Monday News (includes West Ham)
Posted: 01 Dec 2025, 10:06
BBC
Liverpool are set to table a £52.5m (60m euros) bid for Real Madrid's France midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, 23. (Caughtoffside), external
Everton will not entertain any offers for Senegal winger Iliman Ndiaye, 25, and have no intention of selling him to city rivals Liverpool. (Teamtalk), external
Manchester City are considering triggering a £65m release clause for Bournemouth and Ghana forward Antoine Semenyo, 25, in January. (Times - subscription required), external
Jurgen Klopp is committed to his role as Red Bull's head of global soccer and a return to Liverpool is unlikely should Arne Slot leave Anfield. (Telegraph - subscription required), external
Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta is leading the club's pursuit of Elche's Spanish midfielder Rodrigo Mendoza, 20. (Football Insider), external
However, Chelsea and Tottenham are also interested in signing Mendoza. (Teamtalk), external
Manchester United are serious about signing Real Madrid's Uruguay midfielder Federico Valverde and will attempt to capitalise on any interest the 27-year-old shows in moving to Old Trafford. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external
Barcelona sporting director Deco says on-loan Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford, 28, is "happy" at the club and they want to keep him if possible. (Times - subscription required), external
Manchester United will welcome 17-year-old Colombian midfielder Cristian Orozco to the club next few days with his transfer from Fortaleza CEIF set to be finalised in July. (Daily Star), external
Tottenham's players discussed in detail their disconnect with the club's fans in a team meeting. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Sky Paper Talk
Premier League
Manchester City are considering a move to trigger Antoine Semenyo's £65m Bournemouth release clause - The Times.
Adam Wharton will snub a move to Manchester United if Ruben Amorim's men fail to secure European qualification. United have made the England and Crystal Palace star one of their main transfer targets next summer - Daily Mirror.
Barcelona's sporting director Deco has claimed Marcus Rashford had to shoulder too much responsibility "too young" - which ultimately led to his struggles at Manchester United - Daily Mirror.
Teenage midfielder Cristian Orozco is preparing to jet off to the UK ahead of his proposed move to Manchester United, with a preliminary agreement already in place to sign the Colombian starlet - Daily Star.
Scottish football
Celtic's Scottish Cup opponents Auchinleck Talbot sold out their hospitality in minutes for the glamour tie tie as fans scrambled for tickets - The Scottish Sun.
Racing
Champion apprentice Joe Leavy is in hospital after a late-night car crash at the weekend - The Sun.
Guardian
Alexander Isak ends drought as Liverpool stop rot with win at West Ham
Jonathan Wilson at the London Stadium
For long spells nothing happened. At one point it was so quiet you could hear a distant plane droning by. But Liverpool will not care.
Sometimes you have to get back on the horse however you can, and if that requires a stepladder, an awkward bunk from a scornful stablehand and an ungainly scramble into the saddle, so be it.
Any sort of victory is welcome after six defeats in their past seven league games, and one in which Britain’s most expensive player finally scores his first league goal for the club even more so.
The history books will record that Liverpool won their second league game in 71 days, that Alexander Isak scored his first league goal since his acrimonious move from Newcastle, and that Cody Gakpo added a late second with a smart swivel, but the history books did not have to sit through that first half. It is the nature of the London Stadium that bad games seem worse than elsewhere because everything seems so distant, and the nature of West Ham in recent times that there are a lot of bad games.
The main intrigue came with the release of the lineups. As Liverpool’s wobble became a blip became a slump, the question was asked: what would it take for Mohamed Salah to be left out? The answer, it turned out, was three or more goals conceded in three successive games for the first time in 75 years. At some point, a flair player who leaves his full-back exposed is a luxury a team can no longer afford.
Liverpool’s shape returned to 4‑2‑3-1, with Dominik Szoboszlai taking Salah’s place on the right. There was no danger of the industrious Hungarian not doing the leg work to protect Joe Gomez, whose selection at right-back was forced by the injuries to Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong. League Cup games excluded, it was Gomez’s first start of the season and came despite him requiring an injection in his knee last week.
That meant Florian Wirtz as the central creator, the role he was signed to play. The suggestion all season has been that this is the shape Slot wants for Liverpool; it was the shape he used in winning the Eredivisie with Feyenoord, and the summer signings make more sense in the context of a transition away from 4-3-3. But a 4-2-3-1 with a non-defender such as Salah was always a risk. That perhaps has been the biggest tactical issue for Liverpool this season: it was a post-Salah team with Salah still in it.
