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Sevilla’s Steven N’Zonzi battles Liverpool’s Emre Can for the ball in last season’s Europa League final. Photograph: Jean-christophe Bott/AP
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<p><span>C</span><strong>helsea</strong> and <strong>Manchester City</strong> are engaged in a Christmas cracker of a ding-dong transfer battle, with both Antonio Conte and Pep Guardiola apparently desperate to fortify their midfield by spending £26m on the former Stoke and Blackburn star <strong>Steven N’Zonzi</strong>, who was playing very much under their noses and yet was unwanted by the Premier League giants until he moved to Sevilla for just more than a quarter of that sum â€" a paltry £7m â€" last summer. But Chelsea’s primary midfield focus could lie elsewhere, given the existence of a rival rumour linking them with a £25m move for Atalanta’s <strong>Franck Kessié</strong>, while they are also one of a number of clubs â€" including Internazionale, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain â€" said to be keen on the Fiorentina forward Federico Bernardeschi, who is unlikely to go anywhere before the end of the season.</p>
<p>Arsène Wenger is already considering replacements for contractual trouble-makers Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez, and has placed the Borussia Dortmund pair of Marco Reus and <strong>Christian Pulisic</strong> high on his list, though he might have to out-wrestle Jürgen Klopp if he is to stop Liverpool from swooping for them first. One potential <strong>Arsenal</strong> signing that is likely to be less hotly contested is that of <strong>Cohen Bramall</strong>, a 20-year-old left-winger spotted playing for Hednesford Town in the Evo-Stik Northern League Premier Division â€" and previously rejected by both Crewe and Leek Town â€" who apparently impressed so much on a recent two-day trial that a contract offer is imminent.</p>
<p><strong>Manchester United</strong> are ready to firm up their rumoured interest in Benfica’s <strong>Nelson Semedo</strong> with a £35m bid, though the right-back’s transfer is unlikely to be completed before the summer, with José Mourinho about to splash his entire allocation of January cash on another Benfica defender, Victor Lindelof. That much-mooted move might not go exactly as planned, however, with newspapers in Portugal predicting that the Swede will instead sign a new deal with the Portuguese giants, raising his buy-out clause to a chequebook-bothering £50m.</p>
<p><strong>Newcastle</strong> plan to respond to their post-Christmas slide to second in the Championship by spending even more money, with Bournemouth’s <strong>Callum Wilson</strong> seen as the man to fire them back to the top of the table. They are also said to be “leading the race†to sign Chelsea’s <strong>Ruben Loftus-Cheek</strong> on loan, though there are “up to 10 clubs†involved in that particular sprint. <strong>Middlesbrough</strong>, meanwhile, are keen on Udinese’s <strong>Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu</strong>, though the Ghana midfielder’s involvement in the African Cup of Nations might put a spanner in the works.</p>
<p>A man who spent £4,000 on the number plate VAR9Y in the hope of flogging it on to <strong>Jamie Vardy</strong> at a profit has sold it again for just £2,080 after he was unable to contact the Leicester ace, who already has a personalised number plate on his blue Bentley. Despite that setback there will be some new arrivals at the <strong>Leicester</strong> training ground in January, with a deal for Racing Genk’s Wilfred Ndidi all but complete and Claudio Ranieri handed a £30m mid-season <strong>war chest</strong>, according to the Telegraph.</p>
<p>The <strong>Watford</strong> striker <strong>Jerome Sinclair</strong> looks certain to spend the second half of the season on loan in the Championship, with Norwich, Reading, Brentford and <strong>Cardiff</strong> all interested in recruiting him. The latter club need a striker to replace Marouane Chamakh, who may only have played 46 minutes of league football this season but has been named on their substitutes’ bench a few times, and could jet off to al-Arabi in Qatar in the new year.</p>
<p>Who’s going to be the new <strong>Swansea</strong> manager? The Sun exclusively reveal that <strong>Roy Hodgson</strong> “has emerged as <em>the</em> strong candidate†for the role suddenly and involuntarily vacated by bungling Bob Bradley on Tuesday, but elsewhere Ryan Giggs is near-unanimously considered the most likely hot-seat-sitter. And finally, another top Premier League star is being courted by China’s Super League, who plan to offer a massive salary boost in an attempt to get their man. This man, though, isn’t even a footballer â€" it’s whistle-blowing wonder <strong>Mark Clattenburg</strong>, named the best referee in all humanity at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai yesterday.</p>
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