The manager insists that no one has asked to move during the winter transfer window

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Jose Mourinho insists that none of his players have asked to leave Manchester United during the January transfer window.

The Portuguese manager has struggled to maintain a regular starting lineup this season, having made 46 total changes in the first 15 Premier League matches of the campaign.

A total of seven players are entering the last few months of their contract as decisions will need to be made on Antonio Valencia, Andreas Pereira, Matteo Darmian, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Anthony Martial and loanee James Wilson in the near future.

Rumours have also continued to swirl surrounding the futures of Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez.

Pogba has frequently been a target of Mourinho’s ire, and the Frenchman has been repeatedly linked with a move away from the club just two-and-a-half seasons after his return to Manchester from Juventus.

Sanchez, meanwhile, has struggled mightily when it comes to replicating his Arsenal form, although his wages would almost certainly make a sale difficult for the club.

Still, Mourinho insists that no one has asked to leave in January.

“No,” Mourinho stressed when asked if any players had come to him about departing the team. “Nobody asked me. Nobody at all.”

Mourinho could certainly hit the market in January, though, as the manager has made no secret of the fact that he is looking for additions.

Central defence remains a focus with Mourinho recently having turned to midfielders Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay to play in more defensive roles.

The Spain international midfielder was handed his first start under the new Real Madrid boss as they hosted Melilla on Thursday, scoring twice

Santiago Solari declared himself pleased with Isco after he was restored to the Real Madrid starting line-up and produced a fine double in their 6-1 Copa del Rey win over Melilla.

The Spain playmaker has been confined to bench duty since Solari replaced Julen Lopetegui in the hotseat and was dropped from Madrid’s matchday squad for last week’s 2-0 Champions League victory at Roma.  

He returned to the first XI for the formality of Thursday’s second-leg tie against third-tier opponents, with Madrid already holding a 4-0 first-leg advantage.

Marco Asensio opened the scoring after the half hour, setting in motion a flurry of three goals in six minutes.

After the interval, Isco joined Asensio in hitting a double – netting either side of Vinicius Junior getting in on the act, with Isco’s first a sublime strike from 25 yards that drew warm applause from Solari.

“I’m very happy for Isco, I was very sorry that he missed the one played in the first half, because it would have been a great goal,” he told reporters.

“I’m also very happy for Asensio, who scored two goals, and for Vinicius, who did another.”

Rookie centre-back Javi Sanchez scored his first senior goal before conceding the penalty that allowed Yacine Qasmi to convert an 81st-minute penalty.

“This game let us see many players who are well and committed,” Solari added.

“We have been solid and good in attack. Melilla are very good, the leader of Segunda B.

“I’m happy for what the veterans did, the youngsters of the first-team squad and the homegrown players who debuted.

“I was delighted with the debuts of [Alvaro] Fidalgo, Francisco Garcia and the goal from Javi Sanchez.”

Real Madrid are currently fifth in the La Liga table, five points adrift of leaders Barcelona.

The Champions League holders bounced back from their shock defeat away to Eibar with a 2-0 victory against Valencia last Saturday and face an away trip to struggling Huesca this weekend.

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The Italian side only need a draw to progress from Group C but the coach insists his side will not be sitting back at Anfield

Carlo Ancelotti challenged Napoli to serve up a repeat of their October performance against Liverpool as they look to clinch a place in the Champions League knockout stages on Tuesday.

The Serie A club sit on top of Group C going into the final round of fixtures and know a draw at Anfield will be enough to see them through to the next round.

Yet Ancelotti insists the visitors will not be taking a defensive mindset into the clash with the Premier League leaders, who sit outside the two qualification spots following a 2-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on November 28.

Napoli won the reverse fixture 1-0 on Italian soil, Lorenzo Insigne grabbing a late winner, and Ancelotti believes that performance offers his players a recipe for success against Jurgen Klopp’s side.

“We have done very well so far and we will have a little advantage,” the Italian coach told the media. “The cake has been made, now we need the cherry.

“We know what’s at stake. We need to take the final step to get through the group.

“We haven’t come here to sit back but to play our own game – we are going to have to be very focused and set out to score a goal.

“I think we can draw on the first game at home, as it has given us a lot of confidence and we’d like to put in a repeat performance.”

Opposite number Klopp has called for the home crowd to produce a special atmosphere, yet Ancelotti expects Napoli’s travelling support to make plenty of noise.

“Everyone knows the passion of the fans, but it’s great to play these games in these stadiums,” he said.

