Gossip: Barcelona 'end Pogba chase', Cattermole v Neymar clash draws closer, Maguire snubs United for £75k Leicester deal
Paul Pogba will not be joining Barcelona this month – fact.
The apparently unhappy Manchester United skipper has been linked with the Nou Camp before, during and after helping France win the World Cup in the summer, tension between him and manager Jose Mourinho cited as the main reason.
But while the world waits for the Tweet showing Pogba adorned in a Barca shirt strolling down Las Ramblas with the ‘LOL’ emoji, the LaLiga champions seem to have ended Pogba’s need to contact Catalan estate agents – for now anyway.
Director Ariedo Braida told Spanish radio on Tuesday night: “I don’t think we’re going to move for Pogba but he’s a great player.”
Before Jose and the rest of the Old Trafford faithful dance too big a jig of joy, Braida added Barcelona “will keep tabs on the Frenchman”. (Mirror)
Cue either a Spanish deadline day sensation or a January window full of tiresome Pogba-based puns and stories…
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It looks like Harry Maguire has joined the growing queue of those who won’t be signing up to the Jose revolution once and for all.
The Leicester centre half is ready to sign a new £75,000 a week contract with the Foxes (Telegraph), prompting boss Claude Puel to enthuse: “I’m happy about the attitude of Harry, it’s important for him to remain with us, and to bring strong momentum for this season, I’m happy to keep him. Harry, he’s happy also to remain with us.”
Is he though? It will soon be January…
Mourinho has also revealed he would like Argentina defender Marcos Rojo and Italian full-back Matteo Darmianto stay at the club, until January at least. (ESPN)
Nobody knows why.
The mouthwatering prospect of midfield enforcer Lee Cattermole meting out justice to PSG star Neymar in Ligue 1 is also a significant step nearer this morning.
Bordeaux’s ex-Sunderland manager Gus Poyet is in talks with the Black Cats over signing 30-year-old Cattermole on loan. (Guardian)
Relegations
Poyet “ brought the best out in Cattermole” while he was Sunderland boss and the club needs to get rid of the £40k a week man after successive relegations.
Cattermole has “made it clear he wants a reunion with Poyet and the Uruguayan has made the signing a priority.”
Neymar has not yet commented but remains on course to run into the Cattermole freight train. Jason Statham is already tipped to play the former Middlesbrough hatchet man when Hollywood depicts the inevitable collision with Neymar rolling all the way to Real Madrid in January as a result.
Incidentally, “Cattermole” literally translates as “chat et taupe” in French but there is nothing for “Clattermole” just yet…
Tottenham don’t sign players any more so they won’t be too bothered that Ryan Sessegnon told Sky Sports that rumours of a move away from Fulham to Wembley/White Hart Lane have not distracted him and that he remains focused on playing for the Cottagers.
The 18-year-old winger has been linked with Spurs since he could walk.
In other news, Bundesliga side Schalke want to make permanent signings so don’t want Tottenham’s Danny Rose, or Chelsea’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek on loan (Sky Sports), Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri is happy for midfielder Danny Drinkwater to be sold this month (Star), Manchester City’s Patrick Roberts is set to join Spanish top-flight side Girona on loan (Sky Sports), Manchester United’s Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera, 29, says he wants to stay beyond the end of his contract next summer (Mirror), and Liverpool’s Serb midfielder Marko Grujic, 22, will join a foreign club on loan after rejecting offers from Cardiff City and Middlesbrough (Evening Standard).
Anything but Warnock or Pulis. Anything.
