Sunderland eye Man Utd youngster

Sunderland are not giving up on landing Manchester United’s Amad Diallo on loan.

Ivory Coast winger Diallo, 21, bagged 14 goals on loan with the Black Cats last season before returning to Old Trafford.

And Sunderland transfer chief Kristjaan Speakman said: “We’ve got a really positive relationship with the boy and Manchester United.

“Could he improve the team? Yeah. Have we enquired? Yeah.

“We’ve kept in contact, of course we have, if not we’d probably have our heads on a stake!

“If the picture changes, we’ll be on it. He’s a tier one player and we’d be lucky if we get him on loan but I know he thoroughly enjoyed it here.”

Celtic star up for grabs

Brighton and Southampton are keeping tabs on Matt O’Riley’s situation at Celtic, according to Sportslens.

Atletico Madrid are being linked with a move but the midfielder knows he has plenty of options beyond that too. Atleti made initial moves over a deal that would see him sign on loan and then join on a permanent deal in the summer – and Inter Milan have also shown some interest in a similar sort of deal.

The loan aspect of it is of very little interest to Celtic, yet there is also the reality that any bid upwards of £20million for the player would be difficult to ignore.

PSG confirm signing of teenager

Paris Saint-Germain have announced the arrival of teenage midfielder Gabriel Moscardo from Corinthians on a long-term contract.

The 18-year-old joins the French champions on a four-and-a-half-year deal until the summer of 2028, and he has been loaned straight back to Corinthians for the rest of the season.

PSG are understood to have paid £17.1million for Moscardo’s signature, having activated a release clause in his contract, and the midfielder – whose preferred position is as a number six – becomes their second signing of the January window after compatriot Lucas Beraldo.

Reece James could be sold

Chelsea may decide to offload Reece James to prevent the club breaking financial fair play rules.

With FFP now having teeth, and Uefa’s new financial control mechanism directly tying a club’s ability to pay transfer fees and wages to revenues, Chelsea’s business model relies on making money from selling players.

Because the full price of a player being sold can be put into the annual calculations, while incoming fees are “amortised” over no more than five years, clubs need to sell to create the room to buy.

And with home grown players, the products of the Cobham Academy, there is no reduction in the value of sales because of the price of their initial contracts.

United tipped to sign Lewandowski

Transfer guru Gianluca Di Marzio has hinted at a possible move to Manchester United for Robert Lewandowski.

He told goal.pl: “Although Italian clubs cannot afford players like him, he may still want to play in the Premier League.

“He could play for Manchester United or other clubs that need a striker with his profile.”

Antony focused on Man Utd

Antony is ‘focused’ on Manchester United and will come back a ‘different’ player in the final months of the season, the winger’s agent has said.

The Brazilian has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia this week, with United willing to accept a fee in the region of £50million for a player they signed for £85m 18 months ago.

His agent Junior Pedroso said: “Manchester has so far not communicated any interest in transferring him in either the January or summer window.

“Antony is focused on these four months of the season so he can improve his performance, knowing that he needs to score goals and assists.

“This is his focus. Today our head is on Manchester United.

“He knows very well that he needs to score, there’s no point in just playing good games, he has to score goals and provide assists. He is very coherent about this.

“He will come back different, his head has become a little key and certainly in these four months he will show much more than he showed this season.”