Real Madrid target BOTH Mbappe and Haaland, Chelsea eye Lucas Digne, Newcastle want Samuel Umtiti EXCLUSIVE

Bees hope Mud doesn’t stick with Shakhtar

Brentford target Mykhaylo Mudryk has personally confirmed the West Londoners have made ‘offers’ for his services.

The 20-year-old Ukrainian plays for Shakhtar Donetsk, and has Champions League experience under his belt.

Mudryk told Ukrainian outlet Sport Arena: “I want to thank Brentford for the offers.

“To end up in the Premier League at 20-years-old is fantastic but the final decision is down to the club President.

“Had the offer come in a year or 18 months ago, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought – I’d have asked the club to let me go without hesitation.”

Barca plagued with Covid cases

Coronavirus has ripped through Barcelona’s squad in the past 24 hours, robbing the Catalans of several stars.

This morning, the club released a statement revealing Ousmane Dembele, Samuel Umtiti and Gavi are now self-isolating after returning positive tests.

The Catalans added that the players are in good health, but that now means seven members of the playing squad have returned positive tests.

Recently, Dani Alves, Clement Lenglet, Jordi Alba and Alejandro Balde were forced into self-isolation after contracting the coronavirus.

Barcelona have serious concerns that number could rise further, ahead of their next match in LaLiga.

Xavi’s side are due to play Real Mallorca on January 2.

Norwich could get rid of Cantwell

Norwich are open to selling Todd Cantwell next month.

SunSport understands the Canaries have even been in touch with other clubs to discuss a switch – but as yet there has been no concrete interest.

Cantwell, 23, netted six Premier League goals during the Canaries’ last season in the top flight two years ago but has hardly featured this term, let alone found the back of the net.

He fell out with manager Daniel Farke, who was sacked in November, and was banished to the club’s Under-23s.

Farke’s successor Dean Smith restored him to the first team but Cantwell did not impress when heading straight down the tunnel after being subbed in the 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa a fortnight ago.

The midfielder is out of contract in the summer, although Norwich have an option of extending his deal by an extra year.

Lukuka leads Chelsea title charge

Romelu Lukaku has “single-handedly” put Chelsea back in the Premier League title race.

That is according to Jamie Redknapp, who claims Lukaku’s performance on Sunday at Aston Villa has given the Blues significant hope of overtaking Manchester City at the top.

The striker came on after half-time with the score 1-1 and netted his first goal since September on 56 minutes before earning a penalty that Jorginho converted during stoppage time.

The 28-year-old returned to action only recently for Chelsea following a long battle with injury and COVID-19.

Redknapp was mesmerised by the Belgium international’s performance against Villa and hinted he could be a focal point behind a potential title push.

CONT THE COST

Harry Redknapp has urged Antonio Conte not to panic buy in his first January transfer window at Tottenham. 

New boss Conte has been linked with a string of players as he continues a push for the top four.

The former Tottenham gaffer said: “Conte will look to improve the team at Spurs but I don’t think they’ll dive in and they’ve got no need to panic buy because they’ve still got a chance of finishing in the top four.

“The title race is wide open this year. 

“Conte may try to improve them a little, get one or two in and push for the Champions League spots but they’ve got a strong enough squad anyway.

“I don’t think they’ll panic buy in January, they’ll be looking more long-term in the summer.”

United won’t make top four

Man United won’t make it into the Prem top four this season, according to Nigel De Jong.

The Red Devils have been in turmoil for most the season and De Jong can’t see them turning things around to clinch Champions League qualification.

Instead, the ex-Man City star reckons Arsenal and West Ham will be the ones battling it out for the fourth spot.

He exclusively told Ladbrokes: “I don’t see Man United finishing in fourth this season, even if they’re currently favourites behind Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea to do so.

“I really don’t. I think it’ll be a battle between Arsenal and West Ham.”

Norwich launch racism investigation

Norwich have launched an investigation after a fan allegedly racially abused Crystal Palace players.

And the Carrow Road side are also looking into racist comments made on social media by Canaries supporters targeting their own stars.

the club are now probing the claims racism targeted at both sets of players in the ground and online.

A Canaries statement said: “Following our game at Crystal Palace, the club were disappointed to learn of both online racist comments directed at some of our players, as well as alleged in-stadia racist comments directed at opposing players by our supporters.

“Such behaviour is not welcome in following and supporting Norwich City.

Prem rivals to battle for Kulusevski

Arsenal, Tottenham and Bayern Munich reportedly have their sights set on Juventus star Dejan Kulusevski.

The 21-year-old Swede has struggled in the Serie A and Juve are prepared to offload him for the right price, according to Football Italia.

Juve signed the midfielder for a total of £36million plus add-ons and want no less than £29m to start negotiations.

However, Spurs have the upper hand in proceedings as their transfer supremo Fabio Paratici initally brought Kulusevski to Juve.

Chelsea may recall loan stars

Chelsea could recall Emerson Palmieri or Ian Maatsen back from loan to replace Ben Chilwell, reports suggest.

