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HOT FOOTBALL GOSSIP: Man Utd ‘move for Ibrahimovic’

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If you can’t get Ronaldo, what do you do? You get Zlatan. That’s what the Spanish website Fichajes is saying today about Manchester United. More accurate perhaps would have been: if you can’t get Ronaldo, Bale, Neymar or Pedro, you get Zlatan. Either way, the website claims that United have “changed their plans” following Cristiano’s latest “rejection” by targeting Paris Saint-Germain’s 6ft 5in Swedish sensation instead. Zlatan in the Premier League would undoubtedly be fun, and he is also a more realistic target than the other, younger, more expensive players mentioned, although it seems highly unlikely he could be lured to Old Trafford before next summer. At which point he would be pushing 35 and potentially on the wane, although if that’s the case Fichajes says he will also have plenty of offers from the MLS.

United are reportedly interested in some younger models too, specifically Newcastle United’s Ayoze Perez, whose scoring record for the Magpies is not fantastic but he has bagged more league goals than Wayne Rooney this season. The Newcastle Chronicle says the Red Devils could face competition from Tottenham and Liverpool for the Spanish striker in January.

Man Utd are also said by the Express to fancy a piece of Wolfsburg defender Dante, but they have been dealt a “blow” by the Brazilian’s apparent declaration that he would prefer to join Chelsea. What he actually said was, “I would like to play in a big club like Chelsea.” And the lack of a comma in this sentence leads us to presume he means a rubbish big club that can’t win any matches and is in a relegation dogfight, such as Chelsea.

There is some distressing news for Nottingham Forest fans, and baffling news for West Ham fans, in the Mirror, which says that Hammers winger Michail Antonio is a January target for Derby County. Slaven Bilic signed the promising 25-year-old in the summer but he has played just a handful of minutes since, while Forest rejected an earlier bid from the Rams because they didn’t want to sell their best player to their biggest rivals. Hence the Forest distress.

We should also mention today’s Hot Manager Gossip, because there is more of it flying around than there is transfer gossip.

Garry Monk is facing the sack at Swansea, says the Mirror, while Spanish media have reported that David Moyes will also get the boot from Real Sociedad on Monday.

Finally, Jose Mourinho either looks certain be given more time to turn around Chelsea’s fortunes (the Star) or he will be replaced by Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone (the Mirror), depending on who you believe. And given that your two options are the Star and Mirror, the answer is probably neither of them.

@darlingkevin