Transfer information LIVE: Man Utd set off contract extension, Zubimendi to Liverpool enhance, Alexander-Arnold newest

Reports over the past day or two suggest that Real Madrid are likely to return with a more firm offer for Trent Alexander-Arnold, after initial conversations were shut down by Liverpool.

However, the i paper are saying the result will be the same: the Reds will reject any possibility of letting their right-back leave in midseason, instead focusing on trying to land trophies and convince him to sign a new contract instead.

Alexander-Arnold, who is the club’s vice captain, can now talk freely to Real and arrange a move without a fee at the end of the season.

As a sign of how constrained this January window might be, one mid-level Champions League club briefly considered whether a move for Marcus Rashford might be possible. There was a feeling his comments about leaving Manchester United could lead to a knock-down price… only for their interest to almost immediately be knocked down. The plan to try and enquire about a £30m deal didn’t even get off the ground.

The gap to what United would actually want, which is understood to be beyond £60m, shows how it might take an awful lot to get this market going. One circular problem sums up everything. Most Premier League clubs want to do significant business but PSR has left highly-paid squads with little headroom, and those in Europe just don’t have the money to spend. Many of the latter are still struggling after Covid, especially when the English competition so inflates the wage race. As a consequence, almost everyone needs to sell first, but there are few buyers to make that happen. That is the set-up for stagnation, and a market that simply won’t move.

A report claimed the United striker had met with a leading sports agency to try to hasten a move away from Old Trafford.

But Rashford, who is currently represented by his brother Dwaine Maynard, wrote on Instagram: “Been a lot of false stories written over the past few weeks, but guys this is getting ridiculous – never met with any agency and don’t have any plans to…”

Real Madrid are mulling over a second January bid for Trent Alexander-Arnold to bring the right-back to the Bernabeu before next summer, when he will be available on a free transfer.

The Times report the Spanish side will test Liverpool’s resolve with Arne Slot’s side top of the Premier League and Champions League.

While the report states no figures were discussed initially, Real Madrid could be ready to pay just over £20m to make the move six months earlier than a potential summer move.

Manchester United do not have the funds to buy players to strengthen their struggling team in the January transfer window.

But after spending more than £200m on summer signings and with very little leeway within Profitability & Sustainability Rules (PSR), United are unable to spend unless they sell.

Championship news to kick things off this morning, where Ashley Barnes has gone “back home”, in his own words.

The veteran striker has left Norwich City by mutual consent, where he scored seven times in 49 games across a year and a half, and has rejoined Burnley – the club he had almost a decade at including a spells in the Premier League.

He played nearly 300 times for the Clarets, scoring 67, and he has already won promotion three times with them.

Jamie Carragher says Man City will either go big or not bother in January, despite their terrible drop-off in results this season.

“Man City will try and get the real deal [in January], of course they will, but what you don’t want to do is to end up sort of buying someone for £30m-£40m and in six months he’s not going to play and he’s going to be sitting there on big wages,” he said on Sky Sports.

“If they feel they need to do that to help them get over the line to make the Champions League then they have to do it – but if it’s someone who they don’t really think will move the dial in the next six months or in the future then it’s probably best to leave it.”

City are sixth in the table at the halfway point after beating Leicester to end their winless run, but sit 14 points off leaders Liverpool who also have a game in hand.

Aston Villa are looking to add another wide forward to their ranks as they continue to balance their Premier League and Champions League exertions, and Donyell Malen might just fit the bill. The Dutchman has slipped down the pecking order at Borussia Dortmund and may be available for the right fee. Villa have opened talks over a move, according to Sky Sports.

If 2024 took England to the brink of the trophy that has eluded them since 1966, 2025 brings the arrival of a manager with the track record of winning silverware that Gareth Southgate lacked. Southgate’s achievement in twice coming agonisingly close, denied by penalties in the Euro 2020 final and by an 86th-minute decider four years later, earned him a knighthood.

Thomas Tuchel is ineligible for such an honour. But he has medals from the Champions League, the Bundesliga and Ligue Un. A manager whose contract only lasts until 2026 will be charged with winning the World Cup. He has at least already won the Club World Cup.

Tuchel officially starts work on New Year’s Day, though he attended December’s draw in Zurich to determine England’s opponents in World Cup qualifying: Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra do not promise to form a pool of death.

“It’s a difficult group,” said Tuchel but qualifying has rarely presented a problem for England since Steve McClaren failed to reach Euro 2008 and the German is a manager with a proven expertise in knockout football. Besides his Champions League win with Chelsea, Tuchel steered Paris Saint-Germain to the final and Bayern Munich to within a few minutes of it.

Jurgen Klopp dropped his bombshell, he later revealed, in November 2023. In January 2024, he went public. Liverpool’s search for a manager could begin; not publicly, given their preference for doing their business as quietly as possible, but at least with one layer of secrecy removed.

They were soon informed that Xabi Alonso was minded to stay at Bayer Leverkusen for another year. To many in the wider world, Sporting CP’s Ruben Amorim assumed a status as the frontrunner after that. Not so, Liverpool would say; he was merely one of several they looked into.

There was no preferred choice, they insist, until they alighted on Feyenoord’s Arne Slot. But he seemed to emerge from the shadows. The high-profile nature of the Portuguese’s candidacy contrasted with the low-key approach adopted by Slot. He got the job by stealth, almost without warning.