West Ham have given the world license to gossip after printing an anonymous article on their website, bylined “The Insider”, which reveals that “the board … have allocated significant funds to bolstering the squad. To that end, a bid of £20m was submitted for a player from Scotland. Meanwhile, an £8m bid was made for a player who currently plies his trade in the Championship, and a £6m bid for a current Premier League player. It is my understanding that the board will do their best to bring their selected targets to London Stadium, if at all possible.”

So who could these mystery targets be, readers? The Mirror have put two and two together and announced that Celtic’s Moussa Dembélé is the £20m man, even though “sources at Parkhead are adamant no official bid has been made” – and want at least £30m – while the Frenchman, while currently plying his trade there, is very clearly not “from Scotland”. Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe was presumably the subject of the £6m offer, though it was turned down on Wednesday – the Express exclusively reveal today that they have “more than doubled their offer to £13m”, while the Mail on the other hand say they “intend to bid £7m”. The remaining mystery man might be Brentford’s Scott Hogan, though there seems some debate about the precise level of their bid for the Championship’s fourth-best marksman, with the Express suggesting the offer was in fact £10m, and that anyway it was rejected. It seems the Bees are confident of having some money to spend this month, though: they’re rumoured to have slapped in a £850,000 offer for Wigan’s Max Power. And in all this talk of West Ham targets there is no mention anywhere of Patrice Evra, who has apparently started talks with the Hammers even if, the Sun reveals, he has “his heart set on a return to Old Trafford”.

Talking of Manchester United, the Red Devils have already discussed personal terms with Antoine Griezmann, says the Sun, and the diminutive Atlético Madrid forward will probably have liked what he heard: United are willing to match the £220,000 a week plus generous bonuses they already pay Paul Pogba in an effort to entice his fellow Frenchman to Old Trafford. Sadly Atlético are less keen on the transfer, demanding payment in full of the player’s £86m buy-out, but some sort of deal is expected to be reached. Not, though, until the summer, with the Mail insisting the club have “shelved their transfer plans” for this window, except that is for allowing Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay to leave. The Manchester Evening News still think Victor Lindelof could arrive, though, should his current club, Benfica, agree some kind of deal with his former club, Vasteras, over the 20% sell-on clause that has rather complicated the negotiations.

Watford’s Odion Ighalo, who has twice rejected offers from China, might have another one to deal with shortly with Gus Poyet’s Shanghai Shenhua apparently keen on the misfiring Nigerian, who has scored one goal in his 17 league appearances this season. Whether it will be as lucrative as the £37.5m bid from Shanghai SIPG that was turned down in the summer seems extremely doubtful, though you never know. In September the striker said his previous refusal to depart was down to the fact that “I love playing in the Premier League” and “I still have unfinished business in England”, and indeed his lack of finishing has turned out to be an issue. He also said that “when the right time comes I will go”, so anything’s possible.

Aston Villa want to sign Middlesbrough’s Jordan Rhodes, but are being told that they must match the £10m Boro paid to steal him away from Blackburn a year ago and are not entirely convinced that this season’s record of two starts, four substitute appearances and no goals or assists merits such outlandish spendthriftery.

Chelsea loan latest: Izzy Brown, the 19-year-old striker who has scored three goals in 20 appearances on loan for Rotherham so far this season, is wanted by both Birmingham and Huddersfield for the second bit of it. And Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s lengthy list of suitors has expanded following Stoke’s decision to get involved. Mark Hughes is also ready to battle Leicester for BR Leipzig’s 21-year-old striker Davie Selke, even though he has only started one league game this season for the Bundesliga’s surprise package.



And finally, Raheem Sterling has been shopping at Poundworld. “The £180,000-a-week winger held a white plastic bag and pulled a blue Poundworld trolley basket,” reports the Mirror. “The 22-year-old international was looking for toiletries.”