Transfer Talk: Man United's Paul Pogba 'desperate' to play under idol Zinedine Zidane

The transfer window in all of Europe's big five leagues is now closed, but that doesn't stop Transfer Talk from rummaging through the remains of the summer window to scrounge up the earliest bit of gossip about who will be moving where come January.

Pogba angling to play under idol Zidane?

Paul Pogba is "desperate" to play under his idol Zinedine Zidane, amid reports that Manchester United will turn to the former Real Madrid manager to replace Jose Mourinho, says Metro.

The France international's poor relationship with Mourinho has been well documented, and it's said the player has told club executive vice chairman Ed Woodward that he wants to leave Old Trafford during the January transfer window. (Luis Suarez says Pogba would be welcome at Barcelona, for what that's worth.)

Of course, Pogba's want-away attitude could change in tandem with a change along the touchline. While United profess they haven't discussed replacing Mourinho, the notion of dumping the Portuguese and bringing in Zidane to replace him has been in the water for several weeks now. And the Sun quotes a source as saying, "Paul grew up with Zidane as his hero and would like to play for him at some stage in his career."

Pavard denies deal with Bayern Munich

France World Cup-winning defender Benjamin Pavard has denied he has reached an agreement to join Bayern Munich from Stuttgart, reports Sky Sports.

Pavard was one of the stars in Russia - scoring the goal of the tournament, by one measure, against Argentina - and talk of a move to Germany's biggest club has persisted.

Meanwhile, Pavard has also reportedly drawn interest from Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham. And while he's said he is happy where he is, the Sky Sports report points to an interview Pavard gave to L'Equipe on Tuesday in which he said, "My career plan was to stay one more season in Germany."

Man City top list of biggest spenders since 2010

Seven of the biggest clubs across Europe have each spent more than €1 billion in transfer fees on players since 2010, according to the Daily Mail's report on a new study from the CIES Football Observatory, a data and analytics firm.

Manchester City lead the list with a €1.47bn spent, followed by Chelsea (€1.31bn), Barcelona (€1.25bn), Paris Saint-Germain (€1.24bn), Manchester United (€1.10bn), Juventus (€1.08bn) and Liverpool (€1.07bn). Real Madrid are, perhaps for once, comparatively frugal at €912m.

Tap-ins

- West Ham are without a point from their first four Premier League matches, and while that might put any coach straight onto the hot seat, Manuel Pellegrini might be safer than you'd expect. That's because the Times reports the club failed to put a termination clause into Pellegrini's contract, and so he would be entitled to have his contract paid in full - to the tune of £15 million.

- Lionel Messi reckons Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have closed the gap on Barcelona thanks to their deep-pocketed approach to the transfer market. The Manchester Evening News writes up an interview Messi gave to Cataluyna Radio in which he said, "There are clubs now with a lot of money and players move for that reason. Wherever the most money is, that's where they end up going.

"Before, everyone wanted to play for Barca or Madrid, who were the best. But now everything's tighter and there's not much of a difference between the teams in Manchester, PSG, Madrid, us, Bayern [Munich], the Italians."