Wirtz is yet to score or register an assist in the Premier League since his £100m+ move from Bayer Leverkusen but, not for the first time this season, he looked industrious and tidy without that translating into a huge amount of threat. His tendency to drift to the left means that there are some glimmers of a partnership building with Gakpo, but as yet he and Isak are not on the same wavelength.
It was a long Virgil van Dijk pass aimed at Gakpo that almost brought a breakthrough for Wirtz six minutes before half-time as Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s attempt to intercept fell for him. There was nothing wrong with his shot, sidefooted towards the bottom corner, but Wirtz at the moment is in one of those spells where nothing quite goes right and Alphonse Areola got down well to make a stretching save.
This was Isak’s fifth start of the season as Slot continues to try to play him into form, although that decision was perhaps made easier by the back injury that forced Hugo Ekitiké off against PSV Eindhoven. He came close to scoring his first league goal for Liverpool after 21 minutes with a spectacular falling volley, but Areola starfished in front of him to beat the ball away.
That long-awaited first goal did, though, finally arrive on the hour. A corner was half-cleared, Wirtz refused to be panicked into a cross and slipped in Gakpo, and his cutback was fired in first time by Isak. It will be a long time yet before he pays off his £135m fee, but this was the finish of an extremely high-class player.
All the focus may have been on Liverpool but the goal made clear that West Ham, for all their little spike in form, are also very ordinary. They were not helped by Lucas Paquetá being sent off after collecting two bookings for dissent in quick succession. Solidity and the failings of others may be enough to save them but they are still a long way off making the fact that they had the ninth-highest average attendance in the world last season any less bewildering.
Liverpool will surely improve. Confidence will return. At least some of the new signings will settle and they will adapt to the new shape. Liverpool will celebrate the win, but this was a poor game of football.
The Athletic
Paqueta’s temper and ill-discipline are the last things West Ham need in a relegation battle
Lucas Paqueta was sent off against Liverpool Alex Pantling/Getty Images
By Roshane Thomas
His West Ham United colleague Mateus Fernandes tried in vain to stop him. So too did the club’s captain Jarrod Bowen and his Brazilian team-mate Alisson, who ran from the Liverpool goal to defuse the situation — but all their efforts were futile. This was an afternoon where nobody was going to prevent Lucas Paqueta from reminding us of his imperfections.
The playmaker was initially shown a yellow card in the 83rd minute by referee Darren England for protesting about Niclas Fullkrug’s foul on Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai. But the Brazil international then continued showing his frustration, throwing his arms in the air as he walked towards the referee.
England explained his decision but it further riled up an already incensed Paqueta, 28, who then delayed the referee’s attempts to resume the game.
England’s patience grew thin and he urged Bowen to speak to Paqueta. Bowen then delicately shoved his team-mate away from the official, before Fernandes and Liverpool pair Alisson and Curtis Jones also tried to usher him away — but an incandescent Paqueta stormed towards the referee, again, incessantly pleading his innocence.
He was then shown a second yellow card, followed by a red, and sarcastically applauded England.
Paqueta shook his head in dismay as he walked down the tunnel at the London Stadium and his last act was to applaud supporters in the lower tier of the west stand, but many of them will have glared at him sullenly as the Brazilian will now miss West Ham’s next league game away to Manchester United on Thursday.
It was a minute of hotheadedness from Paqueta, which he attempted to justify post-match on social media by posting: “Perhaps this ridiculous behavior is just a reflection of everything I’ve had to endure and, it seems, have to continue enduring! I’m sorry if I’m not perfect.”
Minutes prior, Paqueta had also written on X: “I understand that now I have to come across as the villain, it’s hard to live with everything that was caused in my life and in my psyche! I’ll keep trying to ensure they don’t affect me even more. This doesn’t justify my expulsion and that’s why I apologize to the fans and my teammates!”
In July, Paqueta was cleared of spot-fixing after a two-year investigation by the Football Association. He was charged with four counts of deliberately getting booked in league games against Leicester City on November 12, 2022, Aston Villa on March 12, 2023, Leeds United on May 21, 2023, and Bournemouth on August 12, 2023 following reports of suspicious betting patterns. A move to Manchester City fell through following the launch of the investigation in August 2023. There are no suggestions that Paqueta’s yellow cards against Liverpool on Sunday were picked up deliberately. They are instead plainly a result of his impetuousness, something the strain of the investigation has not helped.
