Manchester City warmed up for their mouth-watering Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain by thrashing Ipswich 6-0 on Sunday, but Pep Guardiola is dealing with a number of absences

All four French clubs in the competition have their sights set on the knockouts but PSG have a lot of work to do By Raphaël Jucobin for Get French Football News When the Champions League format was revamped, with four French teams included for the first time, few would have expected all four to be confident of reaching the next phase in late January. Even fewer would have expected Brest and Lille to be in the top eight, with PSG sitting just outside the playoff spots. “We’re going to try to qualify but, if we don’t, the necessary measures will need to be taken,” Luis Enrique cryptically explained after PSG’s defeat to Atlético Madrid in November. His team had produced little from their 71% of possession and Ángel Correa’s last-minute winner left them with just four points from four matches. Since then, PSG’s chances of qualifying have only improved slightly. After a slender defeat by Bayern Munich and a convincing win at RB Salzburg, they are 25th in the 36-team table. Only the top 24 go through. Continue reading...

Today’s fluff will very simply put fluff first Patrick Dorgu’s future could be settled today, with Manchester United’s interest in the 20-year-old full-back-or-winger-depending-on-which-paper-you-read due to solidify sometime on Tuesday afternoon, when the club will hold talks with Lecce’s director of football, Pantaleo Corvino, in Milan. The side sitting 17th in Serie A want €40m for the Dane but will accept €35m plus a few bonuses, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, for a left-footed player who could fill the wing-back role on either flank for Ruben Amorim’s troubled team. The complication comes from Napoli, who have identified Dorgu as their first-choice fall-back option should their pursuit of United’s Alejandro Garnacho come to nought. Napoli have now submitted an offer, inclusive of all bonuses, of £50m for Garnacho but will pick up the phone to Corvino should they not hear something positive on Tuesday. United appear to have a healthy list of fall-back full-back targets of their own, in the shape of (deep breath) Paris Saint-Germain’s Nuno Mendes, Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez, the Wolves left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri and Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell. Continue reading...