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Big Ben, doing his thing.
Big Ben, doing his thing. Photograph: Craig Galloway/ProSports/Shutterstock
Big Ben, doing his thing. Photograph: Craig Galloway/ProSports/Shutterstock

Football transfer rumours: West Ham leading chase for Ben Brereton Díaz?

This article is more than 2 years old

Today’s rumours had a communication malfunction

West Ham need a back-up striker for Michail Antonio and David Moyes has identified Blackburn’s Ben Brereton Díaz as a potential target. That’s all well and good, but considering the Stoke-born Chilean superstar has already chipped in with 20 goals to help Blackburn’s promotion push this season, Blackburn are extremely unlikely to let him leave Ewood Park any time soon. Leeds, Brighton and Sevilla are also interested in Brereton Díaz, whose current employers value their man at £25m.

Moyes is also interested in Nat Phillips, who has made just three appearances for Liverpool this season and will be allowed to leave in the current window. Watford have also enquired about the £15m-rated central defender, while Liverpool are about to recall Rhys Williams from a loan spell at Swansea in order to provide cover for a player sick of providing cover.

Home from the Africa Cup of Nations after testing positive for Covid and now sidelined as he recovers from “cardiac lesions”, Arsenal’s out-of-favour former captain Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang could be off to Saudi club Al-Nassr on a six-month loan deal. You can read more on that story and Manchester United’s rejection of a potential loan deal for Jesse Lingard from Newcastle by clicking on this link.

Lille striker Jonathan David is a man in big demand, with Chelsea, Spurs, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool all believed to be keen on the 22-year-old Canadian international, who has scored 22 goals for club and country this season.

Arguably the most public face of Barcelona’s reckless spending in the transfer market, Newcastle and Tottenham target Ousmane Dembélé has been ordered to defecate or get off the pot by his increasingly impatient manager, Xavi Hernandez. Signed from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 for a fee of £105m and rising, the French striker has just six months left on his contract but is refusing to sign a new deal, in a state of affairs that has got the antennae of a host of different European clubs twitching.

“It is a difficult situation with Dembélé,” said Xavi. “The club have decided that if he does not renew, we have to look for a solution because they have been waiting too long. It has been five months that [sporting director, Mateu Alemany] has been speaking with the agents. Either he renews, or we look for a solution. The message is clear: either Dembélé renews or we look for an exit for the player – there is nothing else left for it. I don’t consider sending him to the stands. He says he wants to stay but then he does not sign. It is a shame.” Alemany has since suggested things are done with the Frenchman.

In big-name managerial merry-go-round news, Zinedine Zidane is being tipped to take over at Paris Saint-Germain this summer, which could pave the way for Mauricio Pochettino to take over at Manchester United. Elsewhere in France, Thierry Henry could leave his position as Roberto Martinez’s No 2 at Belgium to take up the reins at struggling Bordeaux.

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