West Ham were on a pre-season tour in the United States when Paqueta was informed by his legal team he had been cleared. He faced a potential lifetime ban from football if found guilty and had always maintained his innocence. The case had affected him deeply and in May he cried after being cautioned by referee Michael Oliver for fouling Mikey Moore in the 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur. Bowen and ex-head coach Graham Potter, who was sacked in September, consoled the playmaker.
But six months on against Liverpool, Paqueta’s petulance is a slap in the face to everyone associated with West Ham. The incident was made all the more stark given the news that came out before the game that West Ham legend Billy Bonds had died. Bonds, who was the personification of leadership during his playing days, would have escorted Paqueta off the pitch himself. Sadly, leadership is a trait Paqueta seldom shows.
In truth, his ill-discipline pre-dates Sunday’s 2-0 loss; which came as a result of goals from Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo. This season Paqueta, whose contract expires in 2027, has also been booked in league games against Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Leeds United, Newcastle United and Burnley and it is worth remembering he missed last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Bournemouth because of suspension.
He is unreliable and Liverpool seem to be the common denominator when it comes to Paqueta’s worst traits being brought out into the open. In April last season, during a 2-1 loss, the playmaker was performing well and causing Liverpool problems but all his good work was undone when he theatrically fell to the ground following a challenge by Andrew Robertson in the build-up to Virgil van Dijk’s winner in the 89th minute.
So for all of Paqueta’s qualities, his on-field temperament remains an issue. West Ham were there for Paqueta during the lowest moment of his career, but he seems incapable of being the influential presence head coach Nuno Espirito Santo needs during this relegation battle.
A January departure cannot be ruled out, especially given the fact that he was the subject of interest from Aston Villa in the summer transfer window.
After scoring in the 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest on August 31, he mimicked rejecting a phone call during his goal celebration and proceeded to kiss the badge. But just 12 days later he hinted the end could be near in an Instagram post.
In an attempt to protect Paqueta, Nuno was reluctant to give his thoughts on the midfielder’s dismissal in his post-match press conference.
“It’s hard to play against a team like Liverpool with 10 men,” he said. “I won’t comment on the situation. I know you will keep asking me but allow me to speak with Lucas first and try and understand. I want to have a private conversation with him and in the next press conference (on Tuesday) we can talk about it freely. I think it’s unfair to make a comment now without having the opportunity to speak to him first.”
Nuno and his team-mates may forgive Paqueta in the coming days, but a large section of the fanbase will not be as generous.
Liverpool are set to table a £52.5m (60m euros) bid for Real Madrid's France midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, 23. (Caughtoffside), external
Everton will not entertain any offers for Senegal winger Iliman Ndiaye, 25, and have no intention of selling him to city rivals Liverpool. (Teamtalk), external
Manchester City are considering triggering a £65m release clause for Bournemouth and Ghana forward Antoine Semenyo, 25, in January. (Times - subscription required), external
Jurgen Klopp is committed to his role as Red Bull's head of global soccer and a return to Liverpool is unlikely should Arne Slot leave Anfield. (Telegraph - subscription required), external
Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta is leading the club's pursuit of Elche's Spanish midfielder Rodrigo Mendoza, 20. (Football Insider), external
However, Chelsea and Tottenham are also interested in signing Mendoza. (Teamtalk), external
Manchester United are serious about signing Real Madrid's Uruguay midfielder Federico Valverde and will attempt to capitalise on any interest the 27-year-old shows in moving to Old Trafford. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external
Barcelona sporting director Deco says on-loan Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford, 28, is "happy" at the club and they want to keep him if possible. (Times - subscription required), external
Manchester United will welcome 17-year-old Colombian midfielder Cristian Orozco to the club next few days with his transfer from Fortaleza CEIF set to be finalised in July. (Daily Star), external
Tottenham's players discussed in detail their disconnect with the club's fans in a team meeting. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Sky Paper Talk
Premier League
Manchester City are considering a move to trigger Antoine Semenyo's £65m Bournemouth release clause - The Times.
Adam Wharton will snub a move to Manchester United if Ruben Amorim's men fail to secure European qualification. United have made the England and Crystal Palace star one of their main transfer targets next summer - Daily Mirror.
Barcelona's sporting director Deco has claimed Marcus Rashford had to shoulder too much responsibility "too young" - which ultimately led to his struggles at Manchester United - Daily Mirror.
Teenage midfielder Cristian Orozco is preparing to jet off to the UK ahead of his proposed move to Manchester United, with a preliminary agreement already in place to sign the Colombian starlet - Daily Star.
Scottish football
Celtic's Scottish Cup opponents Auchinleck Talbot sold out their hospitality in minutes for the glamour tie tie as fans scrambled for tickets - The Scottish Sun.
