Monday News (includes West Ham)
Posted: 15 Dec 2025, 11:21
BBC
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim will block 20-year-old England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo from leaving the club in January amid interest from Napoli. (Metro), external
Chelsea and Bayern Munich are the frontrunners among a number of clubs trying to sign Mainoo.
Tottenham are are prepared to wait until next summer to sign Brighton's 25-year-old Netherlands defender Jan Paul van Hecke. (Football Insider), external
Spurs are strongly considering selling 24-year-old Wales forward Brennan Johnson following interest from Crystal Palace. (Teamtalk), external
Barcelona have cooled their interest in Serbia striker Dusan Vlahovic with the 25-year-old likely to join AC Milan from Juventus instead. (Sport - in Spanish), external
Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain want to sign Bayern Munich's France defender Dayot Upamecano but the Bundesliga club want to negotiate a new contract with the 27-year-old. (Bild - in German), external
Tottenham, Aston Villa and West Ham are all showing interest in Brentford's 24-year-old Brazilian striker Igor Thiago. (Caught Offside), external
Tottenham are considering replacing under-pressure manager Thomas Frank with former Barcelona boss Xavi. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external
Manchester United are planning to consider offers for Uruguay midfielder Manuel Ugarte, 24, in January. (Football Insider), external
AC Milan are ready to accelerate their interest to secure a January deal for West Ham's 32-year-old Germany striker Niclas Fullkrug. (Calciomercato - in Italian)
Sky Paper Talk
Premier League
Ruben Amorim admits he does not deserve the respect or support of his critics among the Class of '92 because he is under performing as Man Utd head coach - The Times
Ruben Amorim has told Kobbie Mainoo to knock on his door and tell him if he wants to leave Manchester United next month - Daily Express
Pep Guardiola toasted a fifth straight win in all competitions and then warned that Manchester City's new generation can become legends of the club - Daily Star
Pep Guardiola reserved a stern critique for Phil Foden's performance against Crystal Palace, despite the England international netting one of three goals which saw Manchester City claim another important win on the road - Daily Mail
Bruno Guimaraes ripped into his "embarrassing" Newcastle flops after they were beaten at bitter rivals Sunderland - The Sun
Thomas Frank said Tottenham's 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest offered a sobering reminder his side remain a "work in progress" and amid increasing scrutiny the head coach reiterated improving Spurs' fortunes is "not a quick fix", saying: "If no one gets the time, no one can turn this around." - The Guardian
European football
Former Southampton boss Will Still has revealed why he rejected the chance to become coach of FC Nantes saying additional staff he wanted to bring in were unavailable as they were employed by other clubs - L'Equipe
Guardian
Morgan Rogers’ brilliance completes Aston Villa fightback to sink West Ham
Jacob Steinberg at the London Stadium
When can Aston Villa dare to dream? When will Unai Emery accept that talk of a title challenge is far from fanciful?
Villa’s standards dropped and their legs looked heavy but their hunger knows no bounds at the moment. They were stretched by West Ham, who led twice before squandering a vital win in their battle against relegation, and still Emery’s indefatigable side dug deep for a response before emerging victorious for the 15th time in 17 games thanks to a virtuoso display from Morgan Rogers inspiring a second-half turnaround.
This was Villa in fighting mode. They fell behind to the fastest goal in the Premier League this season, trailed 2-1 at half-time and were second best for long spells, but they refused to roll over. West Ham, still stuck in the bottom three despite producing one of their best performances under Nuno Espírito Santo, just could not put them away. They were pegged back by Rogers early in the second half and then, just when it seemed that West Ham were gearing up for a late push, the England international made Nuno’s side rue granting him the space to make it 3-2 with a goal that owed everything to the Villa attacker’s wondrous technique and appetite for risk.
It was a rocket from Rogers, the ball ripping off his gifted right foot and flying into Alphonse Areola’s top-right corner. It was not quite as dramatic as last week’s last-gasp win over Arsenal – the decisive goal arrived with 11 minutes left this time – but the impact felt no less significant. This was Villa’s sixth consecutive league win and it pleased Emery that it came with key players missing at the back. “Fantastic,” was the manager’s verdict on Victor Lindelöf, who deputised for Pau Torres in central defence and dealt with West Ham’s pressure before providing the pass for Rogers to fire Villa three points off Arsenal at the top of the table.
