MILAN, THE LATEST ON THE BENCH QUESTION: IBRAHIMOVIC REITERATES HIS FAITH UNTIL THE DERBY, BUT SARRI AND TUDOR ARE HOT NAMES. JUVENTUS, EYE ON LIVERPOOL: BREMER IS ALSO AMONG THE CANDIDATES FOR THE POST-VAN DIJK REPLACEMENT. NAPLES, MANNA TALKS ABOUT THE MARKET IN ALL TERMS. BOLOGNA DEALING WITH SKORUPSKI’S RENEWAL
La Gazzetta dello Sport retraces the last few hours of Milan, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic who met with the team and coach yesterday morning in view of the derby. The Swede, as well as the Rossoneri owners, expect a prompt reaction after the defeat against Liverpool and the stuttering start to the season and this is what he asked of the team group at the summit. Ibrahimovic spoke to the team yesterday morning, bringing the owners’ bad mood to the locker room after the bad matches at the start of the season. He asked for character and personality in view of the derby, trying to charge his former teammates also with a motivational speech, making it clear how the derby against Inter can represent a real starting point for the season. In addition to the speech to the players, Ibra also spoke privately with Paulo Fonseca to whom he reiterated the club’s support, as well as the need to immediately reverse the trend. The fate of the Portuguese coach will also depend on the outcome of the derby, barring any unexpected twists: in the event of a knockout, dismissal is absolutely not to be ruled out, on the contrary. And in that case, after the contacts with Terzic’s entourage in recent days, the hot names would be those of Maurizio Sarri and Igor Tudor.
Today’s Corriere dello Sport dedicates ample space to the hero of Italiano’s Bologna’s first Champions League match, Lukasz Skorupski: he arrived in Casteldebole in 2018, and despite having shown that he is a goalkeeper who is overall consistent in terms of performance, no, he hasn’t always had a peaceful few months. Even with Thiago Motta himself, just to not go too far back in time, who more than once preferred Federico Ravaglia to him. For one reason above all, which is also the same reason why Sinisa Mihajlovic wanted to bring Vania Milinkovic-Savic from Torino to Bologna: he didn’t know how to play with his feet. But precisely with Motta, or rather, with Thiago Dossou-Yovo’s goalkeeping coach, you can assume that Skorupski has turned a corner, making the definitive leap in quality. And not only because he has improved with his feet, but also because he has become more concrete between the posts. Whether those “forced” benches were also what made him grow, who knows, but it is certain that over the last year Skorupski has been a completely different player. And Vincenzo Italiano and his goalkeeping coaches must also hold him in high regard, considering that he has always been employed so far, both in the league and in the Champions League. Skorupski is currently tied to Bologna by a contract expiring in June 2025, but it should be remembered that the red and blue club has an option for an extra year, which they will certainly exercise. Having said that, it should be added that in the coming weeks Sartori and Di Vaio will meet Skorupski’s agent again, also to compare their respective intentions.
Liverpool are searching for a new centre-back amid uncertainty surrounding Virgil van Dijk, with the 33-year-old Dutch international being one of three key players for the Reds whose contracts expire next summer, alongside Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold. TEAMtalk has gathered that the Reds are targeting Juventus centre-back Gleison Bremer, who is seen as one of the best candidates to bolster Liverpool’s defence. The Brazilian centre-back, who was scouted by Manchester United in the summer, would be a costly acquisition, with Juventus asking around €70 million for Bremer, who has a long-term contract until 2029. Bremer isn’t the only name on Liverpool’s radar, with Reds manager Arne Slot also a big fan of Sporting CP centre-back Gonçalo Inácio, whose release clause stands at €60 million. The other names for the defence are Loic Bade of Sevilla and Marc Guehi of Crystal Palace.
Napoli’s sporting director, Giovanni Manna, spoke exclusively to Radio CRC. Many topics were touched upon, including obviously a lot of space for the market: “It was certainly a somewhat complicated market, because it was affected by Osimhen’s condition and other exits to finance our income. Thanks to the president’s foresight, we were able to reach the objectives we had set ourselves. We hope that the pitch will prove us right”.
Lukaku without giving up Osimhen? “Victor’s situation has affected us. He himself expressed his desire to no longer play for Napoli and to leave: the conditions were not there initially for this transfer to happen. But we were missing a striker with different characteristics who could combine our technical needs and those of the coach. Hence the acceleration on Romelu’s transfer”.
Osimhen in Turkey? “It was an opportunity, the market was closed in Europe. They approached us as soon as our summer session was over. We weren’t very open at the beginning, because similar situations had arisen during the market, but neither we nor Victor wanted a loan. Then, by talking to the player, we managed to find a compromise and the solution was satisfactory for everyone. It’s clear that we would have liked to sell him, but it wasn’t possible. Scott McTominay really wanted to come to Naples and this was satisfying and must be for all of us. If a Manchester United player chooses to come to Naples, despite having other opportunities, we should be proud. It’s an operation that started a long time ago, already in the first days of June I had some contact with the agent, but I didn’t think we would take him. We continued to maintain these relationships, until we sat down with Manchester United and we understood that it could be done, also strong in the player’s will. Gilmour? Billy is the first midfielder that we have concretely negotiated and defined. We had practically done it in July, then there are market dynamics that slow down these transfers. We always remained in contact with the player and the club, then when the situation seemed to have unblocked, there was O’Riley’s injury. They asked us to make the agreement for January. We had a stalemate, but then the player strongly wanted to come to Naples and correctly asserted his will with the owners and the coach. So on the last day we had the opportunity to make this agreement. We had everything ready and in half a day we managed to do everything”.
BAYERN MUNICH, DS FREUND BLINDA TEL: “HE WON’T GO ON LOAN IN JANUARY”. GRAHAM ARNOLD IS NO LONGER THE COACH OF AUSTRALIA. LIVERPOOL, ALEXANDER-ARNOLD WANTS TO ACQUIRE SAINT-ETIENNE
Graham Arnold is no longer Australia’s coach. The longest-serving coach in Socceroos history will step down immediately by choice, as he told the Federation after picking up a point in their first two World Cup qualifiers for 2026: “After the game in Indonesia I said I had some big decisions to make. I followed my instincts and made the decision, after 40 years of service and six years in charge of the Socceroos, that it was time to make a change and move on. I have to be honest, and I always am, I struggled a bit after the Asian Cup loss. I went into that Asian Cup really thinking we were going to win it. I think I got the most out of this group of players. When I say that, someone else can come in and get more. Me and the staff did everything we could.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold could soon invest in football. The Liverpool full-back and midfielder, according to L’Equipe, is thinking about buying a club and, after having set his sights on Saint-Etienne, his interest has now shifted to Nantes. The Englishman is a shareholder in an investment fund managed by his father, but the matter still appears complicated.
Bayern Munich sporting director Christoph Freund spoke to Sky Sport Deutschland again about the rumours of a possible temporary departure for Mathys Tel in the winter transfer window, as the striker wants more playing time: “His loan in January is not a topic. He impressed everyone in pre-season, he is still very young and has been with us for a long time. He is always self-critical and works hard on himself every day. I am not worried about him.” His agent had already addressed the issue last May, saying: “Mathys recently signed a new long-term contract with his club. He is learning from the more experienced players. We take the roses and the thorns with them. We question ourselves, we work and we move forward. No matter who the coach will be next season (it was not yet known that Kompany would lead the Bavarians, ed.), Mathys will be available and will continue to learn to conquer his glory and the titles that everyone expects in Munich. This is his only concern after a learning season. He is 1000% focused on Bayern and he is proud of it.”