Racing
Champion apprentice Joe Leavy is in hospital after a late-night car crash at the weekend - The Sun.
Guardian
Alexander Isak ends drought as Liverpool stop rot with win at West Ham
Jonathan Wilson at the London Stadium
For long spells nothing happened. At one point it was so quiet you could hear a distant plane droning by. But Liverpool will not care.
Sometimes you have to get back on the horse however you can, and if that requires a stepladder, an awkward bunk from a scornful stablehand and an ungainly scramble into the saddle, so be it.
Any sort of victory is welcome after six defeats in their past seven league games, and one in which Britain’s most expensive player finally scores his first league goal for the club even more so.
The history books will record that Liverpool won their second league game in 71 days, that Alexander Isak scored his first league goal since his acrimonious move from Newcastle, and that Cody Gakpo added a late second with a smart swivel, but the history books did not have to sit through that first half. It is the nature of the London Stadium that bad games seem worse than elsewhere because everything seems so distant, and the nature of West Ham in recent times that there are a lot of bad games.
The main intrigue came with the release of the lineups. As Liverpool’s wobble became a blip became a slump, the question was asked: what would it take for Mohamed Salah to be left out? The answer, it turned out, was three or more goals conceded in three successive games for the first time in 75 years. At some point, a flair player who leaves his full-back exposed is a luxury a team can no longer afford.
Liverpool’s shape returned to 4‑2‑3-1, with Dominik Szoboszlai taking Salah’s place on the right. There was no danger of the industrious Hungarian not doing the leg work to protect Joe Gomez, whose selection at right-back was forced by the injuries to Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong. League Cup games excluded, it was Gomez’s first start of the season and came despite him requiring an injection in his knee last week.
That meant Florian Wirtz as the central creator, the role he was signed to play. The suggestion all season has been that this is the shape Slot wants for Liverpool; it was the shape he used in winning the Eredivisie with Feyenoord, and the summer signings make more sense in the context of a transition away from 4-3-3. But a 4-2-3-1 with a non-defender such as Salah was always a risk. That perhaps has been the biggest tactical issue for Liverpool this season: it was a post-Salah team with Salah still in it.
Wirtz is yet to score or register an assist in the Premier League since his £100m+ move from Bayer Leverkusen but, not for the first time this season, he looked industrious and tidy without that translating into a huge amount of threat. His tendency to drift to the left means that there are some glimmers of a partnership building with Gakpo, but as yet he and Isak are not on the same wavelength.
It was a long Virgil van Dijk pass aimed at Gakpo that almost brought a breakthrough for Wirtz six minutes before half-time as Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s attempt to intercept fell for him. There was nothing wrong with his shot, sidefooted towards the bottom corner, but Wirtz at the moment is in one of those spells where nothing quite goes right and Alphonse Areola got down well to make a stretching save.
This was Isak’s fifth start of the season as Slot continues to try to play him into form, although that decision was perhaps made easier by the back injury that forced Hugo Ekitiké off against PSV Eindhoven. He came close to scoring his first league goal for Liverpool after 21 minutes with a spectacular falling volley, but Areola starfished in front of him to beat the ball away.
That long-awaited first goal did, though, finally arrive on the hour. A corner was half-cleared, Wirtz refused to be panicked into a cross and slipped in Gakpo, and his cutback was fired in first time by Isak. It will be a long time yet before he pays off his £135m fee, but this was the finish of an extremely high-class player.
All the focus may have been on Liverpool but the goal made clear that West Ham, for all their little spike in form, are also very ordinary. They were not helped by Lucas Paquetá being sent off after collecting two bookings for dissent in quick succession. Solidity and the failings of others may be enough to save them but they are still a long way off making the fact that they had the ninth-highest average attendance in the world last season any less bewildering.
Liverpool will surely improve. Confidence will return. At least some of the new signings will settle and they will adapt to the new shape. Liverpool will celebrate the win, but this was a poor game of football.
The Athletic
Paqueta’s temper and ill-discipline are the last things West Ham need in a relegation battle
Lucas Paqueta was sent off against Liverpool Alex Pantling/Getty Images
By Roshane Thomas
His West Ham United colleague Mateus Fernandes tried in vain to stop him. So too did the club’s captain Jarrod Bowen and his Brazilian team-mate Alisson, who ran from the Liverpool goal to defuse the situation — but all their efforts were futile. This was an afternoon where nobody was going to prevent Lucas Paqueta from reminding us of his imperfections.
