Paris Saint-Germain forward Randal Kolo Muani has been mooted as a replacement for Manchester United outcast Marcus Rashford.

French international Kolo Muani is reportedly surplus to requirements at PSG, who are hoping to sell him in the winter transfer window.

The 26-year-old joined PSG from Eintracht Frankfurt for a whopping £80million in August 2023, a year after moving to Germany from FC Nantes on a free transfer. You’d be sick, wouldn’t you?

As you might have gathered from the opening three paragraphs, it has not been plain sailing for Kolo Muani since returning to France.

He could only manage nine goals in 40 appearances across all competitions for PSG last season and has started 2024/25 with two in 14.

Luis Enrique has only handed him two starts as a result of his poor goalscoring form and a January exit is reportedly a ‘done deal’.

Premier League clubs Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle have all been linked with Kolo Muani in recent weeks and could make an offer next month.

A loan departure should not be ruled out and transfer journalist Pete O’Rourke thinks he could be a replacement for out-of-favour Man United attacker Rashford – who is reportedly available for £50m in January.

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“One of the other names to probably keep an eye on in January will be Randal Kolo Muani at PSG,” O’Rourke said on Football Insider Inside Track podcast. “He’s out of favour at the French club, they are ready to let him move on.

“Could he be the replacement for Marcus Rashford at Old Trafford? If Rashford does end up leaving Manchester United as most people are expecting.

“Muani can play out wide, down the middle, he would definitely add something to that Manchester United team right now.

“It hasn’t worked out for him at PSG but he is a goalscorer, he’s got good experience with the French national team.

“I think there will be a lot of Premier League clubs looking at Muani in January, so he could be a surprise addition at a Man United or somebody like that.”

Asked if Victor Osimhen could be an option for the Red Devils in January, O’Rourke replied: “We know Chelsea were very strongly on him and worked until the last hours of the summer transfer window to try and sign Osimhen. Couldn’t get it done then and that is why he ended up going to Galatasaray.

“If there is a clause in his contract where he can be recalled by Napoli and sold on, I don’t think it’s a necessary signing for Chelsea right now as Nicolas Jackson has done really well for them this season.

“Manchester United, I think they need help up front to take the burden off Rasmus Hojlund, a goalscorer is required if they offload Marcus Rashford. Victor Osimhen could be a possible target for them.

“Arsenal have been previously linked with Osimhen as well. Would Mikel Arteta break the bank to land the Nigerian to give his side a boost in the title race? He would definitely be a viable target because Premier League interest has been for Osimhen over the past couple of seasons.

“If there’s a chance to land him for a cut-price deal in January, you would imagine most of the big boys would look at him.”

MORE: Manchester United news | Premier League table | Marcus Rashford archives

Bruno Fernandes is “damaging” his Manchester United teammates as his on-field “antics” take their toll on the dressing room at Old Trafford.

The United skipper was sent off for the third time this season in the 2-0 defeat to Wolves, with a growing number of pundits and fans believing the clubs creator-in-chief may need to be sold in order for Ruben Amorim to rebuild them into a serious football team.

That’s predictably the view of outspoken former Liverpool captain Graeme Souness, who believes Fernandes is setting a terrible example for Kobbie Mainoo and the other young United stars.

Souness wrote in his Daily Mail column: ‘Ruben Amorim has many major calls to make going forward and arguably one of the biggest ones is does Bruno Fernandes have a future at Manchester United.

‘Fernandes is easily their most talented player with the ball. He is up there with anyone else in the Premier League at being able to play that killer ball but the rest of his game is lacking in a big way.

‘From his antics when the game is not going well to constantly throwing arms in the air, shrugging his shoulders at teammates – and he wears the armband.

‘What example does he set for Kobbie Mainoo, Amad Diallo and Alejandro Garnacho, young players all making their way in the game?’

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Souness believes Fernandes lacks the “mental toughness” to be a successful captain and believes a stronger dressing room would have told him to “shut the f*** up” by now.

Souness said: ‘I will never get the image out of my head of how he reacted to going three goals down at Liverpool when Manchester United lost 7-0 at Anfield.

‘He just threw the towel in, walking around pointing fingers at his teammates, shrugging shoulders. For the oldies that read this, I will quote the Billy Ocean song: ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going.’ But Fernandes doesn’t.

