Old Trafford captain Bruno Fernandes is one of 11 players Manchester United are willing to let go in a major squad overhaul, while Real Madrid are ready to replace Vinícius Júnior with Manchester City‘s Erling Haaland. Join us for the latest transfer news and rumors from around the globe.

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TRENDING RUMORS

– Manchester United could offload as many as 11 players in the summer, including club captain Bruno Fernandes, in order to fund a rebuild of their squad, according to The Sun. Sources have told ESPN that the club hope to bolster their options at wing-back alongside their pursuit of a central midfielder. Elliot Anderson, Adam Wharton and Carlos Baleba are among the names being considered along with Wolverhampton Wanderers duo João Gomes and André, Stuttgart‘s Angelo Stiller and Atlético Madrid‘s Conor Gallagher. In order to raise money and freshen up their roster, United are willing to let Fernandes leave along with Kobbie Mainoo, Manuel Ugarte, Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Højlund, Casemiro, Jadon Sancho, Harry Maguire, Altay Bayindir, Joshua Zirkzee and Tyrell Malacia.

– Real Madrid are likely to make an attempt to sign Manchester City striker Erling Haaland if Vinícius Júnior departs, although the Citizens aren’t worried about the Norway international leaving anytime soon, according to TEAMtalk. Los Blancos are trying to convince Vinícius to extend his contract past its current expiration in 2027, but the 25-year-old is reluctant to do so amid issues with Xabi Alonso. The Spanish giants have held a long-term interest in Haaland, and they could try to play him alongside Kylian Mbappé.

– Arsenal, Barcelona and Liverpool all recently scouted RB Leipzig midfielder Assan Ouédraogo, according to Sport Bild. The report adds that Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have had the 19-year-old on their radar since his academy days, while earlier this week Sky Sports Deutschland credited Chelsea and Manchester United with interest in the Germany international. Even so, his rapid development and a contract that runs until 2029 mean Die Roten Bullen expect to receive around €100 million from any possible transfer. No clubs will be able to watch Ouédraogo for “several weeks” though, as he suffered a tendon injury in his left hamstring against Werder Bremen.

– There is a difference of perspectives when it comes to Ibrahima Konaté, as Real Madrid are confident that they will sign the centre-back as a free agent while Liverpool are happy about how his situation is progressing, TEAMtalk reports. The 26-year-old’s contract at Anfield expires in the summer, but the latest round of talks are believed to have been promising. The France international is Los Blancos‘ priority at centre-back with Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano being the back-up option.

– Juventus and AC Milan have made contact with Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva in recent weeks, reports Calciomercato, with the Portugal international’s contract at the Etihad expiring in the summer. The 31-year-old has also received attention from Saudi Arabia but wants ro stay as a key player in Europe. Silva could follow the likes of Luka Modric and former teammate Kevin De Bruyne to Serie A, although his current salary of a net €10m could cause an issue.

EXPERT TAKE

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Which clubs could trigger Bruno Fernandes’ rumoured release clause?

Gab Marcotti and Don Hutchison debate who could sign Bruno Fernandes if he leaves Manchester United.

OTHER RUMORS

– Bayern Munich are only likely to move for Borussia Dortmund centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck if Dayot Upamecano leaves in the summer. (Sport Bild)

– Chelsea will monitor AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan‘s contract situation as the Blues assess their long-term plans in the position, with the 30-year-old’s contract ending in the summer. (TEAMtalk)

– Nottingham Forest are determined to disregard any January offers for Elliot Anderson, with Manchester United one of the clubs heavily linked. (Daily Mail)

– Chelsea are plotting a move for Nottingham Forest’s Murillo as they aim to strengthen at centre-back in January. (Football Insider)

– Crystal Palace are considering a January transfer for Newcastle United midfielder Joe Willock with the Magpies looking to bring in AZ Alkmaar’s Kees Smit. (Daily Telegraph)

– Midtjylland striker Franculino Dju is wanted by various top clubs across Europe, including AC Milan and Roma. (Calciomercato)

– West Ham United are leading the race for Royale Union Saint-Gilloise striker Promise David, who is also being tracked by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leeds United. (TEAMtalk)

– Two Brazilian clubs are preparing offers for Al Ittihad midfielder Fabinho, although the Saudi Pro League club is keen to extend his contract. (Ekrem Konur)

– Brighton & Hove Albion defender Olivier Boscagli has been offered to Fenerbahce, while Marseille, Lyon, Sevilla and Villarreal are also interested in him. (Ekrem Konur)

– Torino and Atalanta have shown an interest in Roma centre-back Daniele Ghilardi, who could leave in January to get more game time. (Nicolò Schira)

– AC Milan are planning to extend 17-year-old goalkeeper Alessandro Longoni‘s contract to help see off interest from various foreign clubs. (Nicolò Schira)

– Lazio winger Tijjani Noslin could move during the January transfer window. (Nicolò Schira)

Both the men’s and women’s Survivor Series: WarGames promos on the “go home” edition of “Raw” on Monday night ended in big brawls. It was an easy way to generate interest in their matches this Saturday at Petco Park in San Diego (7 p.m. ET on ESPN Unlimited). Becky Lynch and AJ Lee’s rivalry will be a focal point on the women’s side, possibly leading to a much-wanted singles match between the two former champions. On the men’s side, there’s more doubt than ever as to which team is the favorite.