“Anfield is an incredible stadium with very passionate fans. It is true that there will be many fans of Liverpool, but there will also 3,000 Napoli fans at the stadium and 40 million around the world.”

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The midfielder has vouched for his compatriot’s professionalism as the Barcelona forward comes under scrutiny for reported off-field antics

Bayern Munich midfielder Corentin Tolisso has claimed that international team-mate Ousmane Dembele has never been late on France duty amid question marks over the winger’s attitude.

Dembele’s fledgeling Barcelona career has frequently been thrown into doubt, with stories emerging about the player’s off-field conduct, including showing up late to training.

Tolisso and Dembele were part of the France squad that won the World Cup in Russia this summer and the former has voiced his support for his under-fire compatriot.

“I have not seen any lateness [from Dembele] while with the French team,” Tolisso told Canal.

“Ousmane has extraordinary potential, I have been able to see him every day in training, in everyday life and in the group, he is someone who is appreciated by everyone and has an overflowing humour. He is young, he is 21 years old.” 

Dembele went some way towards answering his critics by producing a stunning solo goal against Tottenham in the Champions League, dispossessing Kyle Walker-Peters and racing half the length of the pitch before coolly slotting home.

Tolisso also commented on his side’s progress in Europe’s elite club competitions, expressing his pleasure at Bayern finishing top of their group following a thrilling 3-3 draw with Ajax when a loss would have seen their opponents leapfrog them.

“We are happy, we had to finish first. The match at Ajax was very, very difficult but we had to answer this.”

Tolisso was hoping to draw his old side Lyon in the next round of the Champions League, who finished second in a group that contained Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk and Hoffenheim.

“I would prefer a Lyon-Bayern in the quarter-finals because maybe I’ll be able to play,” said Tolisso before the draw, where his side were presented with a tricky-looking tie against last season’s finalists, Liverpool.

However, despite their European success so far the German giants are struggling domestically in comparison with their usual standards, and trail Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund by nine points, sitting in third place.

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“It’s not a crisis. Sure it was complicated at one point, when you’re Bayern Munich you’re not allowed to make two draws in a row but it has been going better for a few weeks. We are winning our matches, we have to continue like this and we will come back little by little and we will go and get this Bundesliga title.”

The Red Devils slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Anfield against their bitter rivals, leading their manager to rule out a title challenge

Jose Mourinho claimed the best Manchester United can hope for in the Premier League is to finish fourth following their 3-1 defeat at Liverpool.

United succumbed to two deflected goals from substitute Xherdan Shaqiri at Anfield, after Jesse Lingard cancelled out Sadio Mane’s opener.

Mourinho’s side now sit sixth, 19 points behind leaders Liverpool, and the Portuguese insisted United can only aim for the final Champions League qualification spot this term.

Asked if he could fix United’s predicament, Mourinho told Sky Sports: “What do you mean by fix? You mean win the title? I can’t fix this.

“We can still finish fourth, I think it is not easy, for sure we are going to finish in the top six like all of the other historically top teams, but the best we can get is the fourth position.

“Now we have to look to the fifth position and then probably later the fourth.”

Mourinho also defended his defensive tactics in Sunday’s encounter, stating United cannot realistically compete with Jurgen Klopp’s side.

“Liverpool is the better team, we cannot compare their intensity, their physicality, then the technical qualities come up and they are a better team than us,” he said.

“In spite of that, we were in the game until we conceded the third, I repeat, in a moment where the most probable result was obviously a draw, because we had as many chances as them to win the game in the last 10-15 minutes.”

The champions host the leaders at the Etihad on Thursday, the latest installment in a series that is evoking memories of the Ferguson-Wenger era

Pep Guardiola was midway through his answer, but his audience’s attention had already been drawn elsewhere.

It was late-July, and the Manchester City manager was conducting a press conference at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

He had just watched his team, made up mainly of teenagers with a sprinkling of senior players thrown in, beaten 2-1 by Liverpool on a dog of a pitch in the International Champions Cup, courtesy of Sadio Mane’s last-minute penalty.

Guardiola was praising the performance of his side, the maturity of his youngsters and the way in which they had sought to control the game against more experienced opposition.

Then, Klopp arrived.

The Reds boss hadn’t meant to gatecrash, but his presence was enough to change the mood in the room. There were cheers and applause, with Guardiola inviting his opposite number to join him at the top table.

Those hoping for an impromptu joint press conference were to be left disappointed. The pair shook hands, but as Klopp took his seat, Guardiola exited stage left. The limelight would not be shared.

Fast forward five months or so, and Klopp is again invading Guardiola’s personal space. Liverpool have their eye on City’s Premier League crown, and can take a giant stride towards it with victory at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday evening.

