Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has claimed that he is very confident that Kevin De Bruyne will to a new long-term contract at the club. The 29-year-old is one of the most important players in the Premier League. He has been with City since 2015 when he made a £ 68 million move from Wolfsburg. His current contract runs out in 2023 and this makes City vulnerable to the prospect of losing Kevin De Bruyne for nothing. After having last offered the midfielder a contract extension in 2018, City are preparing a new contract according to the manager.

The 29-year-old has transformed into one of the best players in the world since making the switch to City. He was crowned as the Player’s Player of the Year last season. It is understood that De Bruyne is not pleased with the initial offer on the table. Even though his importance to City is extremely high, the wages offered by the club do not seem to reflect this status. De Bruyne is not one of the highest earning players in the league. He has seen many new and young players get much bigger wage packets. The midfielder also knows that a club like Real Madrid will be able to offer greater prestige and bigger wages.

Two Premier League teams namely Leeds United and Manchester United have been beaten to the signing of teenage midfielder Kouadio Kone who plays his club football for Toulouse in the second tier of French football (Ligue II).

The English duo of Manchester United and Leeds United have missed out on the 19-year-old player to German Bundesliga outfit Borussia Moenchengladbach. Transfer news guru Fabrizio Romano disclosed that KouadioKone is closing in on a move to Gladbach. Borussia Moenchengladbach offered €9m for the teenage midfielder and it was accepted by his French club, while agreement on personal terms has also been reached paving the way for the player to move to Germany. Kone will sign a five-and-a-half year deal with Gladbach until the summer of 2026.

Goal.com’s Arsenal correspondent Charles Watts believes the pressure is mounting on Gunners boss Mikel Arteta after he took the decision to drop Mesut Ozil from the Premier League squad altogether. The German fell out-of-favour for the Gunners during the backend of the campaign and the trend has continued this term where he has not been registered to play for them in any competition.

Arteta emphasised that the decision was taken by him without any influence and that has come on to haunt him with the Gunners lacking the creativity in the final third of the pitch. The north London side have managed to score just 10 goals in 11 league games and their scoring form has been dreadful over the past seven matches where they have failed to score on five occasions.

Following the season-ending injury sustained by Liverpool captain and defensive marshall Virgil van Dijk, the Reds have not been able to cope well in the defensive department and have been using make-shift options in recent games.

Van Dijk's defensive partner Joe Gomez is also out with injury, leaving Jurgen Klopp's men prone to defensive frailties from the opening stages of the season. The Reds have identified Roma defender Roger Ibanez and have added him to the list of possible transfer candidates when the January transfer window opens for business.
The defender is also wanted by Premier League outfits Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur as they lock horns and remain in the battle to land the defender in the next transfer window.

Jose Mourinho has done such a fantastic job no one would have believed he would do after being announced as the new Tottenham boss last season.

Jose Mourinho has done such a fantastic job no one would have believed he would do after being announced as the new Tottenham boss last season.

The former Real Madrid and Manchester United manager has transformed attackers Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son into world-class players and the pair are currently tearing the league apart in terms of their goal contributions.
In their most recent clash, which was against Arsenal in the north London derby, Kane supplied his South Korean teammate with a sublime pass which he slotted home calmly to give Spurs the lead.