‘His actions at Anfield showed me where his mental toughness was, nowhere. And that’s my point, just having ability isn’t enough to be a top player, he needs to show mental toughness, discipline and workrate when you’re up against it and that’s certainly what United are at the moment.

‘In successful dressing rooms, his negative reactions to his teammates’ shortcomings would have been ironed out in the very first week of training. The big players would have been all over him in training, physically and verbally, that is “Shut the f*** up and have some of that. And by the way have some of this!”‘

Head coach Ruben Amorim has now lost more games than he’s won in his short time at Old Trafford and Souness believes the Portuguese’s “body language” is telling ahead of a tough run of fixtures.

He added: ‘Looking and listening at the new manager talk about ‘surviving’ and watching his body language, he now fully realises the size of the task to put this giant football club back on track.

‘They’ve got in form Newcastle next, their biggest rivals Liverpool after that and an Arsenal team firing on all cylinders but now playing without their biggest threat in Bukayo Saka. It isn’t going to get any easier any time soon for United.’

Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been strongly criticised for his most recent cost-cutting measure.

Having made the controversial decisions to axe Sir Alex Ferguson from his ambassadorial role, hike ticket prices by £26 and make 250 staff redundant, we regret to inform you that Sir Jim is at it again.

This time a group of club legends have been impacted by Ratcliffe’s attempts to save some money.

The Association of Former Manchester United Players (AFMUP) – with around 300 members – has received £40,000 annually from the club to help support players from previous eras before the wealth of the Premier League.

United donated £40,000 each year so that the trust could support players from previous eras before the wealth of the Premier League.

AFMUP trustee and former United youth team and reserve player Jim Elms says the non-profit charity has not received the last two quarterly payments of £10k.

He told The Sun: “We sent a ­letter to say we’ve not been paid. Nobody came out and told us so we had to send another letter. That’s when we started hearing things that it was going to be the end of us.”

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Elms was then informed by chief executive Omar Berrada in the days before Christmas that the funding has been cut.

“Omar was non-committal. He’s going to meet us again in January but he said he couldn’t see it changing,” he added.

“He didn’t seem to think that we were a necessity.”

He continued: “We’ve ran it since 1985. Keeping the old players together. Looking after the ones that couldn’t pay for funerals. I just can’t understand them myself. It’s ridiculous.

“We give away around £10-20,000 to charity, mostly children’s charities in the local area.

“We’ve had £20,000 this year but not the rest of it.”

Ratcliffe has rightly been criticised by talkSPORT host Angelina Kelly, who tore into the British billionaire.

Kelly said: “This is an organisation that helps a lot of ex-footballers who weren’t maybe earning the type of money that you see footballers earning now.

“They also help with things like funding funerals for former players whose families maybe can’t afford it.

“They actually have these events a Old Trafford – they rent the space and pay for it, they also donate to children’s charities, so, again, from a PR perspective, it’s disgusting really when you look at it and the way all this has been handled is just horrendous.

“£40,000 is a drop in the ocean when you’ve got players on £350,000-a-week, it’s just so so disappointing!”

Her talkSPORT colleagues Natalie Sawyer and Tony Cascarino agreed. The former added: “They’re stripping the soul out really from the fans.

“Even then they’re trying to price them out with some of the ridiculous ticket charges, it’s unbelievable!”

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Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim is reportedly ‘desperate’ to keep Harry Maguire at the club as the centre-back nears the end of his contract at Old Trafford.

Maguire was stripped of the captaincy and put on the transfer market during the reign of Amorim’s predecessor Erik ten Hag, but regained favour under the Dutchman at the end of his time at the club having decided to remain and fight for his place despite nearly moving to West Ham in the summer of 2023.

The England international became the most expensive defender in the world when he made his £80m switch from Leicester in 2019 and has since made 221 appearances for the club.

It was assumed that United were willing to let Maguire’s contract run down, allowing him to leave on a free transfer at the end of the season, but GIVEMESPORT now claim that Amorim is ‘putting pressure’ on the club bosses to take up the option of extending his stay by a further 12 months.

The Portuguese boss has ‘pinpointed him as one of the more reliable members of the dressing room since heading into the dugout’ and ‘wants the hierarchy to act before overseas suitors can attempt to tie him down to a pre-contract agreement from January 1’.

