Newcastle United have reportedly knocked back a €15m (£12.8m) bid from Bayern Munich for Kieran Trippier.
The former Tottenham Hotspur defender only has a little over 18 months left on his contract at St James' Park and has been strongly linked with a move away from the North East in recent weeks.
Bayern - whose desire to sign new defenders is no secret - are believed to have identified Trippier as their number one right-back acquisition, but Newcastle will not lose him on the cheap.
According to BBC Sport, the Magpies have turned down a €15m (£12.8m) offer from their German counterparts for the 33-year-old, and it remains to be seen if Bayern will return with a revised offer.
Should an agreement be reached for Trippier to join Bayern, he would reunite with ex-Tottenham teammates Harry Kane and Eric Dier - who joined the Bundesliga champions earlier this month - in Bavaria.
Trippier has scored three goals and set up 18 more in 81 games for Newcastle since joining from Atletico Madrid in January 2022, but he has come under criticism for his displays over the winter period.
© Reuters
Trippier's potential departure would allow Newcastle a bit of wriggle room when it comes to Financial Fair Play, which is currently restricting their ability to bring new faces into St James' Park this month.
Midfield has been identified as a priority area for Eddie Howe and co to strengthen, and Atalanta BC's Brazilian lynchpin Ederson is thought to be a name on the Magpies radar.
However, Football Insider states that Newcastle are simply unable to afford the 24-year-old's services this month, as Atalanta are after at least £30m and potentially as much as £40m to let him leave.
Ederson only arrived at the Gewiss Stadium from Salernitana last summer and has a contract with La Dea until 2026, meaning that Atalanta have no reason to accept a cut-price fee this month.
Nevertheless, should Newcastle free up more funds in the summer, the report adds that the Magpies may go back in for Ederson, who represented Cruzeiro, Fortaleza and Corinthians in his native Brazil before earning a switch to Europe.
During his time at Atalanta, Ederson has come up with seven goals and two assists in 64 matches, with six of those strikes coming in 27 games during the 2023-24 campaign.
© Reuters
Over in the West Midlands, Aston Villa are understood to have come forward with a third offer for Middlesbrough attacker Morgan Rogers.
The Lions have supposedly already seen two bids turned down for the 21-year-old, who has hit the ground running at the Riverside Stadium since joining in the summer transfer window.
Rogers - a former Manchester City academy product - has registered seven goals and nine assists in 33 games for Michael Carrick's side and has particularly caught the eye in the EFL Cup.
Boro's silverware dreams ended on Tuesday with a 6-1 semi-final second-leg loss to Chelsea, but Rogers came up with the visitors' consolation goal in that game, scoring for the fifth EFL Cup fixture in a row.
According to the Daily Mail, Middlesbrough have now received a third Villa offer for the 21-year-old, who impressed Unai Emery when Boro clashed with the Lions in the third round of the FA Cup earlier this month.
Rogers penned a contract with Middlesbrough until 2027 upon his arrival from Man City in the summer, and he left the reigning Premier League champions without making a single top-flight appearance.
© Reuters
Another claret-clad club eyeing reinforcements before the end of the January transfer window, Burnley are reportedly targeting Montpellier HSC defender Maxime Esteve.
A product of the Paillade academy since 2013, Esteve has risen through the youth ranks to play 60 times for Montpellier in all tournaments, scoring one goal and setting up another.
Both of those contributions have come in the 2023-24 Ligue 1 campaign, but Montpellier only have the 21-year-old under contract for another 18 months.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Burnley are actively pursuing a deal to bring Esteve to the Premier League, and the Frenchman is one of their priority targets for the January window.
Burnley are only above Sheffield United in the Premier League table and have conceded 42 goals in their opening 21 top-flight games this season, the second-worst defensive record in the division behind the Blades' 51.
Esteve stands at 6ft 4in tall, and the Montpellier man made his debut for the France Under-21 side in September under Thierry Henry.