Chilwell has been ruled out for the rest of the season as he will require knee surgery after damaging his ACL during last month’s 4-0 win over Juventus in the Champions League.

The Blues were originally planning to let the left-back heal with a “conservative rehab approach” but that didn’t work out and he will thus go under the knife, which will in turn sideline him until the summer.

Chelsea issued the following statement: “After a knee injury in the match against Juventus the Chelsea medical department, in collaboration with their knee specialist, took the decision to attempt a conservative rehab approach.

“Unfortunately Ben was unable to progress and so collectively the decision has been taken to proceed this week with a surgical repair.”

Brentford approach midfielder Mykhaylo Mudryk

Brentford target Mykhaylo Mudryk has personally confirmed the West Londoners have made ‘offers’ for his services.

The 20-year-old Ukrainian plays for Shakhtar Donetsk, and has Champions League experience under his belt.

Mudryk told Ukrainian outlet Sport Arena: “I want to thank Brentford for the offers.

“To end up in the Premier League at 20-years-old is fantastic but the final decision is down to the club President.

“Had the offer come in a year or 18 months ago, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought – I’d have asked the club to let me go without hesitation.”

Klopp questions Liverpool’s title credentials

Jurgen Klopp watched his Liverpool team shoot themselves in the foot – and then admitted the gap with Manchester City is now massive.

Mohamed Salah missed a first-half penalty before Ademola Lookman struck a second-half winner for Leicester just 178 seconds after he arrived as a substitute.

City will go nine points ahead with a win at Brentford tonight and Reds boss Klopp said: “It’s a big gap. We have to learn and we will.

“The first thing is not to do it ever again like this. We lost our rhythm and weren’t calm enough to get it back. That’s our fault.

“We were just not really ourselves. It was well deserved for Leicester. I did not like a lot of what we did and that is not cool.”

YOUTH WAVE

Gary Neville has called on Premier League teams to “get on with it” and stop postponing games due to COVID-19.

So far, a total of 15 Prem matches have been called off this month alone due to rising cases caused by the Omicron variant and that has brought the fixtures list in disarray.

This comes after the Premier League confirmed that a record 103 tests came back positive from December 20-26.

Rules in the top flight state that clubs are required to fulfil their fixtures if they have a minimum of 13 outfield players and a goalkeeper available within their squad.

And Neville believes there is “no way” those teams don’t have enough players to complete a squad.

The Sky Sports pundit also urged the clubs to place faith on their younger talent, who are craving for an opportunity in the top flight.

Chelsea confirm John Terry return

Chelsea have confirmed John Terry is returning to the club.

The Blues legend will undertake an academy coach consultancy job four years after he quit for Aston Villa.

Terry tweeted: “I’m delighted to announce that I’m coming home, and have taken up a consultancy role @ChelseaFC academy.

“As well as delivering on field coaching sessions I will be involved in coaching discussions and mentoring our academy players.”

Arteta catches Covid before City game

Mikel Arteta will miss Arsenal’s crucial home game against Manchester City on Saturday after testing positive for Covid.

The 39-year-old Spaniard has gone into isolation after Tuesday’s test and will be absent from the club for the next seven days.

Arteta was the first person in British football to contract coronavirus when his positive test in March 2020 led to the game being completely closed down.

Yet though it is believed he has had both vaccinations and the booster.

However he has still gone down with the virus for a second time.

Assistants Steve Round and Albert Stuivenberg will now take charge for the Saturday lunchtime meeting with League leaders City.

Prem clubs battle over Schick

Arsenal are part of the bidding war for Bayer Leverkusen star Patrik Schick ahead of the January transfer window, reports suggest.

According to 90min, Manchester City, Tottenham, West Ham, Everton and the Gunners have been keeping tabs on Schick for months.

Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick is also a well-known fan of the striker, whom he signed at RB Leipzig on loan from Roma in 2019.

However, Leverkusen are in no hurry to sell and have little interest to hear offers for the Czech Republic international next month.

The 25-year-old is enjoying a stunning campaign as he is the second highest goalscorer in the Bundesliga and has netted more times than Borussia Dortmund superstar Erling Haaland.

Prem clubs prepare for AFCON departures

The Africa Cup of Nations 2021 is almost upon us after twice being delayed.

Originally slated for June this year, the tournament was first moved to February before the Covid-19 pandemic forced yet another delay.

With AFCON taking place mid-season, a number of Premier League clubs are going to be affected by their players leaving.

The competition runs between Sunday, January 9 to Sunday, February 6.

This year there are 24 nations competing, with the group stage featuring six groups of four teams.

Following that will be the traditional knockouts, before the final itself on February 6 in Olembe.

Sterling says stay off social media

Raheem Sterling has revealed the advice he would have given his teenage self during a radio interview with England boss Gareth Southgate.

And the forward opened up on the racist abuse aimed at England players at Euro 2020 in the honest conversation.