Where there is no doubt, at least in my mind, is how the Intercontinental Championship picture will unfold in the next couple of weeks.

We also had two quarterfinal matches in The Last Time Is Now tournament, including Gunther and Carmelo Hayes, who had an incredible match full of expert storytelling. It’s a shame Gunther and Hayes met so soon, because it could have also been a worthy final.

‘Raw’ results

• Gunther defeats Carmelo Hayes in the “Last Time Is Now” quarterfinals

• Rey Mysterio defeats JD McDonagh

• Solo Sikoa defeats Penta (medically unable to continue) in the Last Time Is Now quarterfinals

• Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre defeat The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) in the Survivor Series: War Games advantage match

Who really has the advantage in the men’s WarGames match?

I was all-in on a victory for The Vision at Survivor Series in the WarGames match. But the fact that much of “Raw” was spent on the division among the champions’ side makes one wonder if we could be in for a quick good guy redemption arc at WarGames. The night began with the question of who the leader of the team is — CM Punk or Cody Rhodes — and Roman Reigns not liking either option. The Usos tried to remind the feuding champions there was an advantage match still to handle, but the heels won and have the upper hand at War Games.

I like the idea of The Vision winning at Survivor Series because it could propel eventual challengers for the men’s championships — be that Logan Paul challenging CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship or Brock Lesnar challenging for Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Championship — without Rhodes or Punk having to look particularly weak in a loss. But when Reigns told Punk and Rhodes “that title would look so much better on my shoulder,” he implied he could be in the title mix very soon as well.

More takeaways

• Rey Mysterio’s win over JD McDonagh puts him on a crash course with his son, Dominik, for the Intercontinental Championship. “Dirty Dom” will likely win back the Intercontinental title from John Cena at Survivor Series. If Rey takes on and can defeat Finn Balor at next week’s “Raw,” it will set him up to challenge the other member of The Judgement Day, his son Dominik, for the title.

• When Cena’s music hit while Dominik was in the middle of taunting Cena for not showing up to “Raw,” I thought the scene might work out like Shawn Michaels playing Bret Hart’s music on a 2005 episode of “Raw” and laughing at the disappointed crowd when no one showed up. But then Cena did show — just a smaller version than expected — when Dominik brought out Syko from Micro Wrestling Federation dressed in Cena’s gear.

Pulling the “little” imposter of an opponent is a time-honored heel tradition. I definitely don’t need it as a regular stunt in WWE, but for Dominik’s character, in a moment when the crowd would have absolutely loved a surprise Cena appearance, it made sense. It made Dominik look uncaring, which was the intention.

• A month ago, Brock Lesnar split his pants executing an F-5 on “SmackDown,” and Monday night he took a tumble during his entrance on “Raw.” He laughed his way through both, taking it completely in stride, then switched immediately into a total menace. Few people can pull off that kind of duality in a character. Some wrestlers would be rattled, but not Lesnar. It added to his aura.

• Doctors stopped the match between Penta and Solo Sikoa after Penta was injured delivering a Hurricanrana on the outside of the ring. This came at a particularly bad time, because Penta and Rey Fenix reunited as the Lucha Brothers hours earlier to challenge Dominik Mysterio and El Grande Americano on Dec. 20 in AAA Alianzas.

At some point in the not-too-distant future, Manchester City will have to hire a coach to succeed Pep Guardiola. Nobody knows if that will be next year, the year after or even three years down the line, but right now, the man who is becoming the obvious candidate is Bayern Munich‘s Vincent Kompany.

When Bayern face Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League at the Emirates on Wednesday, you could argue that the two coaches with the strongest credentials to replace Guardiola — Kompany and Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta — will go head-to-head in a battle between the contenders. But although Arteta was Pep’s No. 2 at City for three years before taking the Arsenal job in 2019, he has become the embodiment of his own project at the Emirates to the extent that I can’t see him jumping ship for City.

I have known Kompany — let’s call him Vinny from now on — for almost 20 years, going back to when we met through a mutual friend while he was playing for Hamburg in 2008, and I now believe that he really can be the guy who succeeds Pep at City.

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It’s all about timing in football — lots of so-called Pep successors have fallen by the wayside over the years — and you have to factor in that Vinny is managing a huge, powerful club in Bayern. But as footballer, wherever you are, if you’re at Liverpool, Manchester United or wherever, which club would it take for you to leave there? The chances are that it is probably Real Madrid. And I think for Vinny, Man City is probably his Real Madrid.