Maguire has started United’s last three Premier League games at the heart of defence, with consecutive defeats against Bournemouth and Wolves not putting the head coach off the idea of keeping him at the club beyond the summer, with Amorim ‘prepared to trust him during a period of transition as he aims to turn the Premier League giants’ fortunes around’.

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‘There is an awareness behind the scenes that allowing him to leave without securing a fee for his services would be deemed a poor piece of business’ given the club bought him for such a hefty fee and the report claims that United are now ‘very likely’ to extend Maguire’s contract.

While Maguire looks set to stay, the future of fellow England international Marcus Rashford remains up in the air after the forward revealed his desire for a “new challenge” having been dropped for the Manchester derby.

Rashford hasn’t made a matchday squad since but transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claims he may be brought back into the fold as the club struggles to find willing buyers of the wantaway star.

Asked whether Rashford will be seen in a United shirt again, Romano said: “It will depend on him… at the moment, Amorim and his staff are not happy with training sessions and approach. So the situation remains open. For January, it will depend on proposals. Nothing is concrete or advanced at the moment, but it can change in the next weeks. It’d keep doors open to January exit.”

We are at the halfway point of the season, so let’s have a look at some players who are struggling after earning a Premier League transfer in the summer.

Including one Manchester United player, here are our top 10 worst Premier League signings of the season.

10) Mikel Merino (Arsenal, £31.2m)
It is not quite happening for Merino at Arsenal… yet. He is obviously a tremendous player – we saw that at Euro 2024 – but we are yet to see that ability under Mikel Arteta.

A shoulder injury in his first training session hardly helped, but he has been fairly underwhelming since making his debut against Paris Saint-Germain. His full debut came in Arsenal’s first defeat of the season at Bournemouth and his only goal for the club so far was an important one at home to Liverpool.

There is faith in Merino coming good given his performances for Real Sociedad and Spain this year, plus the fact he has already proven he can cut it in the Premier League with Newcastle United. We don’t expect him to be in the top (or bottom) ten come May.

9) Julian Araujo (Bournemouth, £8.5m)
Araujo joined Bournemouth from Barcelona after an average year on loan at Las Palmas and it has not come as a surprise that he has struggled in the Premier League. Andoni Iraola clearly believed he was the man to replace Adam Smith as his long-term right-back but that has absolutely not been the case. It turns out he is not better than the 33-year-old, who refuses to lose his starting spot.

He may only have cost £8.5m but Bournemouth got this one completely wrong.

8) Federico Chiesa (Liverpool, £10m)
Many were stunned to see Italian Euro 2020 hero Chiesa join Liverpool from Juventus for such a low fee but we are days from 2025 and he is yet to play more than 60 minutes in a match and only has one appearance in the Premier League. It has not taken very long at all for people to realise why he was so cheap, eh?

Injuries are a real problem for Chiesa and he has been unable to shake them during his short time at Anfield. Liverpool clearly saw this as an opportunity too lucrative to ignore but they probably should have laughed off the prospect. Even if he gets himself 100 per cent fit, it is difficult to see a place in Arne Slot’s team. Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and even Darwin Nunez are all ahead in the pecking order, while Mohamed Salah is currently the best player in the world.

F365 SAYS: Chiesa a world-class flop who can replace Salah at Liverpool while not being fit to lace his boots

7) Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City, free)
Gundogan was in my top 10 signings shortly after the summer transfer window closed and his move from Barcelona to Man City earned its own thinkpiece. Egg on my face for he has been pants.

It was supposed to be a transfer with no losers but the only winner has turned out to be Barcelona, and they’re hardly celebrating given they’re still unable to register Dani Olmo despite freeing up that salary space. Gundogan rejoined City on the brink of disarray and now they are on their worst run since the Stuart Pearce days; the German will wish he never returned.

There wasn’t much of a financial hit for City from re-signing Gundogan, so they might feel differently, but this is not the Gundogan we remember. He was coming in with clutch goals in the title race, playing an integral role in winning every trophy, and cementing himself as one of the greatest players in the club’s history. He is a far cry from that this season and at the age of 34, it is hard to imagine Gundogan reaching a world-class level again.

6) Luis Guilherme (West Ham, £19.35m)
You can be forgiven for not having a clue who Guilherme is. The 2006-born Brazilian winger was signed by West Ham for just under £20m in the summer and has only played 21 minutes in 2024/25.

