Valencia keen to sign Marseille defender Álvaro González

As reported by La Provence, Marseille defender Álvaro González is seeing interest from La Liga this month.

Largely out of the picture this season under Jorge Sampaoli at Marseille, an offer is being seriously considered by Valencia who have included Álvaro on their shortlist of potential recruits but, a club sources tells La Provence, they have yet to contact OM for the player.

French teams had also enquired for the 32-year-old centre-back but are yet to follow up with anything concrete say the outlet. Although the player is keen to stay at OM.

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Samuel Umtiti could go out on loan following Barcelona renewal

Julien Maynard of Téléfoot reports this evening that French defender Samuel Umtiti could leave Barcelona on loan this month, having signed a contract extension yesterday.

The World Cup winner extended his deal with the Catalan club until 2026, in a deal which saw him reduce his salary in order to alleviate the club’s wage bill, having been sidelined over the last few years following his injury issues.

The centre-back’s intention is to go out on loan in order to find playing time, in order to then return to Barcelona. There have been links in Spain, England, and Italy, but none as of yet in France.

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Official | Thiago Maia’s move from Lille to Flamengo becomes permanent

Lille have announced that Brazilian midfielder Thiago Maia has left the club, signing on a permanent deal for Flamengo, the club he has spent the last two years on loan at.

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The 24-year-old had been at the Rio de Janeiro-based team for the last 24 months after initially arriving in France in 2017 from Santos.

The former Brazilian youth international made 68 appearances for Les Dogues in his time there, scoring one goal.

Lorient working on deal for Kamil Grosicki

As reported by Ouest France, Ligue 1 strugglers FC Lorient are in talks to sign former Hull City, West Brom and Rennes winger Kamil Grosicki.

Lorient made an offer of €200k to his current club, Polish side Pogon Szczecin who are currently second in the Polish top tier, but Pogon do not want to let the 33-year-old player leave unless Lorient play €500k plus a further €300k should the club avoid relegation to Ligue 2 this season.

Grosicki’s standout Ligue 1 season came in 2015/16 as he scored nine and added four assists in 33 league games. He played 93 games in all competitions with Rennes between 2013 and 2017.

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Mario Lemina announces his retirement from international football

OGC Nice midfielder Mario Lemina has announced his retirement from the Gabonese national team, forced to quit the squad mid-AFCON owing to heart complications after contracting COVID-19.

Lemina took to Instagram to denounce rumours that the health reason for his exit was merely a cover for the fact that he was drunk over the weekend and behaving unprofessionally.

“I will not give oxygen to the lies that seek to harm me. I have nothing to do with that. I feel bad for my national team to be surrounded only liars in search of clicks. Good luck to you for the competition and for the future challenges. Now out of sight but close to my heart. By wanting too much to solve the problems around the national team, you are the one who puts yourself in harms way. Because all this wickedness has been in place for years. There is nothing more to be done… I definitively withdraw from the national team.”

Investigative journalist Romain Molina has put out a Tweet encouraging Lemina to give all the money and the cars back that the Gabon FA apparently gave the player so that he would represent his country in the 1st place…

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Official | Lille sign Hatem Ben Arfa

Lille have this afternoon announced the signing of midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa on a free transfer, with the former French international signing a 6-month contract.

The 34-year-old joins Les Dogues on a short-term deal after half a year as a free agent, after leaving Bordeaux at the end of last season.

The mercurial midfielder makes LOSC the seventh Ligue 1 club of his career, after playing for Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris Saint-Germain, Rennes and Bordeaux.

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Watford are in talks over Eupen defender Emmanuel Agbadou with French clubs also keen

As reported by Foot Mercato, Premier League club Watford lead several Ligue 1 sides in the race to sign Emmanuel Agbadou of Belgian top tier club Eupen, who are currently 12th in the standings.

The 24-year-old centre-back, also capable of playing at the base of midfield, has been capped once by Ivory Coast and scored five times in 24 games since arriving from Ivory Coast club FC San Pedro in September 2020.

Discussions between Watford and the player have been underway for several days with the player under contract at Eupen until 2025.

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Patrick Roberts leaves Troyes, moves to Sunderland permanently

24-year-old English midfielder Patrick Roberts today terminated his loan with Ligue 1 side ESTAC Troyes from Manchester City, in order to complete a permanent move to English 3rd division side Sunderland.

Roberts, who joined ESTAC on loan from the Citizens this summer, but he only made two appearances for the French club, playing for just 90 minutes.

The deal is understood to have been done on a free transfer, with Roberts signing a 6-month deal with Sunderland.

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Arsène Wenger explains why he refused to join PSG

Speaking on Canal+ on Sunday evening, former Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger explained why he never left Arsenal for PSG, despite various offers.

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“It was in the pipeline often since the start of the adventure when QSI took over at PSG. At the time, Paris Saint-Germain was for sale, and not very expensive, €40m or €50m, it was a good deal, but the problem after that was lots of money needed to be invested. I’ve always thought it was odd that a city like Paris didn’t have a great team. It’s great that this has been changed… Why didn’t it happen? Because I had a contract. I was raised to keep my word and respect the contracts I sign. You can’t ask your players for loyalty if you don’t have any yourself.”

Why Arkadiusz Milik will not leave Marseille this month

As reported by RMC, despite links with a move away from the Velodrome during the current transfer window, chances are slim due to the logistical difficulty of any possible move.

Firstly, despite just one goal in Ligue 1, the 27-year-old striker’s entourage believes that the season remains long and the Polish player’s initial struggles can be overcome after nine goals in 15 league games last season. His early-season injury is also a factor for Milik who is yet to get fully up to speed. OM meanwhile do not want to sell the player with hopes remaining in all three competitions over the rest of the season.

Crucially, the player’s contractual situation makes things very difficult to make any more happen in reality. Technically, Milik is still contracted to Napoli and remains on an 18-month loan in Ligue 1 which will end with a compulsory purchase of €8m plus €4m in bonuses.

OM would struggle to pay that sum in advance this month, which they would need to if they were to sell the player on. Moreover, RMC confirms that no offer has been submitted for Milik as yet. For example, as Ignazio Genuardi reports today, Fiorentina do not see Milik as a priority and are considering several options including Milik as they look for a replacement for the €70-80m rated Dušan Vlahović who is likely to join Juventus. Although Juventus, Sevilla and Mallorca are also reportedly keen on the Marseille man.

Milik, however, has become outwardly frustrated at OM of late with a lack of service and, more recently, game time while now being under threat from new arrival Cédric Bakambu, who scored off the bench on his debut, saying: “Sometimes I look at the clock, we’ve been playing for 20 minutes and I’ve only received two passes.”

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