Tuchel makes transfer demands before taking Man Utd job as Man City identify £62.8m target

Welcome back to our daily digest of the biggest and boldest Premier League transfer rumours currently doing the media rounds – and we start with a pretty colossal claim from TeamTalk today which should be of interest to Manchester United fans.

They reckon that not only is Thomas Tuchel a serious target for the management job if and when Erik ten Hag is sacked, but that the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich head coach has even gone as far as to demand that United get a January transfer in motion before he’ll take the job.

The deal he wants would see the Red Devils sign Barcelona centre-back Ronald Araújo, who Tuchel apparently views as an “ideal” signing. Citing reports in the Spanish press, they reckon that the German has even been in personal contact with the 25-year-old Uruguayan to express his admiration for him. Apparently Barcelona would sell him for €80m (£67m), although there are competing claims that the Catalan club could offer him a new contract soon.

The 3AM Verdict: We’re raising a very sceptical eyebrow at this story. Partly that’s because one of the Spanish sources for the story, the website Fichajes, is notoriously unreliable, and partly because United have spent most of their annual transfer budget already and a £67m bid is likely to be well beyond them in January unless they make an unexpected big-money sale. As for Tuchel making it a condition of his employment by United, that simply sounds fanciful, even if he is an admirer of Araújo.

Man City identify big-money target

We’ve also got some news from the other side of Manchester, courtesy of Caught Offside, who reckon that the champions have found an exceptionally expensive target should they find themselves in need of a replacement for goalkeeper Ederson.

The Brazilian goalkeeper was linked with a move to Saudi Arabia in the summer transfer window and while that never came to fruition, Manchester City are now apparently interested in Porto shot stopper Diogo Costa, who could set the club back a hefty €75m (£62.8m) if the Portuguese side get their way. City don’t value him at anything more than €50m (£41.9m) however, which could prove a stumbling block. Nevertheless, Pep Guardiola apparently views him as “an ideal possible replacement”.

The 3AM Verdict: It isn’t clear just how close Ederson came to leaving for the Saudi Pro League, but the interest was real and there is every chance they come back for another go next summer. Costa, meanwhile, has established himself as Portugal’s number one and is both a fine shot-stopper and comfortable playing the sweeper-keeper role, so he makes sense for City’s style of play. This is an entirely plausible story.

Saints striker set for January exit

Finally, some news from struggling Southampton. Striker Paul Onuachu probably didn’t still expect to be at St. Mary’s this season having spent the last year on loan with Turkish side Trabzonspor, and the Nigerian has only been given 17 minutes in the Premier League so far. No surprise, then, that he could be off in the new year, according to Sport Witness.

They’ve picked up on reports which suggest that while Trabzonspor failed to sign him on a permanent basis over the summer, they are planning to try again this January. The stumbling block in the summer was the transfer fee, it seems, with the €9m (£7.5m) that the Saints demanded proving too much despite the 15 goals he scored for the Turks over the course of the last campaign. They seem to hope that Southampton will be willing to negotiate in a couple of months’ time.

The 3AM Verdict: Given his age and the fact that he clearly isn’t seen by Russell Martin as a regular starter, it’s a little surprising that they didn’t prove to be more flexible on the price over the summer, if that was indeed the issue. Onuachu never got going at Southampton, even in the Championship, and it would clearly be for the best for all parties if he moved on. We expect a deal to get done.