Tottenham have drawn up a shortlist of potential new goalkeepers, should Hugo Lloris turn down their contract offer and swan off elsewhere, with Manchester City outcast Joe Hart and Sunderland’s shot-stopping supremo Jordan Pickford both upon it. They are also linked this morning with Borussia Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic, as for that matter are Liverpool (again) and Arsenal, though the Gunners may be short of cash if a rumoured £20m move for Milan’s 30-year-old Colombian goal-grabber Carlos Bacca comes to fruition, with the clubs apparently already discussing terms.

Long-term Arsenal target Julian Draxler appears certain to leave Wolfsburg in January, if anyone’s after a talented German 23-year-old forward. In the summer he wanted to go but the club and its fans wanted him to stay. Now, he still wants to go, the fans also want him to go, and the club has come to terms with him leaving as well, so we’re all set. “I said in the summer the way I feel and I stand by that,” the player said after being booed by his own fans during a 3-2 defeat to Hertha Berlin. “It makes it hard for you to perform on the field,” he said of his reception. “I can understand the fans, though. They have every right to do that.”

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Also on his way from Germany is 27-year-old Cameroon striker Eric Choupo-Moting, who could be sold by Schalke in January before he swans off for nothing in the summer. “He could quit the club for a lucrative move to the Chinese Super League,” reports the Mirror, but then again, he could go to Southampton instead, or indeed Stoke.



One player who might be heading to Germany, meanwhile, is Celtic’s Moussa Dembélé, with RB Leipzig hoping that a promise of first-team football will vault them to the front of a queue that already includes Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal.

Sunderland and Hull are both keen to sign Dominic Samuel, the 22-year-old Reading striker who has already banged in, um, a goal this season. Just the one. He did a bit better last season, when he was on loan at Gillingham and scored seven. “He’s got pace and he’s got an ability to score goals,” says Jaap Stam. Everton demand a more prolific striker, which is why they are being linked again with Napoli’s Manolo Gabbiadini, the 25-year-old Italian who already this season has scored twice. That kind of marksmanship doesn’t come cheap: they’ve already had a £14.5m offer rejected.

West Ham might be in the hunt for a new manager shortly, with the Mirror reporting that Slaven Bilic’s job is “understood to be hanging by a thread” and crisis talks scheduled between Bilic and his “furious” bosses today. The good news is that Rio Ferdinand has offered Bilic the benefit of his extensive coaching experience, so the Hammers’ hitherto wobbly defence is certain to get a whole lot better.

One club that seems absolutely certain to go shopping in January is West Brom. Tony Pulis met with the board last week to agree a £20m January splurge, with the club looking to build on their current super bumper mighty fine league position of seventh. “It’s important we bring quality in and instead of bringing five or six we’ll bring in one or two,” said Pulis. “We have to try to get quality players and that is going to be difficult and will be more pressure on me. There are so many seagulls following that trawler.” Morgan Schneiderlin and Jay Rodriguez are two of the sprats the gulls are hoping to carry off (though the Mill might be getting the analogy a little confused; is Pulis a seagull here? Or is he a trawler? Or a fish? It’s hard to tell). “We will have to box clever,” Pulis concluded, “and I have to say this, if they are not there we don’t buy.” That’s fine, Tony. In our world, it’s not the transfers that count it’s the talking about transfers. You’re doing just fine.