That is basically all there is to be said about Guilherme, isn’t it? Considering he is an unknown teenager from South America, he cost a lot of money and is not being used. He couldn’t even get off the bench in a Carabao Cup second round match!

The amount of game time Guilherme is receiving under Julen Lopetegui is cause for concern as he is unable to develop but he must not be impressing his manager in training. At least his stock rises more and more every time he is an unused substitute, with West Ham fans likely to be convinced sooner or later that he is the greatest Brazilian teenager since Ronaldo and will solve all of their problems.

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5) Niclas Fullkrug (West Ham, £27m)
Sticking with those pesky Hammers, they made a classic signing in Fullkrug. Has there ever been more of a ‘four goals in 32 appearances for West Ham’ striker in history? With one goal in eight for his new club, he is on course for that record, though his Premier League start has been hindered by an Achilles injury suffered after only three appearances.

West Ham could play more to Fullkrug’s strengths and he is still adapting to the Premier League, so we do feel for him a little, especially considering he is yet to have a proper run in the team.

Sympathy aside, he just doesn’t look like he will ever get up to the pace of the Premier League and the West Ham striker stigma is also playing a part… for my sins.

4) Odysseas Vlachodimos (Newcastle, £20m)
Stinky PSR loophole transfer. Enough said.

3) Oliver Skipp (Leicester City, £25m)
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but the £25m Leicester spent on Skipp should have been spent on an attacker or centre-back. Signing another Tottenham reject for the middle of the park was never going to end well, was it?

After starting five out of seven matches in the Premier League, Skipp has been an unused substitute four times and only started twice. Leicester’s form has hardly improved with him out of the side – they are pretty pants no matter who plays next to Wilfred Ndidi.

2) Joshua Zirkzee (Manchester United, £36.5m)
Not knowing a player’s best position is cause for concern and that is the case with Zirkzee – whose move to Manchester United was more expensive than his £34m release clause. Sir Jim Ratcliffe decided to pay Bologna more money but for ‘more favourable payment terms’ – which could have been passed as smart at the time but looks rather foolish five months on.

United went for a similar project to Rasmus Hojlund by bringing Zirkzee from Serie A in the summer and the Dutchman officially has a worse scoring record than the Dane after 18 Premier League games, when he went 14 without a single goal involvement, let alone goal.

Like Fullkrug, Zirkzee is struggling to adapt to the pace of English football, but unlike Fullkrug, Zirkzee is young and has plenty of time to adapt and improve. Saying that, he has been really bloody poor and deserves a place on the worst transfer podium.

1) Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Chelsea, £30m)
Former Leicester City midfielder Dewsbury-Hall is lucky if he finds himself in a Premier League squad. He has been a huge waste of money.

Chelsea’s owners might be worth billions of pounds but dropping £30m on a player approaching their peak to make them Europa Conference League fodder is ridiculous, even for them. Dewsbury-Hall will surely be regretting his move to the capital but it at least helped out Leicester financially, which might have been Enzo Maresca’s only intention having left them for Chelsea shortly before the player’s transfer.

Dewsbury-Hall is too good to be missing out on Premier League squads, let alone be sat on the bench every week. He should leave in January but he will likely see the season out. All he needs is for at least two midfielders to get injured to get some decent minutes.

A loan back to the King Power could be on the cards and Leicester would be silly if they don’t make a cheeky enquiry, at the very least.

Honourable mentions: Ian Maatsen, Neto, Raheem Sterling, Fabio Carvalho, Joao Felix, Eddie Nketiah, Manuel Ugarte, James Ward-Prowse, Maxwel Cornet

For some 2024 was a glorious year; for others, an annus horribilis. Prove you were paying attention by taking the hardest football quiz of the year…

There have been plenty of huge stories this year. From the shock of Jurgen Klopp leaving Liverpool, to the staggering predictability of Manchester United still being rubbish.

Spain had a decent year, winning the Euros and Olympics, while Real Madrid also took the Champions League back home.

All these storylines feature in The Big Fat F365 Quiz of 2024.

Have a go at the 20 questions below, and leave your scores Below The Line.

If you enjoyed that and need more reasons to run down the clock on 2024, we’ve got plenty more quizzes here. And our friends at Planet Football have even more.

If you’re quizzed out, don’t miss these…

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Missing Men: Liverpool | Arsenal | Chelsea | Man City | Man Utd | Spurs