Mesut Özil is for sale, the Mirror exclusively reveal, though the first sentence of their story containing this news sounds disappointingly equivocal, announcing only that “Arsenal could be ready to cash in” on the German, just months before his contract expires and he can stroll half-heartedly out of the Emirates for good and indeed for nothing. “Inter have shown a strong interest and that may tempt the Gunners to cash in,” they reveal.
The Independent however exclusively announces that Manchester United are going to sign him instead. “José Mourinho is highly confident of convincing him to join United,” they insist, “based on their previous working relationship at Real Madrid. Mourinho and Özil worked well together, with the Portuguese placing great trust in the playmaker as he quickly realised that Özil was capable of understanding and executing complex tactical orders.”
And there may be even more change coming for Arsenal in January, with the Star suggesting that the Gunners “could swap Alexis Sánchez for Paris Saint-Germain star Julian Draxler in a mega January transfer deal”. Apparently the French club is “tempted by the idea” but face competition for the Chilean from Milan, among others.
And then there’s Antoine Griezmann, the French forward who signed a new contract with Atlético Madrid but a few months ago after a long-rumoured move to Manchester United failed to actually happen. Now Alexandre Lacazette has given an interview in which he declares he and Griezmann “are very good friends and have lots of fun”, principally by calling each other by their ingenious pet names, Griezzy and Lacaz. “If Griezzy visits me in London,” Lacazette pledges, “I’m going to ask him to sign for Arsenal!” This light-hearted comment, made by someone who has no influence whatsoever over Arsenal’s transfer dealings, has prompted actual news stories in apparently serious publications.
Ronald Koeman may have been given a stay of execution by Everton’s major shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, but according to the Sun he’s not happy about it. Apparently his players “are convinced [their manager] wants out of Goodison Park” having “noticed the Dutchman becoming more distant and detached” and now “believe he is just waiting to be fired”.
Across town at Anfield, meanwhile, Liverpool are preparing to make a signing. Could this be the actually-decent centre-half they so desperately need? Nope, it’s Sheffield United’s 20-year-old winger David Brooks, who has only made 20 first-team appearances in his life but since breaking into the first-team at the start of the season has, we’re told, impressed scouts so regularly that the Reds are ready to get their chequebook out.
Elsewhere in the Championship, there is a veritable scrum taking place as scouts compete for the best view of the Middlesbrough defender Dael Fry, who according to the Mail “has impressed at the heart of Boro’s defence this season” even if “he was taken out of the firing line last weekend after a blip against Norwich”. Still, it has been enough to get Manchester United, Everton, Leicester and Chelsea excited. United meanwhile have had some bad news in their pursuit of another talented youngster, Sarpsborg’s Senegalese starlet Krépin Diatta, whose agent has admitted that “he’s not ready for a big European club” and insisted that “you need to go through the steps methodically”.