Ciggie-loving Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri is blowing heart-shaped smoke rings in the direction of Napoli full-back Elseid Hysaj, according to the Daily Star. Despite an initial reluctance to allow the 24-year-old Albanian to move to Stamford Bridge during the summer, reports in Italy say Napoli’s president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, has now sanctioned a deal that could see Hysaj make the switch in a transaction worth £50m to the Serie A club. In more worrying news for Sarri, Eden Hazard remains typically noncommittal about his future at Chelsea, but has said talks about a new contract with his current employers have broken down. Meanwhile in Germany, Hazard’s brother Thorgan, a midfielder with Borussia Möchengladbach, is being linked with a January move to Liverpool.

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No longer a regular in the Chelsea first team, Cesc Fàbregas could be off to Milan in January, even though Sarri wants the club’s personnel department to offer him a one-year contract extension. Asked if he was seriously interested in taking the Spaniard to Italy, Milan’s sporting director, Leonardo, maintained his best poker face and gave little away. “We evaluated it, considering the possibility, but didn’t go all in,” he said. “We are still evaluating the conditions.”

Dennis Man, a prodigious right-winger at FCSB, the football club formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, has got antennae twitching at both Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. With Roma and Fenerbahce also believed to be interested in the 20-year-old, the Romanian club’s outspoken owner Gigi Becali has said he wants £25m for his star asset, but will almost certainly settle for less.

Having taken misfiring striker Islam Slimani on a season-long loan from Leicester this summer, Fenerbahce have seen the error of their ways and want to send him back in January, but are facing understandable resistance from the Algerian’s parent club. Having made Slimani Leicester’s record signing during his tenure at the King Power Stadium, Claudio Ranieri may be able to provide a solution by snapping up the 30-year-old striker for Fulham in the next transfer window. Leicester are also hoping to offload Andy King and Adrien Silva in January, after Claude Puel said he needs “to reduce the squad a bit”. King has attracted interest from West Brom and could move to the Baggies on loan in January.

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Leeds and Aston Villa are both in the market for a goalkeeper and may move for Karl Darlow, who has played just one game for Newcastle this season. In other news from St James’ Park, the Newcastle Chronicle say Rafael Benítez is in the box-seat to sign Atlanta United’s Paraguayan midfielder Miguel Almiron … and that’s according to the player’s dad.

And finally, reports from Italy hint that Jorge Mendes is hopeful that his client Rúben Neves will end up at Juventus, following his eye-catching performances in midfield for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the current campaign.