No team has ever failed to win the title having gone into the New Year with a seven-point advantage, as Liverpool did this week. City, though, will cut that gap to four if they can become the first side to defeat Klopp’s men in the league this season.

It’s set up for a classic, a clash of two top-quality teams, full of top-quality players, with top-quality managers who demand top-quality football.

“The most attractive game of the Premier League,” says Ilkay Gundogan, the City midfielder. Hard to argue. The sub-plots are everywhere.

The game will see Brazil’s first and second-choice goalkeepers battle, it will see two of Europe’s most potent attacks go head-to-head. Arguably the Premier League’s two finest centre-backs will be on display, as well as its best left-back, its most creative midfielder and its two best right-backs.

Then, there are the managers. Klopp and Guardiola maintain, regardless of that sketch in America in the summer, a healthy respect for one another, but their rivalry is emerging as one of the most compelling English football has seen in years.

In the late-1990s, the nation was entranced by Manchester United and Arsenal, with the teams of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger producing a series of memorable clashes. They were often fraught, and often decisive when it came to the destination of the championship.

Since then, there have been brief conflicts but few genuine, lasting rivalries. Early days, but City and Liverpool look capable of providing exactly that, even if the enmity that existed between United and Arsenal at their peak is still to emerge.

Hopefully it doesn’t. In an era where ‘bad blood’ or ‘needle’ are seen as necessities in sports promotion – we’re looking at you, Mr McGregor – the approach of both Klopp and Guardiola is refreshing. Theirs is a footballing dispute, nothing more. The quality of the two teams is enough to sell it.

“For me, they are still the best team in the world,” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday. Two days earlier, Guardiola had ventured a similar opinion of Liverpool. “At the moment,” he said, “they are the best team in Europe.”

Klopp’s record against Guardiola ensures he commands the Catalan’s respect. In 15 meetings, the German’s sides have prevailed eight times. At Liverpool, he has lost to City just once – a 5-0 shelling at the Etihad last season, when Mane was sent off in the first half.

It means Guardiola has often tailored his approach, abandoning (or at least modifying) some of his core principles in order to win the tactical battle.

At Bayern Munich, for example, he used long balls to beat the famous Borussia Dortmund press, deploying Javi Martinez as an attacking midfielder in order to play direct and fight in the opposition half. At Anfield in October, he dropped his team deep, using Bernardo Silva as an orthodox central midfielder as he sought to nullify Liverpool’s rapier-like counter-attacks.

It worked, to a degree. City would have won that game but for Riyad Mahrez’s late penalty miss. The Algerian’s aberration has looked more costly with each passing week.

Guardiola has suggested that even a draw may not be enough for his side on Thursday. “We drop points, it’s over,” he said last weekend.

He has never been beaten to a league title by Klopp, but Liverpool’s consistent excellence over the first half of the season means it is a real possibility this time. “They don’t lose a game, they don’t concede, they start in incredible form,” the Catalan added.

Klopp, meanwhile, knows both the challenge which lies ahead, and the rewards should his side win.

“It’s one of the most difficult games you can have in the modern football world,” he said. “They will be ready, and we have to make sure we are ready.”

If they are, if Mo Salah and Kevin De Bruyne and Virgil van Dijk and Sergio Aguero are ready, then we can expect fireworks. It’s not United-Arsenal, but the Premier League has a new, high-class rivalry to get excited about.

Whatever you do, don’t miss the latest instalment…

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The former Gunners defender believes big-money additions and lucrative contract extensions have led to the Welshman heading towards Juventus

Arsenal’s inability to keep Aaron Ramsey at the club is “staggering” and “astonishing”, claims Martin Keown, but they only have themselves to blame.

The Gunners have found themselves in an all too familiar situation this season when it comes to the future of one of their prized assets.

Having previously faced similar struggles with the likes of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Jack Wilshere, Wales international Ramsey is now heading towards becoming a free agent.

Those in north London have failed to put suitable terms in place, having taken an offer off the table, and are about to lose the 28-year-old to a leading European rival in Juventus.

Keown considers that to be unacceptable, but believes recent transfer deals, and contract extensions, have contributed to an unfortunate saga in north London.

The former Arsenal defender told the Daily Mail: “If Arsenal are admitting they are only able to sign loan players, then it is staggering that they are happy to let one of their prized assets leave for nothing.

“Juventus looks the most likely destination for Aaron Ramsey when his contract runs out at the end of the season. The Italian champions must be rubbing their hands together.

