This is it. We’re done. Over. Finished. The last one. No más, no más. After this the Mill will be packing our bags and leaving you to it. This is the absolute, definite, final Rumour Mill. Well, until next Wednesday, anyway. Even vaguely sentient transfer round-ups have to kick back, pour out a glass of ginger wine, chew on an ostrich steak and just let the fertile ground of footballing gossip breathe and lie fallow for a short while.
Everybody loves Antoine Griezmann, it seems. And why not? He’s a loveable sort with a pleasant, son-in-law face but who’s really, really excellent at football. He’s a staple of the gossip pages but that won’t be for long if the managers of the Premier League have their way and snap him up.
There’s a queue forming, with Pep Guardiola eyeing him up for a spot at Manchester City, while United are also casting their beady ones in his direction and, perhaps most interestingly/unrealistically, Arsenal are keen too.
Griezmann is on their list should the Gooners lose one/both of Mesut Özil or Alexis Sánchez, along with Marco Reus. Arsenal could be licking their transfer wounds after PSG supposedly agreed a deal for long-term target Julian Draxler, but you’d think that after being linked with him for so very long, even Arsenal would have got the German forward by now if they’d really wanted him.
Here’s one: West Ham are apparently thinking about a £6million bid for Jermain Defoe, who the history buffs among you will recall used to play for them Hammers. Defoe is 34 and not exactly a long-term prospect, but desperate times and all that. Another option could be AC Milan forward Carlos Bacca, who they tried to sign in the summer, without success.
And further in their hunt for a striker, West Ham are apparently in the scrum of clubs keen on Scott Hogan, banging them in for Brentford this season, with West Brom, Reading and Norwich weighing up whether to pay the apparent £15m price tag. Speaking of strikers, Liverpool are thinking of nabbing Gabriel Barbosa, given that he hasn’t settled at Inter.
PSG are after Son Heung-min, it says here, which seems a little odd. One would think their ambitions are a little higher than a bloke who can’t get in the Spurs team, but there we go. Who are we to question these things? Should he leave, a candidate to replace him might be Max Meyer, who is not in fact a Bond villain who lives in a hot air balloon, but a Schalke winger. £30m, to you.
Spurs are also duking it out with Chelsea for Marc Cucurella, an 18-year-old big-haired left-back in the Barcelona youth system. Chelsea might not need him mind: Antonio Conte has been impressed with Nathan Ake’s work on loan at Bournemouth, so those that know say.
In further Chelsea news, they are keen on Monaco midfielder Tiemoué Bakayoko, but so are Manchester United and folks, only one of them can have him. United will have a slot to fill in their midfield, because Morgan Schneiderlin is off. But to where? Is it West Brom or Everton? Nobody knows. But it’s probably Everton. And quite right too.
Other bits and bobs doing the rounds include a number of clubs - specifically Celtic, Rangers and Aston Villa - weighing up a move for Barnsley midfielder Conor Hourihane, who is both excellent and out of contract in the summer. A heady combination. Brighton have enjoyed Glenn Murray’s work while on loan with them, so they’re well up for paying the £2m it would take for Bournemouth to release him for good. Stoke are looking to gazump Villa for Manchester United goalkeeper Sam Johnstone. And of course Crystal Palace are in need of a new manager, but we all know who that’s going to be. Happy Christmas everyone.