In my opinion, he would be a perfect fit to replace Pep at some point in the future. You need to be a big personality to follow somebody like Pep Guardiola, and Vinny has that. He also has the political skills to manage above, below and sideways, as well having the connection and love for the club. That is rooted in his 11 years as a player at the Etihad. He won 12 trophies during that period, 11 as club captain, including four Premier League titles.

But I think it’s worth outlining Vinny’s personality and characteristics before talking about his football philosophy and why it would work for City. When our paths first crossed, he was playing as a No. 10 for Hamburg, alongside Rafael van der Vaart. He had been something of a wonderkid, the kind of young player who was a sensation in video game Championship Manager, but he also immediately struck you as a really cool guy and we said we would keep in touch.

A few months later, by pure coincidence, he ended up joining me at City. Just weeks later, Sheikh Mansour’s takeover transformed the club from what we called “Joke City” into the club that is now one of the biggest and most successful in the world.

Vinny was only 22 at the time, but his presence and leadership skills were immediately obvious. He commanded the respect of everybody because this was a guy who could comfortably converse with teammates in English, French, German and Spanish — any cliques that might have formed were broken down by Vinny because he was a unifying presence.

He is one of those incredibly fortunate or gifted people who excels in anything he does, but he is also big on the importance of hard work alongside innate ability. He’s an academic — he studied for and completed a business degree at the University of Manchester in 2017 while captaining City — but also a supremely talented footballer.

But while he can be sweet, Vinny can also be direct and he can be angry. I have seen that side of him, because there are certain things he won’t tolerate.

I remember playing in a preseason friendly alongside him against Inter Milan in Baltimore in 2010. Inter had just won the Champions League and they were absolutely killing us. We ended up losing 3-0.

But because Vinny was so angry with our performance as a team, he started to take out his frustration on Inter striker Samuel Eto’o, who was one of the best players in the world at the time. Vinny could accept losing, but not when he felt the opposition didn’t have to work for it, and he kicked Eto’o all over the pitch.

At half-time, Eto’o spoke to our teammates, Yaya and Kolo Touré, asking them to tell Vinny to calm down a bit because it was only a friendly. When the message reached Vinny, he replied by telling Yaya and Kolo that the more Eto’o complained, the more he would kick him. And that’s exactly what he did.

As a teammate, when you see that kind of drive, determination and anger, it raises standards. Vinny could, and did, lead by example, but he also has that fierce winning mentality that defines all great teams and great players.He was the natural leader as the captain at City, and I can see how he has taken that into management in the way that he motivates players.

At Burnley, he wanted the team to press more often and with greater intensity, but he was clever with how he got the message across. Rather than impose his demands on the team as a whole, he would make individual players think that he was tailoring the message and tactics just for them. One of the strikers was on track for 10-15 goals a season, but he wanted to score more, so Vinny convinced him to press higher up the pitch because he would win the ball back in more dangerous positions and, as a consequence, create more chances to score goals. The attacker suddenly had a plan to score more goals, but Vinny had actually convinced one of his forwards to do more defending.

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Moreno: No Bundesliga team can compete with Bayern at their best

Alejandro Moreno reacts to Bayern Munich’s 6-2 win over SC Freiburg in the Bundesliga.

At Bayern, where he knows his team will dominate most games in the Bundesliga, Vinny loads his players will tactical plans to overcome opponents who try to stifle Bayern with different approaches. Some teams will double press, others go to man-to-man, some will defend low, others defend high — and Vinny has had success by deploying Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala as false No. 9s. Some managers live and die by their philosophies, but sometimes it pays not to be so rigid.

That’s why Vinny will have enjoyed the challenge of digging in away to Paris Saint-Germain recently, when Bayern played with 10 players for the whole of the second half and still came away with a win against the European champions. There was a level of grit to it, with periods of suffering, that will have pleased him because that kind of resilience and spirit is what wins you things at the end of a season.

Vinny is working under constant pressure at Bayern. They expect to win the league every season and conquer Europe. Despite many people doubting his credentials when he took the job after being relegated with Burnley 18 months ago, he has proved them wrong and earned himself a new contract as a reward.

He is passing every test at Bayern, so he is much more likely to be a candidate for City than he would have been had Pep stepped down at the end of the 2023-24 season. His playing style, which demands his charges are ready to receive the ball and play with pace and movement, would be readily received by the City squad. His relationship with the fans and hierarchy at the club would ensure he would have the instant acceptance that David Moyes and Unai Emery didn’t have when replacing Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger at Manchester United and Arsenal respectively.

If he ended up returning to City as coach, Vinny wouldn’t try to be Pep, and that’s an important factor. He would probably be nervous about the challenge, but he is strong enough in his own beliefs to ensure he would meet it with the same strength of character that he has shown throughout his career. But it’s all about timing, and Bayern would be a big club to leave.

Ultimately, though, Vinny will want to test himself at a top club in the Premier League. There is none more suited to him than Manchester City.

Nedum Onuoha was speaking to ESPN senior writer Mark Ogden