Hands up if you had Villa sitting in third place as Christmas approached when they went six games without winning at the start of the season? It has been a remarkable turnaround, although Emery has tried to keep expectations realistic. This was another test of his side’s staying power. Emery made six changes after last Thursday’s victory over FC Basel in the Europa League but he acknowledged that it was not easy for Villa to hit their physical targets after a fast start from West Ham.
There was a fine atmosphere at kick-off. The London Stadium had risen to pay tribute to the late Billy Bonds and the positivity grew when an error from Ezri Konsa presented Mateus Fernandes with the chance to whip West Ham in front after only 29 seconds.
Both defences were uncertain during a breezy first half. Villa quickly levelled when Ollie Watkins pressured Konstantinos Mavropanos into heading John McGinn’s cross into his own net but they were indecisive when West Ham scored again. El Hadji Malick Diouf’s cross from a lovely Lucas Paquetá pass was only half cleared, Freddie Potts replied with a hopeful shot and Jarrod Bowen was onside when he diverted the ball past Marco Bizot, deputising in goal for the injured Emi Martínez.
Emery presumably had a few choices for his players at half-time. “I am so happy with how they responded,” the Spaniard said. “Twice we were behind but how they kept the commitment is how we are as a team – being ambitious, being responsible, the commitment tactically.”
It helped that West Ham have not kept a clean sheet since 31 August. Nuno has not fixed their defensive ills since replacing Graham Potter and he bemoaned his side’s failure to hold on to a winning position for the second consecutive week. “This is something we are not able to do – control and manage the game when we are in front,” West Ham’s manager said. Why is it happening? “I wish I could give you a proper answer with a proper solution,” Nuno replied.
The frustration for West Ham is that they did a lot well, with Soungoutou Magassa, Fernandes and Potts competing in midfield. Yet Nuno despaired when Villa pounced after Paquetá lost possession in the 50th minute. Youri Tielemans was away down the right seconds later and his cross reached Rogers, who controlled before scoring from close range.
West Ham at least kept going. Bowen had a goal disallowed for the tightest of offsides but Villa found the breakthrough when Magassa pushed too high and lost Rogers, whose finish made it even harder for Emery to downplay his side’s title credentials.
The Athletic
West Ham need leaders like Billy Bonds if they are to survive in the Premier League
West Ham remain in the relegation zone, three points from safety Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
By Tom Burrows
On an emotionally charged day at the London Stadium, where West Ham United paid tribute to Billy Bonds, the touching montage played before kick-off served as a reminder of some of the club’s glorious moments of old.
Bonds, who played for the club a record 799 times, lifting the FA Cup twice as captain, before returning as manager, where he achieved two promotions, epitomised the best of West Ham: a leader, a warrior, a fighter.
As a giant banner depicting ‘Bonzo’ was held aloft from the stand bearing his name at the start of Sunday’s contest and a chant of ‘Billy Bonds’ claret and blue army’ went up around the stadium, how West Ham fans must have yearned for a player with Bonds’ leadership qualities come the end of an absorbing match that ended in a 3-2 defeat.
Playing at home to a confident — albeit marginally jaded after their 2-1 win in the Europa League away at Basel on Thursday night — Aston Villa side, Nuno Espirito Santo’s team led twice, but ultimately finished with no points to show for it.
West Ham remain in the relegation zone, three points from safety. With a trip to Manchester City up next on Saturday, their predicament hardly gets any easier.
Sunday’s result against Villa, their ninth defeat from 16 league games, once again highlighted West Ham’s defensive frailties and their dearth of leaders.
Captain Jarrod Bowen had an excellent match on the right of a front three — the diverted effort that put West Ham 2-1 up was his 100th goal involvement (61 goals, 39 assists) in 216 Premier League appearances — but Nuno needs more of his influential qualities, commitment and tireless endeavour across the team.
In recent years, West Ham have lost important figures and personalities in the dressing room, including Declan Rice, Aaron Cresswell, Michail Antonio and Vladimir Coufal, exposing their soft centre and brittle confidence.
