Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has urged the Blues to offer a new deal to their number one Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian’s current deal expires at the end of the 2018/2019 season and he has been courted by the likes of Real Madrid for the past two summers. The Blues had begun talks with his representatives, but with no progress made the Belgium number one has decided to pause negotiations until the end of the season. Per Talksport,  Conte believes Courtois is one of the best goal keepers in the world and sees him as a very important member of his team. He also admitted that Courtois could decide not to sign a new deal at the club, referencing the situation of Gunners duo, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. Courtois spent three years on loan at Atletico Madrid before returning to displace Petr Cech as the Blues number one. Courtois has not ruled out a move to Real Madrid yet, and although he is the Galacticos second choice behind David de Gea, there is a possibility that he might end up and the Bernabeu next summer.

Arsene Wenger does not believe Mesut Ozil has agreed to sign for Barcelona in January. The German is out of contract in the summer, but the Gunners are reportedly keen to tie him down to a new deal, although his representatives and the Gunners are still far from reaching an agreement. Ozil who was the club’s record signing before this last summer’s signing of Alexandre Lacazette has been inconsistent in his four years at the Emirates. But, he put in a man of the match performance against Tottenham last weekend and has attracted the attention of Barcelona. However, when asked if Ozil has agreed to join Barcelona in January, Wenger said “No” per Talksport, the French went on to admit that players could talk to any club at any time as they have representatives who hold talks on their behalf. The French man defiantly refused to sell Ozil or Sanchez during the last transfer window despite knowing they could walk for free after this season. Ozil had earlier reportedly told family and  friends that Jose Mourinho wanted him at Manchester United and he would prefer to run down his current deal and join the Red Devils.

Lionel Messi has finally signed a new contract with Barcelona ending months of endless speculations about his future. After losing Neymar to PSG over the summer, Barcelona were keen on tying Lionel Messi to a new deal. However, the Argentine was not in a hurry and that kept the club’s fans fearing they may lose another superstar. Messi’s last deal was set to expire at the end of the season, but he has signed a new deal worth £500,000 per week for the next four years. To avoid losing him like the did Neymar, the Catalans have inserted a mammoth £626 million release clause. The Argentine is also expected to pocket an 80 million signing on bonus. Messi joined Barcelona as a 13 years old, and at the end of this deal in 2021, he would have spent 17 years with the Catalans. Confirming the news on their Twitter account this afternoon, Barcelona posted the attacker with club president Josep Maria Bartomeu alongside the caption “The story continues”. Messi has played 602 games for the Catalans, scoring 523 goals.

Eden Hazard has claimed that his former teammate Mohammed Salah was unlucky at Chelsea as he was not given enough time to impress. The Egyptian who is currently the Premier League’s top scorer spent 12 forgettable months at Chelsea before being shipped out initially on-loan to Fiorentina. His stock rose in Italy and he joined AS Roma on a permanent deal the following season where he continued to shine. This summer, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp took a gamble to bring him back to the Premier League and that gamble seems to have paid off with the winger netting 9 Premier League goals so far. However, Eden Hazard thinks he could have been performing at the same level if he was still with the Blues, but Jose Mourinho was unimpressed and sold him on. Hazard is preparing with the defending champions for their clash against Liverpool on Saturday evening and is still good friends with Salah. According to the Belgian “He is still my friend, we are still in contact”. Despite their friendship, however, Hazard would not like to end up on the losing side. “… I want him to do well, but not very well because we want to win” the Belgian adds.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has said that he cared less if Danny Rose was angry at not starting games. The England left-back claim to have been left fuming after being snubbed in the derby day loss to Arsenal last weekend. However, Pochettino who reinstated the England full-back in their midweek European clash against Borussia Dortmund says he doesn’t care if Rose was disappointed at not playing because the team’s interest always comes first in selection. Rose had been sidelined for almost a year, and his Argentine manager does not want to rush him into action just yet, with the former Southampton boss even considering dropping him for this weekend’s fixture against West Brom. Rose seems to be disillusioned with life at White Hart Lane and has said he would consider an offer from a big club should it come his way. While injured earlier in the season, he had publicly asked the club to sign world class players so that they can also compete for top honours, claiming he doesn’t want them to keep signing players he would have to Google to know about them. Pochettino says he does not expect any player to be happy if he is not playing and so does not care if Rose was fuming or not.

