here, in bullet-point form, are the sugars in your morning tea:

• Manchester United are about to drop a cool (and very precise) £61.25m to get old mucker Paul Pogba back.
  
• United are also making eyes at Marquinhos but have been told by PSG to cough up £112m. Remember the 20-year-old defender didn’t even make Brazil’s World Cup squad, which in hindsight has probably added to his value.
• Arsenal want to steal Kevin de Bruyne from under Louis van Gaal’s nose.
• Swansea want to replace Wilfried Bony with Blackburn’s Jordan Rhodes.
• Are you a striker? Have you a good track record in years gone by but are currently struggling for form which means you might be available for a bargain transfer fee (even though you might still command high wages)? QPR want to know. Step up Dani Osvaldo.
• James Milner might be off to Valencia or Inter!

This morning’s big rumour: Bernd Schuster is being linked with the Newcastle managerial position, according to TalkSport. The 55-year-old German last managed Malaga last year, but was sacked in May after failing to finish in the top half in La Liga (they finished 11th). He’s got pedigree, having managed at Real Madrid, Shakhtar and Besiktas amongst others, but is renowned for frequent confrontations with the media, making controversial statements and walking out of press conferences. So should fit in at Newcastle nicely.

He’s already had talks about possible backroom staff appointments apparently, with Newcastle keen to retain John Carver and Steve Stone

He is also nicknamed Der Blonde Engel: The Blond Angel. Lovely.

Good morning everyone and welcome to your Thursday! Just 11 days left until the window slams shut! Just two days until the weekend! It’s all kicking off. We’re here to provide all the days news and moves, whispers, gossip, movers, shakers, hopes, dream-makers.