Thiago Silva’s mooted move to Juventus is “a serious thing”, according to the lead story on the front page of today’s Tuttosport, the paper saying that talks between the clubs have not just already started, but very nearly concluded. “A source, well acquainted with the facts of the situation, says that contracts are virtually signed,” they enthuse, dismissing the potentially transfer-scuppering threat of an automatic renewal clause in the player’s contract with Paris Saint-Germain. The Brazilian apparently has a “contraclausola” similar to that which greased the wheels of Ever Banega’s move to Internazionale (some kind of cut-price buyout arrangement), so it’s all good.

Juve and Arsenal are expected to go head-to-head in the fight to sign Wolfsburg’s 23-year-old ace Julian Draxler – who tried pretty hard to engineer a move in the summer but failed, and may still have itchy feet – but the Wolfsburg director Klaus Allofs has warned that “there is absolutely no reason to even talk about Julian leaving in January”.

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Nobody was suggesting that Juventus were also about to sign Milan’s young goalkeeping prodigy Gianluigi Donnarumma, but just in case they were tempted the player’s brother, Antonio, has revealed that “he’ll never go to Juve”, and furthermore that “he’ll never leave Milan, not for anyone in the whole world”. “He’s really happy at the Rossoneri,” Antonio enthuses, “and he’s a Milanista forever”.

Talking of prodigies, Exeter City’s Ethan Ampadu, already valued at £2m at the age of 16, is English football’s latest and hottest young starlet. Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City are all in the hunt for his signature, but Stamford Bridge is considered his most likely destination – slightly embarrassing for the Gunners, for whom the player’s father, the former Swansea, West Bromwich Albion and indeed Exeter player Kwame Ampadu, works as an academy coach.



Torino’s Andrea Belotti, linked with Everton in Monday’s Mill and apparently watched by Manchester United in every game he has played this season, is being offered a bumper new £1.3m-a-year contract by the Italians, which will have an offputting £80m buyout clause. Also preparing to pen new deals are Diego Costa and Thibaut Courtois, but don’t hold your breath. “With the pair contracted to Chelsea until 2019, there is no immediate rush to get them signed up to new deals,” thrills the Telegraph.

Reading’s search for a striker has led them to 36-year-old Robbie Keane, who is available on a free transfer as he leaves LA Galaxy, but Jaap Stam must battle Brisbane Roar, who have the advantage of being managed by Keane’s former Coventry team-mate John Aloisi. And also being in Australia. Less encouragingly, Aloisi says he hasn’t “spoken to the owners about any marquee player”, but Tony Popovic of Western Sydney Wanderers says he is ready to have a go, trilling that “he’s certainly a player it’s hard not to have a look at”.

Talking of buyout clauses, as we were some time ago, the in-demand Bristol Rovers striker Matty Taylor has one too, today’s Mirror saying only that it is “cut-price”. Brighton, Cardiff, Wolves, QPR and Rangers are all tempted to trigger it, even if his current club’s chairman, Steve Hamer, says the player “has recently signed a new contract and selling him in January is the last thing on our minds at the moment”.

Aston Villa, meanwhile, are interested in Jonathan Cafu, the Brazilian right winger currently excelling at Ludogorets. Steve Bruce also wants Hull’s Abel Hernández, with rumours suggesting that the clubs could agree a swap deal involving Rudy Gestede, Villa’s three-goal Beninese hotshot. Hull’s interest in players who made largely unsuccessful transfers to English clubs in the summer of 2015 doesn’t end with Gestede, however, with Mike Phelan apparently also interested in Bournemouth’s Max Gradel, upon whom the Cherries lavished £7m a year and a half ago, and who has made just five Premier League appearances this season, none lasting longer than half an hour.