After being left out of the squad for Manchester United’s last two match days, it appears the future of Henrikh Mkhitaryan is up in the air again. The midfielder has not enjoyed a good relationship with Jose Mourinho since he joined the Red Devils last season, despite helping them win the Europa League. The loss to Basel on Wednesday starts a run of 13 games in 40 days for Manchester United until the new year, but it seems Mkhitaryan would play a limited role in those fixtures. With Paul Pogba, and Marouane Fellaini back in midfield and Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford first choice wingers, the Armenian seem to have his work cut out in terms of getting back into the thinking of Jose Mourinho. This is the latest twist in a troubled Manchester United career of former Borussia Dortmund man. He had to wait a month before making his United debut last season but was so dismal in his first game that he was substituted at halftime. He then disappeared for two months before reemerging to score 11 goals in all competitions. He also started this season well and has provided five assists in the Premier League already this season, but Jose Mourinho clearly expects more from him.

It is safe to say Neymar is not enjoying his time as a PSG player just a few months after leaving Barcelona to join the French league leaders. The Brazilian has faced a lot of criticism for his role when he had an on-field problem with fellow attacker Edison Cavani over who should take a penalty. Since that time he is said to have been unmotivated in the French capital. Prior to Brazil’s last friendly in Paris, he was left in tears by questions over his motivation at the Parc de Princes, and a similar question was asked in his latest press question, only this time it was about his former rival team, Real Madrid. Reports from Spain are claiming that Real Madrid see Neymar as the replacement for the aging Christiano Ronaldo, and his father is said to have met with Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez recently. Christiano Ronaldo, 33, has struggled with just one La Liga goal this season and has been rumoured to be unsettled in the Spanish capital. Neymar was asked about reports linking him to Real Madrid after PSG’s demolition of Celtic, and he responded: “for F**** sake, don’t you have something else to talk about?” before storming out of the press conference. The 25 years old has made a blistering start to life in the French capital with 13 goals and 10 assists in just 14 games.

Barcelona are plotting a move for Arsenal midfielder, Mesut Ozil as an alternative to Philippe Coutinho should Liverpool refuse to sell again this January. The German has been negotiating a new deal with the Gunners for over a year, but both sides are yet to agree and the Catalans are looking to take advantage of the situation. Sportsmail reports that Barcelona are prepared to tempt the Gunners with a £17 million when the January transfer window opens. However, that move could be threatened by Mesut Ozil’s wage demands. The German looked to have settled on a £280,000 per week with Arsenal prior to Barcelona’s interest, but he has upped his demands and wants £330,00 per week now. He would also want a big signing up fee. Barcelona have one of the biggest wage budgets in the world and need to clear their books of at least one big earner before the can sign Ozil. Arda Turan is one of the high earners at the Camp Nou, but he has not started any games this season. Arsenal were also interested in signing Turan before he moved from Atletico Madrid, however, it is unclear if they would propose a cash-plus-play swap to Barcelona.

As PSG looks to balance their financial books, Liverpool is closing in on a January loan move for German winger, Julian Draxler. Draxler was close to joining the Reds last winter but chose to move to Paris instead, but things have not turned out as he would have hoped for. The arrival of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar has made Julian Draxler drop back to a more defensive role at the Ligue 1 leaders. Jurgen Klopp is thought to have been very keen on Draxler during the winter window, but his wage demands at the time were too much for the Reds and the free-spending Parisians won the race for his signature. Draxler is said to be reluctant to leave Paris however, as he still believes he has a future and wants to fight for it. If Draxler does agree to move, Liverpool faces stiff competition from other English teams especially Arsenal who has been constantly linked with him since his days in Germany. However, Some Liverpool fans do not think a move for Julian Draxler is a good one as they have more than enough quality in attack, but their defence continues to fail them. At the moment it is unclear if they would return to their top defensive target, Virgil van Dijk.