The front page of this morning’s L’Equipe carries a large picture of Olivier Giroud cupping a hand to his ear. “Giroud,” reads the headline, “Le chant de retour.” He is hearing, they say, a siren song that is leading him back home, where Lyon and Marseille both hope to complete what would be “un superbe coup pour la Ligue 1”. The paper explains that the French domestic championship has become increasingly attractive given the number of highly-rated coaches currently working there. “All that remains is to launch the second stage of the rocket,” they write, “by attracting the players capable of propelling Ligue 1 to rarified heights. And what better signal than to bring Olivier Giroud, the international team’s centre forward, back home?”
Like L’Equipe, the Mill can think of no better signal than that. Other than buying a younger and/or better player instead, obviously. The French paper also write that Arsenal want Monaco’s Thomas Lemar “at any price”, which isn’t much of a negotiating position but should, in the end, let them get their man. The Telegraph had reported that the failure of their initial offer had prompted the Gunners to look again at Riyad Mahrez, but it sounds like the Algerian shouldn’t get too excited just yet.
But it can be hard to avoid a little over-excitement at this time of year. This is a tough week for the Mill, psychologically. Like a young child in the run-up to Christmas, when anticipation builds until by the day before the day before Christmas they are positively ready to pop, so intense is their exhilaration and so distant still their dreamed-of day, so is the Mill this morning. The transfer window, you see, opens in two days’ time, and for the first time in five long and gruelling months players can change their registrations and complete moves to new employers. On the plus side, the Mill’s Christmas lasts for two entire months; on the downside, we don’t actually get any presents, though watching others unwrap theirs can be quite diverting. Over at Chelsea there is a similar sense of enthusiasm, so much so that they are apparently preparing some kind of transfer-window-opening celebration, at which they will unveil their new kit and some new players, namely Tiemoué Bakayoko – who has already completed a medical – and, ideally, Alex Sandro, though his switch from Juventus may be complicated by Paris Saint-Germain’s sudden interest.
Their search for central defenders, meanwhile, has now led them to Bayern Munich’s Jérôme Boateng and Roma’s Kostas Manolas. Heading out of the Stamford Bridge exit, perhaps, are Kurt Zouma – who Crystal Palace fancy if a loan deal can be arranged – Nathaniel Chalobah – who is to hold talks over his future next week – and Thibaut Courtois, whose agent has admitted that “I speak regularly with the people in charge of Real Madrid”.
Talking of Zinedine Zidane’s overachievers, Everton’s move for the 21-year-old Spanish striker Sandro Ramírez has been emphatically and catastrophically derailed by Real’s sudden interest, with the Málaga hotshot – who had gone as far as passing a medical at Goodison Park – set to choose a life on the Champions League champions’ bench over a move to Merseyside. Everton are however likely to keep hold of Ross Barkley at least for now, with Tottenham unwilling to pay the £25m asking price and ready to let the situation roll into August, and also eyeing another attacking midfielder in the shape of Milan’s Suso.
Back, briefly, to Arsenal, whose 19-year-old tyro Kaylen Hinds is about to join Wolfsburg for a trifling £2m. On the plus side, Arsène Wenger might sign Nice’s Jean Michaël Seri if Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona don’t do it first. The player, though, has declared that “I’m leaving only if I know I’m going to play”.
West Brom are willing to spend £12m on Southampton’s physio-underemployment-solution Jay Rodriguez, who is similarly ready to leave the south coast, and are bracing themselves for a second bid from Leicester for the defender Jonny Evans. The Foxes, along with Newcastle and Brighton, seem likely to be pipped by Swansea to the 20-year-old Coventry forward George Thomas, but Newcastle are optimistic of beating Burnley and Middlesbrough to a loan deal for another 20-year-old, Liverpool’s Sheyi Ojo.
Shanghai Shenhua are set to bid £12m for lumbering Watford hitman Stefano Okaka, with their manager, Gus Poyet, believing the Italian bruiser would make the perfect foil for Carlos Tevez. Should that move not happen Okaka could join Olympiakos on loan, or indeed remain in Hertfordshire. Huddersfield still hope to sign Tom Ince from Derby, who rejected a £7.2m package last week.
And Robert Snodgrass could be on his way again, perhaps to Brighton or Burnley, with Slaven Bilic being apparently unconvinced with his £10m January purchase and therefore ready to sanction his sale along with those of Sofiane Feghouli and Enner Valencia. Norwich meanwhile are ready to sell Graham Dorrans to Rangers, but not for the meagre £500,000 they have so far been offered.