The January transfer window is edging closer, with rumours about incoming and outgoings starting to grow as it does.
Over the weekend, Sky Sports put together a roundup of the five most strongly-linked incomings in the January window, as well as the two most likely outgoings. Let’s have a look at the individuals on their list:
1Potential Incoming: Eric Bailly
- Age: 24
- Position: Centre-Back
- Contract until: 2020
- Club: Manchester United
- Estimated transfer value: £27m
Reports this month suggest Jose Mourinho is ‘ready to sell’ Eric Bailly, as the Manchester United manager looks to free up some space for a replacement centre-back. Sky call the centre-back ‘out of favour’ in Manchester, and say defensive reinforcements might be on Arsenal’s radar.
The Telegraph write that Mourinho is ‘prepared to cash in’ on Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo to bring in a new defender. It’s reportedly not clear whether Manchester United are in favour of the sale or not, particularly after Mourinho failed to convince them to sell Anthony Martial over the summer.
If Bailly does leave, the Express write that Arsenal have been touted with a move for him. Unai Emery knows the 24-year-old pretty well from his time in Spain, as the Ivory Coast international played for Espanyol and Villarreal whilst Emery was with Sevilla.
With Villarreal, the defender was massively impressive, and a big part of the La Liga side’s fantastic defensive record in 2015/16. For whatever reason, he’s never quite been able to consistently rediscover that form with United. Still so young for a centre-back, perhaps a move would help him get back to his best.
Click ‘Next’ for the other potential incomings and outgoings in Sky’s roundup