West Ham and Crystal Palace target £40m forward as Man United ‘hold talks’ over big-money midfielder

By the time you read this, the January transfer window will officially be open – and thousands of rumours will be proved either to be true or pure fabrication over the coming weeks. As for working out which might be the real deal and which a pack of fibs, that’s where our daily round-up of the biggest new Premier League transfer rumours comes in.

Today, we start with a story from talkSPORT which suggests that both Crystal Palace and West Ham United are “interested” in struggling Wolves striker Jørgen Strand Larsen, just a few months after he penned a new contract to keep him at the Molineux when Newcastle United were doing their best to sign him.

The 25-year-old has only scored one Premier League goal since the summer and with Wolves heading rapidly towards the drop, they’re allegedly lowering their asking price. Where Newcastle had bids of around £55m rejected, Wolves will now be willing to do a deal for just £40m. They’re “open to offers” with the Norwegian’s form falling away rapidly.

There’s no detail which suggests whether Strand Larsen would have a strong preference, or that any official approaches have yet been made – but West Ham sorely need a striker, and Palace are concerned about the risk of losing Jean-Philippe Mateta in the near future.

The 3AM Verdict: It’s worth noting that on the same day that TalkSport published this story, BBC Sport printed their version of events which suggested that the Hammers had actually “cooled their interest” in the former Celta Vigo forward, so this may be a one-horse race. It’s a perfectly plausible deal for Palace to pull off, with Wolves essentially just selling assets while they have value with relegation all but certain already. Apparently West Ham felt Strand Larsen was too expensive, even at the cut rate.

Manchester United ‘hold talks’ over £340,000-a-week man

Over to a story from GiveMeSport, now – they reckon that Manchester United are one of three clubs to “hold talks” with Al-Hilal midfielder Rúben Neves in recent weeks, with Juventus and Atlético Madrid also involved in “exploratory meetings” with the Portugal international, whose £340,000-per-week contract in Saudi Arabia expires in the summer.

United are said to be “weighing up” whether to make a move in January or wait for the summer when Neves will be available on a free transfer, an Al-Hilal “will listen” to offers in the region of £15m, it’s claimed – but at the same time, are also offering the 28-year-old a new two-year contract with the intention of keeping him around if possible.

The Old Trafford outfit are also have internal discussions about deals for current Wolves midfielder João Gomes and Atlético’s Conor Gallagher, but have yet to make a decision on which players they will make formal offers for.

The 3AM Verdict: The link between United and Neves isn’t new, by any means, and we don’t doubt that there’s at least some interest but it remains very unclear whether a deal is likely in January – United don’t have immense amounts to spend over the winter and are perhaps more likely to try and hold off until the summer on that basis, but we could be surprised.

Spurs scouts watching Serie A star

Let’s wind up with a story from Sport Witness - citing various sources in Italy - which suggests that Parma midfielder Mandela Keita is “attracting interest” from Tottenham Hotspur after the club’s scouts watched him playing in Serie A.

Spurs are “watching [Keita] closely” after their representatives were impressed by his performance in a recent win over Fiorentina, and the 23-year-old (who has one cap for Belgium) is now on their shortlist moving forward – although it’s not clear whether we are looking at a January deal or a bid which will wait until the summer.

Apparently, Spurs “aren’t the only Premier League side” keeping a close eye on Keita’s progress but the other teams aren’t named. Parma, for their part, want to keep the midfielder around for as long as possible and are “pampering” him in the hope that he stays in Italy for a little while longer.

The 3AM Verdict: There isn’t enough detail in this report for us to form a clear impression of whether Keita is a priority signing for the short term or simply a player that Spurs will keep an eye on for now – until we hear more from other sources, we suspect the latter is more likely.