YOU MUST BE JOACHIM
Back in mid-October, Italian media was doing its absolute best to flog off what seemed to be one of Serie A’s most underrated assets. Tottenham were linked with Sampdoria centre-half Joachim Andersen, and club president Massimo Ferrero was said to be ‘hardly willing to go below 30 million’.
A few weeks later, November is in full swing and the claim that Ferrero still ‘does not evaluate Andersen less than 30 million’ is repeated. But there is another club in for the Denmark international, and that is Juventus-conquering Manchester United.
According to La Repubblica, United scouted Andersen during Sampdoria’s game with Torino at the weekend. That ended in a 4-1 defeat in which Andersen and his teammates failed to deal with Andrea Bellotti, but sweary Jose Mourinho remains ‘convinced’ about the 22-year-old.
United’s previous scouting reports were ‘extremely positive’, and for good reason. Only Fiorentina (9), Juventus (8) and Inter Milan (6) have conceded fewer league goals than Sampdoria this season, and Andersen has played every minute.
As well as not dealing at anything below €30 (£26.1m), Sampdoria will not entertain a January deal. So if United really want their man, they will a) have to wait until the summer, and b) go through the likes of Tottenham.
BAKA-LOCO
Fulham are bottom of the Premier League table. They have won once in 11 games. They have conceded 29 goals. They spent more than all but Liverpool and Chelsea in the summer, and are below Cardiff and Huddersfield.
Their solution, according to Calciomercato, is to try and bring in Tiemoue Bakayoko. The same Tiemoue Bakayoko who failed so miserably at Chelsea, and who has seemingly been so bad on loan at AC Milan that Gennaro Gattuso had a right old go at him recently.
But Fulham, who signed Jean Michael Seri for £25m and André-Frank Zambo Anguissa for £22.3m in the summer, have explored the possibility of signing Bakayoko on loan. It would involve the termination of his current deal with Milan, and might not actually be an option, considering they already have five players on loan, two of whom are from Premier League clubs.
Calciomercato do state that Fulham’s enquiry has been ‘all but shut down’, with Bakayoko fighting a losing battle to earn a permanent deal in Italy. Best of luck, chief.
AND THE REST
Antonio Conte has refused to meet with Chelsea and is insisting on taking them to court for the rest of his salary, after his dismissal in July with one year remaining on his contract… Tottenham striker Fernando Llorente, 33, says he would relish the chance of a return to Spain after struggling for first-team opportunities at Spurs… Mexico are considering appointing former Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores as their next manager… Southampton are preparing a £15m move for Portimonense’s Japan international striker Shoya Nakajima, 24… Lille winger Nicolas Pepe, 23, has welcomed speculation linking him with Arsenal and other leading European clubs but insists it is too soon for him to plan for next summer.