Match officials and players stand for a minute’s applause to honour former West Ham United player Billy BondJustin Setterfield/Getty Images
In an interview with The Athletic last month, Coufal touched on the leadership vacuum, saying, “What West Ham miss are characters like Mark Noble and Declan Rice. Their leadership was important to the changing room and other players like Aaron Cresswell, Micky Antonio and Angelo Ogbonna had a huge influence in the changing room. They were the old guns.
Top League Content
“Jarrod Bowen is a great leader and the club would be in an even bigger mess without him. But it’s difficult to lead the team as an offensive player. Noble and Rice were midfielders and could see everything. If Jarrod wants to shout at someone, he could be on the other side of the pitch, which makes it harder. Noble and Rice were in the middle, so there was no hiding from them.”
Rather than stepping up, some senior players have been letting their side down this season, a notable example being Lucas Paqueta’s petulant behaviour against Liverpool that earned him a red card.
Even when Villa were trailing 1-0 and then 2-1, there was always a feeling of inevitability that they would somehow drag themselves back into the game.
It was also telling that after going 3-2 up through Morgan Rogers’ magnificent goal, Villa comfortably saw out the game, rather than facing any sort of late West Ham onslaught.
In many respects, Sunday’s defeat showed the two sides of West Ham.
The first, worrying side is their defensive vulnerability, which has already seen them concede 32 league goals this season. They have registered just one clean sheet, a 3-0 victory away to Nottingham Forest, Nuno’s former side, at the end of August.
“When we are ahead, we have to control and manage the game better, and be positive and try and kill the game down,” Nuno told BBC Sport after the Villa defeat. “We are disappointed with the way we conceded the second goal at the beginning of the second half. We know it’s a pivotal moment of the game, that we have to control it. It’s something that is missing in our game.”
However, there are some grounds for optimism.
Nuno appears to have found a nice blend and balance with his midfield trio of Mateus Fernandes — who got West Ham off to a flying start with a goal after just 29 seconds — academy graduate Freddie Potts and Soungoutou Magassa, who had another impressive outing following his goal against Manchester United two weeks ago. Early in the second half, for example, Magassa hit a superb raking crossfield ball perfectly into the path of Bowen on the right wing.
Despite their shaky defence, West Ham can still land a punch themselves.
Bowen was a constant menace. The gifted but sometimes maddening Paqueta, playing as a false nine, can unlock a defence, albeit he’s been below par this season, while Crysencio Summerville grew into the contest in the second half.
Going into the January transfer window, Nuno needs reinforcements, especially with full-backs Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf heading to the Africa Cup of Nations with the DR Congo and Senegal.
A centre-back and centre-forward are surely high on Nuno’s shopping list, with Toulouse’s 23-year-old defender Charlie Cresswell among the players they are monitoring. West Ham are eager to offload James Ward-Prowse and Niclas Fullkrug, too.
But West Ham can’t simply view the January window as a get-out-of-jail-free card.
If Nuno’s side are to survive, they need more players to stand up, take responsibility and summon up the spirit of Billy Bonds, their legendary late captain.
“This is why we are so disappointed, because it was such an important day to honour the memory of Billy Bonds,” Nuno said in his post-match press conference.
“It was an emotional moment, it was a proper tribute to Billy Bonds’ memory. It’s sad that we didn’t finish with a win, so we can celebrate.”
Sport Witness
West Ham and Brentford make ‘concrete moves’ for defender – Told to pay over €40m
Tiago Gabriel has impressed for Lecce this season. The centre-back is now attracting serious interest from West Ham and Brentford, with interest in him expected to rise.
Corriere dello Sport today look at the Portuguese defender’s future, noting that Inter Milan and Juventus have already scouted him.
The defender was signed by Lecce from Estrela Amadora in January for around €1m plus bonuses. Due to his performances, Gabriel’s value has grown over the past 11 months.
The newspaper claim West Ham and Brentford have made the ‘most concrete moves’ for the 20-year-old. They also expect more English clubs to join the list of contenders.
Lecce are unlikely to consider Gabriel’s sale in January, as he’s a key part of a side who are hovering around relegation in Serie A.
It is mentioned that suitors like West Ham and Brentford would have to pay over €40m to sign the player in the future.
While the youngster has been pretty impressive, the report feels like a way to put his name out there. Lecce aren’t strangers to that, having done the same for Patrick Dorgu and Nikola Krstovic. This helps the Italian side increase the player’s valuation, helping them in the future.