As guest editor on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Sterling sat down to talk with Three Lions boss Southgate.

Asked by his manager what advice he would have said to himself when he was 19, the 27-year-old said: “Come off social media, don’t read anything about yourself.”

Life has peaked

John Terry and his wife Toni splashed out nearly £150,000 to rent a stunning chalet in the Swiss Alps.

The former Blues ace whisked his family away for a luxury winter break and shared snaps on social media.

Catered chalets on Les Petit Crans – Crans Montana resort sleep up to 16 guests.

Peak season runs from December 18 to January 3.

And they can be hired for exclusive stays in that period for £146,000-per-week.

In one shot, Terry and Toni took a selfie on the balcony with a glass of wine and the snowy peaks in the background.

Another saw the couple posing under an illuminated ‘LOVE’ sign.

Maddison message puts Salah off

James Maddison was caught whispering in Mo Salah’s ear before his penalty miss against Leicester.

Salah himself won the first-half penalty after being tripped in the area by stand-in centre-back Wilfred Ndidi.

Schmeichel guessed the right way to deny the tame effort, before the Egyptian could only head the rebound onto the crossbar.

But prior to that Maddison can be seen whispering a message into Salah’s ear.

And the one-cap England international clearly got into his head, as the Liverpool star fired a weak effort on goal.

They toot…they score

Footy thugs high on cocaine are fuelling a terrifying surge in violence at stadiums, a Sun investigation has found.

Every ground we swabbed had traces of the class A drug, which sparked the shameful scenes at Wembley in July’s showpiece Euro 2020 final.

We discovered lines had been racked up on top of loo roll holders at Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, while our reporter was offered “charlie” outside a Brighton match earlier this month.

At The Etihad — home of Premier League champions Manchester City — empty drug bags and one containing cocaine were found on a cubicle floor.

Traces of the drug were also found on top of toilets at Arsenal’s Emirates stadium.

Real believe they can sign Mbappe and Haaland

Real Madrid reportedly reckon they can secure transfers for Kylian Mbappe AND Erling Haaland due to their special relationship with Borussia Dortmund.

The Spanish giants are the red-hot favourites to land Mbappe on a free from Paris Saint-Germain.

His contract expires at the end of the season and does not look likely to sign an extension, with his heart set on the Bernabeu.

But Marca report Real’s strong relationship with Dortmund will help them land Haaland too, with LaLiga chief Javier Tebas admitting: “Real Madrid have the capacity to sign Mbappe and Haaland.”

Aki Watzke, the CEO of the German club, is good friends with his Real Madrid counterpart Jose Angel Sanches and president Florentino Perez.

Messi’s wife Antonela shows off new look 

Messi’s wife Antonela Roccuzzo has wowed fans with a brand new blonde hairstyle.

The usually brunette bombshell has been snapped in an adorable family picture alongside PSG star Messi and their three children, showing off her different coloured locks.

Messi posted the family shot to Instagram, in which 33-year-old stunner Roccuzzo is sporting a new blonde look.

But the new hairstyle is nowhere near as bright as the fluorescent outfits on display by the Messi family.

GOOD MORNING FOOTY FANS

The Premier League announced on Tuesday that Everton vs Newcastle will not go ahead on Wednesday.

Newcastle were already down to the bare bones for Monday night’s match with Manchester United, only to lose Callum Wilson and Alain Saint-Maximin during the game through injury.

As it stands, with Covid and injuries they can’t field a team.

Georginio Wijnaldum is reportedly ‘destined for a Premier League return’ just five months after moving to Paris Saint-Germain.

The midfielder headed to France on a free transfer in the summer after his Liverpool contract expired.

Tutto Mercato claim that he is ‘destined’ to come back to England once the transfer window re-opens.

And relegation strugglers Newcastle want Wijnaldum back at St James’ Park for a second stint, according to L’Equipe.

Tottenham were able to screen their Boxing Day clash with Crystal Palace live on BT Sport at incredibly short notice.

And that was all down to the forward planning of chairman Daniel Levy.

Ahead of building Spurs’ stunning new £850million home, it was decided it must be the most technologically-advanced sports arena in the world.

So matches can be beamed live from the stadium effectively at the flick of the switch, when these games normally need days of planning by TV companies.

Prem return for Wijnaldum

Georginio Wijnaldum is reportedly ‘destined for a Premier League return’ just five months after moving to Paris Saint-Germain.

The midfielder headed to France on a free transfer in the summer after his Liverpool contract expired.

Tutto Mercato claim that he is ‘destined’ to come back to England once the transfer window re-opens.

And relegation strugglers Newcastle want Wijnaldum back at St James’ Park for a second stint, according to L’Equipe.

Reds suffer blip

Liverpool have lost to Leicester at the King Power Stadium.

Ademola Lookman’s second half goal was enough to defeat the Reds, who will rue a missed a penalty from Mo Salah.

But Leicester were really solid at the back, after shipping six in against Manchester City on Boxing day.

Huge blow in the title race for the Reds though.