Rudy's Rumour Mill: Saudi contact Barcelona's Lewandowski, Arsenal join Leonardo trail
Pochettino seeking defensive reinforcements
Three defeats in the last four Premier League games have thrown Chelsea back into the abyss. After the convincing victory against Tottenham at the beginning of November and the explosive 4-4 draw against Manchester City, Pochettino and his team have lost all of their last three away matches against Newcastle, Manchester United and Everton. They have just 19 points in the Premier League.
A paradoxical situation for a team that in a year and a half has spent almost 1.2 billion euros to build a squad that is in deep trouble. And on top of that, the Argentine coach has asked the club to be active in the January transfer market by making some important signings for his side.
In particular, Pochettino asked for reinforcements in defence: with the almost certain farewell of Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr - and in light of the many injuries in that position. Chelsea are already making concrete moves to buy a new centre-back.
However, there is also turmoil in attack: Victor Osimhen remains the favourite option for the Blues. If the situation in January is as complicated as reported in recent weeks, undoubtedly an all-in attempt will be made for the Nigerian striker in the summer.
Soyuncu needs to play
In the summer Caglar Soyuncu's arrival on a free transfer from relegated Leicester had made Atletico Madrid fans happy. However, the season in Spain for the Turkish player hasn't gone to plan so far.
He's only made 4 appearances in La Liga, a total of just 61 minutes played and only one appearance in the Champions League. It is underwhelming for Soyuncu who was expected to be on the pitch regularly for Atletico.
Despite having played just a few minutes so far, the defender wants to remain in Madrid under the guidance of Diego Simeone, ready to take his chance when he's called upon.
However, some Turkish clubs are starting to move concretely for him as they try to take advantage of the situation to convince Caglar - at least for six months - to transfer to his homeland.
The teams interested are Besiktas and Fenerbahce, both looking for an experienced defender like the former Leicester centre-back. Even in Italy, there are admirers of Soyuncu. For example, AS Roma and Jose Mourinho are always attentive to the market to strengthen their defence: so anything can happen this January.
Why Lopetegui rejected Al Ittihad
A few weeks ago, Julen Lopetegui was one step away from becoming the new coach of Al Ittihad, replacing Nuno Espirito Santo who was recently sacked. After an initial hesitation, the Spanish coach seemed ready to say yes to the Saudi proposal. However, during the discussion of the final contractual details, Julen suddenly changed his mind. This opened the way for Marcelo Gallardo who didn't think twice before accepting.
Lopetegui's decision surprised everyone but now we have an explanation: after his initial salary approval, he received proposals from English clubs and, considering his desire to return to the Premier League, ultimately declined Al Ittihad's offer.
Nottingham Forest are among the teams that contacted him weeks ago and they are still pushing for Lopetegui. Julen is considered the main candidate to replace Steve Cooper who from mid-September has collected only one victory in the Premier League which came against Aston Villa on November 5th.
Many clubs after Marcos Leandro
Marcos Leandro (20) was one of the strikers courted by AS Roma throughout last summer, but despite the player's desire to join Serie A, Santos were adamant - rejecting every attempt from the Italian club.
Now, however, the situation has completely changed and, with an attractive offer, Santos are ready to let him go to Europe. However, the Giallorossi, who this summer seemed to have no rivals for the striker, now have to deal with tough competition.
And so Real Madrid, Arsenal, Newcastle and AC Milan join AS Roma in the race for Santos who, despite his 13 goals in the Brazilian Serie A, was unable to avoid the historic club suffering a first relegation to Serie B in 115 years of its history. Santos has already made it clear that next season it won't use the number 10 of Pele - who passed away almost a year ago.
And perhaps they won't even have their current number nine anymore. After the relegation, Marcos Leonardo reiterated his desire to gain experience elsewhere. Where? This, as mentioned, is still to be decided, but what is practically certain is his farewell will be soon.
Saudi clubs target Lewandowski
With the January transfer window coming, the Saudi Private Investment Fund is intensifying its contacts with some top players in Europe to gauge their possible arrival into the Saudi League.
We talked about Kevin De Bruyne being approached a few weeks ago; he confirmed his desire to stay at Manchester City until the end of the season. Then it was the turn of Bruno Fernandes who was included on the list of options. As was Luka Modric, whose chances of joining former Real Madrid teammates such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema in Saudi Arabia are growing week by week. Now, the new name on the table for Saudi is Robert Lewandowski.
Some Saudi representatives have already contacted the striker's entourage to understand his willingness to have a new experience away from Barcelona. The first preliminary approaches have been made and they will try to push for him in the summer as they attempt to convince the Pole to accept a very high proposal. The Saudi Federation wants to further enrich the presence of top players in its league.
This is also why, despite rumours of recent weeks, players like Jota and Ruben Neves are unlikely to leave their clubs during this season to return to Europe.