Tottenham are in the hunt for an upcoming Italy U21 winger, while Man City are keeping tabs on a French prospect regularly mentioned as a target for Liverpool, according to Monday’s newspapers.
TOTTENHAM CHASE SOTTIL
Tottenham are stepping up their interest in Fiorentina’s highly-rated Italy U21 international winger Riccardo Sottil.
The 20-year-old has only made a handful of appearances for La Viola, having spent the latter half of last season on loan with Serie B side Pescara. But his energetic displays have caught the eye of the Tottenham scouts and the Daily Express believes an approach is being prepped for Sottil.
The paper claims Spurs are increasingly turning to the Italian market and that they believe Sottil has all the qualities needed to become a future star of the Italy national side.
While there is no mention of a potential fee, the report adds that Tottenham scouts went to watch the player – who was unfortunately an unused substitute – in Sunday game against Atalanta. However, it’s claimed they are unlikely to be deterred and hope, as they are the first Premier League side to show an interest in the player, he could be snared for a moderate fee.
Fiorentina just managed to avoid relegation last season and are bottom of the table this time around following Sunday’s 2-2 draw. Much of their hopes rest around Federico Chiesa and they will resist all bids for their star man in January, but could though be swayed to cash in on Sottil for the right price.
Meanwhile, reports on Sunday claimed a surprise Tottenham duo were on the radar of Manchester United.
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AND THE REST
Manchester City monitored the situation of £40m-rated Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar – often mentioned as a Liverpool target – during the transfer window (Daily Mail)
Manchester United have launched a consultation into bringing safe standing to Old Trafford (Daily Mail)
PSG head coach Thomas Tuchel insisted Neymar was ‘100 per cent with us’ after his goal gave the Ligue 1 champions a 1-0 victory at Lyon (Daily Mail)
Ansu Fati’s father has revealed his desire for his son to represent Portugal, despite the Barcelona starlet having recently been given a Spanish passport (Daily Mail)
Unai Emery has defended Granit Xhaka after the midfielder was booed by home fans in Arsenal’s win versus Aston Villa (Daily Mail)
Mark Clattenburg has defended VAR after Heung-Min Son was caught marginally offside in Tottenham’s defeat to Leicester (Daily Mail)
Chelsea’s chances of signing Napoli right-back Elseid Hysaj next summer may have been reduced by the Serie A club being ready to offer the Albanian a contract extension (Daily Express)
Everton manager Marco Silva has told his scouts to carry out another extensive check of RB Leipzig striker Yussuf Poulsen (Daily Express)
John McGinn has revealed Aston Villa held a dressing room inquiry after the 3-2 defeat to 10-man Arsenal (Daily Star)
Paul Pogba has bought a £15,000 guard dog after being targeted by angry Manchester United fans (The Sun)
Leicester striker Jamie Vardy has closed the door on an England return (The Sun)
The Premier League is coming under pressure to launch an investigation into revelations that Liverpool paid a £1m settlement to Manchester City over a complaint that their scouting system had been hacked (The Times)
The FA is investigating Hartlepool United after allegations of racist abuse during Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat by Dover Athletic (The Times)
Manchester City star Bernardo Silva could face an FA investigation after posting a tweet mocking team-mate Benjamin Mendy, which he later deleted (Daily Mirror)
Dennis Praet has revealed how he snubbed the chance to join Arsenal before he moved to Leicester this summer (Daily Mirror)
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