The transfer window might be closed, but the rumours keep ticking. As always, Transfer Talk has the latest and greatest. See all the summer deals right here.
N'Koulou the man to solve the Blues' blues?
It has been no great secret that Jose Mourinho is on the lookout for a quality centre-back to bolster Chelsea's shaky defence. And it appears he's found his man.
According to a report from L'Equipe, the current Premier League champions plan to make a January swoop for Marseille defender Nicolas N'Koulou, with the Blues hoping to sign Cameroon international on a cut-price deal as his contract with the French giants is set to run out at season's end.
Valued at £7.2 million, the paper insists Marseille, who finished fourth in the league last season, would rather deal with Chelsea than their Ligue 1 rivals -- which is good news for the Blues as their unsettling situation at the back looks set to be solved ... finally.
Meanwhile, back on Chelsea's current roster, John Terry is refusing give his spot up without a fight, reports the Mail.
The future of the Chelsea captain has been in doubt since being overtaken in the starting XI by young powerhouse Kurt Zouma, with Turkish giants Fenerbahce said to be monitoring his situation closely.
However, the 34-year-old believes he still has plenty left in the tank and aims to convince his pragmatic Portuguese boss into to greenlighting another 12-month contract.
QPR want Ravel back
Queens Park Rangers want to bring Ravel Morrison back to London, reports the Standard.
Unable to settle at Lazio -- where he has made just two Serie A appearances since February -- Morrison and QPR are hoping to rekindle whatever it was that made the troubled midfielder a success during a four-month stint with the Hoops back in 2014.
Since then, the England U21 international was released by West Ham before finally landing with Lazio. However his recent illness-related absence in the Romans' 5-0 loss to Napoli over the weekend has QPR believing they can lure the starlet back to Loftus Road.
United could have been in good Kompany
Sir Alex Ferguson's new book, "Leading," contains quite a few revelations about life behind the scenes at Old Trafford.
However, one juicy peice of information that wasn't touched on -- but has found it's way onto social media -- is that Manchester City's Vincent Kompany was included on a list of five potential signings for United back in 2004.
Interesting "discussion document" from 2004 MUFC board meeting in Fergie's book. Lists Kompany as a potential target pic.twitter.com/JQ5ismRpyw
- Paul Hirst (@hirstclass) September 22, 2015
In the end, Ferguson's men opted to bring in defensive reinforcement in the shape of Argentina international Gabriel Heinze and the then-up-and-coming Barca teen Gerard Pique instead.
But, considering that Kompany was one of only two names out of the five that didn't get signed, you can imagine how close United came to snaring the future City captain.
Interestingly enough, that same document lists Kleberson -- or KleRberson as he is named there -- as more important to the squad than the 'excess' that was Nicky Butt?!?!
Perhaps that proves that Sir Alex was fallible after all...
Tap-ins
- The Birmingham Mail says that West Brom boss Tony Pulis is still unsure whether he'll sign free agent Ricardo Vaz Te. The former Hammer has been trialling at the club for the past week.
- Leeds owner Massimo Cellino -- sounding like a scorned lover -- has told Sky Sports that he has "deeply offended" and "hurt" by Sam Byram's decision to refuse United's offer of a new contract. Cellino says he is going to go out and sign someone "better than him."
- L'Equipe have confirmed that free agent Houssine Kharja has joined Romanian champions Steaua Bucharest. The 32-year-old Morocco international has enjoyed spells at Roma, Inter Milan, Fiorentina and, most recently, Sochaux.