The playmaker was initially shown a yellow card in the 83rd minute by referee Darren England for protesting about Niclas Fullkrug’s foul on Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai. But the Brazil international then continued showing his frustration, throwing his arms in the air as he walked towards the referee.
England explained his decision but it further riled up an already incensed Paqueta, 28, who then delayed the referee’s attempts to resume the game.
England’s patience grew thin and he urged Bowen to speak to Paqueta. Bowen then delicately shoved his team-mate away from the official, before Fernandes and Liverpool pair Alisson and Curtis Jones also tried to usher him away — but an incandescent Paqueta stormed towards the referee, again, incessantly pleading his innocence.
He was then shown a second yellow card, followed by a red, and sarcastically applauded England.
Paqueta shook his head in dismay as he walked down the tunnel at the London Stadium and his last act was to applaud supporters in the lower tier of the west stand, but many of them will have glared at him sullenly as the Brazilian will now miss West Ham’s next league game away to Manchester United on Thursday.
It was a minute of hotheadedness from Paqueta, which he attempted to justify post-match on social media by posting: “Perhaps this ridiculous behavior is just a reflection of everything I’ve had to endure and, it seems, have to continue enduring! I’m sorry if I’m not perfect.”
Minutes prior, Paqueta had also written on X: “I understand that now I have to come across as the villain, it’s hard to live with everything that was caused in my life and in my psyche! I’ll keep trying to ensure they don’t affect me even more. This doesn’t justify my expulsion and that’s why I apologize to the fans and my teammates!”
In July, Paqueta was cleared of spot-fixing after a two-year investigation by the Football Association. He was charged with four counts of deliberately getting booked in league games against Leicester City on November 12, 2022, Aston Villa on March 12, 2023, Leeds United on May 21, 2023, and Bournemouth on August 12, 2023 following reports of suspicious betting patterns. A move to Manchester City fell through following the launch of the investigation in August 2023. There are no suggestions that Paqueta’s yellow cards against Liverpool on Sunday were picked up deliberately. They are instead plainly a result of his impetuousness, something the strain of the investigation has not helped.
West Ham were on a pre-season tour in the United States when Paqueta was informed by his legal team he had been cleared. He faced a potential lifetime ban from football if found guilty and had always maintained his innocence. The case had affected him deeply and in May he cried after being cautioned by referee Michael Oliver for fouling Mikey Moore in the 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur. Bowen and ex-head coach Graham Potter, who was sacked in September, consoled the playmaker.
But six months on against Liverpool, Paqueta’s petulance is a slap in the face to everyone associated with West Ham. The incident was made all the more stark given the news that came out before the game that West Ham legend Billy Bonds had died. Bonds, who was the personification of leadership during his playing days, would have escorted Paqueta off the pitch himself. Sadly, leadership is a trait Paqueta seldom shows.
In truth, his ill-discipline pre-dates Sunday’s 2-0 loss; which came as a result of goals from Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo. This season Paqueta, whose contract expires in 2027, has also been booked in league games against Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Leeds United, Newcastle United and Burnley and it is worth remembering he missed last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Bournemouth because of suspension.
He is unreliable and Liverpool seem to be the common denominator when it comes to Paqueta’s worst traits being brought out into the open. In April last season, during a 2-1 loss, the playmaker was performing well and causing Liverpool problems but all his good work was undone when he theatrically fell to the ground following a challenge by Andrew Robertson in the build-up to Virgil van Dijk’s winner in the 89th minute.
So for all of Paqueta’s qualities, his on-field temperament remains an issue. West Ham were there for Paqueta during the lowest moment of his career, but he seems incapable of being the influential presence head coach Nuno Espirito Santo needs during this relegation battle.
A January departure cannot be ruled out, especially given the fact that he was the subject of interest from Aston Villa in the summer transfer window.
After scoring in the 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest on August 31, he mimicked rejecting a phone call during his goal celebration and proceeded to kiss the badge. But just 12 days later he hinted the end could be near in an Instagram post.
In an attempt to protect Paqueta, Nuno was reluctant to give his thoughts on the midfielder’s dismissal in his post-match press conference.
“It’s hard to play against a team like Liverpool with 10 men,” he said. “I won’t comment on the situation. I know you will keep asking me but allow me to speak with Lucas first and try and understand. I want to have a private conversation with him and in the next press conference (on Tuesday) we can talk about it freely. I think it’s unfair to make a comment now without having the opportunity to speak to him first.”
Nuno and his team-mates may forgive Paqueta in the coming days, but a large section of the fanbase will not be as generous.