Cesc Fàbregas has played just 48 minutes of Premier League football this season and is preparing to leave Chelsea in search of regular game time, with a return to Spain being his most likely course of action. El Gol Digital report this morning that he “has decided to leave in January” and that Valencia are already close to agreeing a contract. Reports in Italy, however, suggest Fàbregas might move to Milan instead.

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With the Guardian reporting this morning that Ruben Loftus-Cheek may ask to leave on loan next month, something of a revolution may be brewing on Chelsea’s substitutes’ bench, which currently seems to be rife with jealousy and discontent. On the plus side, their departures would give the club more money to give to Borussia Dortmund for Christian Pulisic, with the Evening Standard saying an official approach has been made for the £70m-rated American.

Headline-writers on sports desks nationwide will be crossing fingers, toes and any other crossable bits that the rumoured English interest in RB Salzburg’s Hannes Wolf comes to fruition. Tottenham, Arsenal, Southampton and Everton are all linked with the midfielder (or, in tabloid headline-speak, “hungry for the Wolf”) in the Mirror. “The Austrian attacking midfielder,” they helpfully explain, “has been likened to Spurs star Christian Eriksen.”

Arsenal and Tottenham are also battling for another top talent, according to the Mail, with the north London giants joining Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain in the race for Feyenoord’s 17-year-old Orkan Kokcu, who scored 17 goals and claimed 34 assists for the club’s Under-19 side last season and “is regarded as one of the brightest emerging talents in European football”.

Arsenal and Chelsea are also battling for another top talent, both teams sending scouts to watch Roma’s 2-2 draw with Internazionale on Sunday with Nicolò Zaniolo, Roma’s 19-year-old midfield prodigy, the focus of their attention. Bayern Munich also had a representative present, says CalcioMercato, and though the scouts could of course have been sent to look at different players – indeed, Talksport says they were watching Cengiz Ünder – Zaniolo played very well so we can assume that they noticed him.

José Mourinho has “become increasingly baffled” by “Manchester United’s bloated scouting department”, reports the Mail. The club apparently employs 58 scouts across the world but Mourinho wants “a more streamlined operation”, given that he “remains largely in the dark” about their activity below the two chief scouts, and anyway most of the players he seems to want to sign you could find out about just by watching Champions League highlights and the occasional Match of the Day. “Mourinho also fears he will miss out on top target Kalidou Koulibaly in January”, the Mail continues, because “United chiefs vetoed a move last summer” since when the Napoli defender has become both more expensive and more old, without getting more good. According to Metro, Mourinho “has informed United’s board that Koulibaly is his No1 target”, but is also “already giving up hope” of signing him.