“Ramsey has conducted himself with great dignity this season but it is astonishing that Arsenal, a powerhouse in the English game, could not put together a package to keep him.

“The team are still formidable going forward. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are good enough to grace any team in the Premier League’s top six.

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“But the £100 million spent to sign those players last season and hefty wages given to other star players has led to this situation.

“Unai Emery must look at his back line – where they are short at centre half – and wish he could bring in reinforcements. After all, Arsenal are only three points off the top four.

“Emery is finding that decisions made before he arrived have left him with his hands tied.”

The Gunners boss has conceded that he has no transfer kitty to work with in the January window, with the club only able to bring in loans.

He is, however, hoping to bring fresh faces on board, with Goal revealing that a loan agreement is close to being completed with Barcelona for midfielder Denis Suarez.

The midfielder is out of contract at the end of the season, but may not end up in Serie A due to Milan’s Financial Fair Play restrictions

AC Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso has revealed that it may not be possible for the Serie A side to sign Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

The 31-year-old has played just five Premier League games this season, with most of his appearances for the Blues coming in cup competitions. Fabregas’s contract at Stamford Bridge expires in the summer and as a result, he could leave the club after five seasons.

Milan boss Gattuso has repeatedly stated his interest in the World Cup winner, but believes that Financial Fair Play restrictions could stop the club bringing the midfielder to Italy.

“We have stakes. We cannot do what we want,” Gattuso told DAZN. “The club has been clear. Fabregas? There are important figures involved.”

Although he has not signed a new deal at Chelsea, manager Maurizio Sarri would like Fabregas to stay at the club beyond the January transfer window.

“In this position we have only two players, Jorginho and Fabregas, so for me it would be really a problem without Cesc,” Sarri said.

“I want him to stay, I don’t know the final decision of Cesc and the club of course. 

“But for me it’s very important and if Cesc will go I think that we need to buy another player, and it’s not easy because, technically, Cesc is a very important player. 

“And I think that in the market it’s very difficult to find a player with his characteristics.”

Chelsea’s policy is to only offer one-year contracts to players over 30, which could prove a stumbling block in Sarri’s plan to retain the midfielder. Fabregas will be allowed to sign a pre-contract with another club in January, securing a transfer for the 2019-20 season.

In November, Fabregas denied that Milan had made an approach, but indicated that he would consider any offers which may come in January.

“I haven’t spoken to anyone,” Fabregas told reporters. “Obviously, in January I can sign with whoever I want and probably this will attract many clubs. But, so far, from what I can say right now, yes I will stay here until the end of the season.”

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The Blues legend had been hoping to see his former club sanction a loan move to Derby for the Wales international, but he has had no joy

Frank Lampard is a Chelsea legend, but his former club have done him no favours in the transfer market by blocking a loan move to Derby for Ethan Ampadu.

A man who spent the most productive period of his career at Stamford Bridge is currently cutting his managerial teeth with Championship promotion hopefuls Derby.

In an effort to aid that cause, Lampard has asked recruitment questions of those in west London.

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Highly-rated teenager Ampadu was the subject of his most recent enquiry, but he was made aware that the Wales international will be going nowhere in January.

Lampard told reporters of his approach for the versatile 18-year-old: “We have asked, but I don’t think he’s leaving Chelsea.

“He can play in a few positions, that’s why he would be so valuable to anybody and why he’s staying at Chelsea.”

Derby already have two youngsters on loan from Chelsea, with Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori impressing for the Rams.

Harry Wilson has also been acquired from Liverpool and Lampard believes all of his Premier League loanees will be staying put in a window which is likely to deliver little business at Pride Park.

The ex-England international added: “Mason is staying. Harry, I think, is staying here – but it’s obviously Liverpool’s call and we accept that.

“I was aware of the finances here. We’re not in the same league as some teams that have spent a lot.

“People thought we did a lot of business in the summer, but our actual net spend was very negligible.

“I had to bring in personnel to try to change the style and that’s not a one-window solution, that’s probably two or three-window. This window will be quiet for us.”

Derby are currently sat sixth in the second-tier table, six points adrift of the automatic promotion places and four clear of arch-rivals Nottingham Forest and a congested group of clubs seeking to force their way into the play-off positions.

Queensland Reds coach Nick Stiles is “extremely disappointed” and “extremely annoyed” that Scott Higginbotham has been charged with assault police.

Higginbotham has been told to steer clear of training with the squad for the next few days but when questioned, Stiles would not be drawn on whether he will suit up for the February 14 trial against the Melbourne Rebels.

The Reds will now await the ARU Integrity Unit findings before they take further action.

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