Having failed to back Frank de Boer in the transfer market before handing him his P45 after just 77 days in charge, Crystal Palace are ready to give his replacement £40m to bolster his squad in the January window, say the Daily Star. Roy Hodgson is Palace’s seventh permanent manager since 2012 and last stood in a technical area watching England lose to Iceland at Euro 2016. He is already being linked with one of the players who served him so well on that fateful night in Nice.
A half-time substitute in that particular humiliation, Jack Wilshere was yesterday linked with a January move to Fenerbahce, but speculation today suggests he may stay closer to home and sign for Palace instead. If Wilshere remains on the fringes of an Arsenal side in which he is expected to feature against Cologne this evening, Hodgson could make a move for a player he capped 29 times for England.
Still sore after his lack of success in securing the move of his bank manager’s dreams to Manchester City during the January window, Wilshere’s team-mate Alexis Sánchez is now wanted by Real Madrid, according to reports from Spain. With his contract due to expire next summer, the disaffected Chilean will be free to flirt with foreign clubs from January and Spanish sports magazine Don Balon say Real president Florentino Pérez has included his name on a lengthy shopping list that also includes Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Andrea Belotti.
Having achieved a certain cult status for incurring Neymar’s wrath by kicking him around Celtic Park on Tuesday night, Tony Ralston is being linked with a possible move to Everton. The 18-year-old full-back made only his fifth start for Celtic against Paris Saint-Germain and is understood to have been inching his way across the Toffees’ radar since breaking into the Celtic first team at the back end of last season.
Thomas Delaney may sound as Irish as Guinness, leprechauns and the Galway races, but is in fact as Danish as the Little Mermaid, a breakfast pastry and the Cliffs of Mon. The 26-year-old Werder Bremen midfielder has caught the eye of several Premier League managers, including Everton’s Ronald Koeman, Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino and Burnley’s Sean Dyche.
Harry Redknapp has said Birmingham City’s new intake of 14 players “can take the club to another level” and fearing he means League One, his employers may show him the door. Currently third from bottom of the Championship after losing five consecutive games in all competitions, Redknapp is under pressure to deliver a good result when his side entertain Preston on Saturday.
And finally, having returned to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua from Argentina after recovering from a muscle injury, Carlos Tevez has been told he will not be considered for selection until he sheds some weight. Currently 11th in the Chinese Super League and without a full time manager after Gus Poyet’s resignation, the club is currently being managed by their technical director, Wu Jingui. Currently earning a reported £650,000 a week in China, Tevez has scored just two goals for the Shanghai club and was linked with a return to Boca Juniors during the summer.