With Benjamin Mendy still sidelined through injury, Manchester City are ready to bid for Leicester City left-back Ben Chilwell in January. A summer spent in the company of a personal trainer doing sprints in a Milton Keynes park have yielded rich dividends for the youngster, who told one interviewer: “I feel like this season needs to be the season I push on”. Having done exactly that, he may earn himself a move to the reigning Premier League champions to further his education under Pep Guardiola. £50m is the fee being mentioned.

Tottenham’s manager Pochettino tips his hat to ‘hard-working’ chairman Levy Read more

José Mourinho is angry. While that particular revelation is hardly newsworthy, The Telegraph reports he is particularly miffed over his employers’ lack of activity before the January transfer window. Mourinho has made no secret of the fact that he wants to sign a shiny new central defender, ideally in the form of Kalidou Koulibaly,Toby Alderweireld or Milan Skriniar and is prepared to offload Marcos Rojo, Eric Bailly and Phil Jones to help pay for one of them. However, he is apparently concerned that “little active work is being done on potential ins and outs”. Should his pleas for a new recruit fall on deaf ears, it will speak volumes for the faith – or lack of it – the club hierarchy have in his abilities and certainly won’t bode well for his future at the club. In slightly better news for Mourinho, it seems goalkeeper David De Gea is ready to commit his future to the club by inking a deal worth a whopping £400,000 per week.

Having decided in Thursday’s Rumour Mill that signing a past-his-prime Yaya Touré sounded like exactly the kind of thing West Ham might do, today’s edition was interested to hear the thoughts of club boss Manuel Pellegrini on the matter. “Yaya is a great player, a top player that plays in every part of the role,” he said. “At this moment, I cannot answer your question. It’s not a priority as in that position we already have players.”

In a rare show of largesse that is almost certainly related to his desperation to stop Mauricio Pochettino forsaking him for Real Madrid or Manchester United come season’s end, Daniel Levy is ready to splash the cash to bring Barcelona midfielder André Gomes to Tottenham Hotspur. Gomes is currently on loan at Everton, who are hoping to make him a more permanent fixture around Goodison Park and will be most displeased to learn of Tottenham’s interest.

Meanwhile at Newcastle, Rafael Benítez and the club’s supporters are being subjected to the usual old guff about a takeover being imminent, but are also hearing the Spaniard will be given money to spend in January. They have heard these assurances before and could be forgiven greeting them with scepticism, but should the funds materialise, Atlanta United midfielder Miguel Almiron remains a prime target. According to the Mirror, Rafa is also in the market for a left-back and is hitching his skirts at Ajax’s Nicolas Tagliafico, Paris Saint-Germain’s Stanley N’Soki and Real Betis’s versatile jack of all defensive trades, Junior Firpo.

And finally, unable to get a game up front for Cardiff City ahead of makeshift striker and cult hero Callum Paterson, Ibrahim Meité is set to take his business elsewhere in January. There appears to be no shortage of interest in the 22-year-old, who is available on a free and is wanted by West Brom, Hannover, Saint-Étienne and Russian clubs St Ural and Spartak Moscow.