Man Utd plot defence fix with £40m star centre-back as Man City ready bold raid for eight-time title winner

Apparently Harry Maguire playing reasonably well in the 2-1 win over Brentford hasn’t made Erik ten Hag feel any better about his centre-back options – which feels rather harsh, he even got an assist! – so the Dutch coach is drawing up a list of players who can take up the slack in the heart of the Manchester United defence, to which Sporting’s Gonçalo Inácio has now been added, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The 22-year-old centre-back - who reports suggested was worth just shy of £40m last summer - has been drawing rave reviews in Portugal and there were some murmurings about big teams looking to bid for him in the summer, but he’s still in Lisbon for now. Antonio Silva, Jean-Clair Todibo and Edmond Tapsoba make up the rest of the four-man shortlist of players who can push poor Maguire even further down the pecking order.

The 3AM Verdict: Inácio is a pretty big prospect and is likely to be one of the better centre-halves that United can buy next summer and, if their recent track record is anything to go by, probably ruin. Still, hope springs eternal that they can finally find some players that don’t shrivel into mediocrity the moment they arrive at Old Trafford, and the Portuguese international is a damned good player.

City in for Bayern Munich legend

There were quite a few rumours at the start of the summer than Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich could be on the move, and while that didn’t pan out at the time it sounds like Pep Guardiola is still interested in linking back up with one of his former charges.

90min point out that Kimmich is entering the last 18 months of his contract soon and there seems to be no sign of the 28-year-old sealing a new deal – and if the 80-cap German international does reach next summer without putting pen to paper, then he could be available at a knock-down fee. In presumably unrelated news, Guardiola is also alleged to be considering letting Kalvin Phillips leave in January as the England midfielder hunts for some much-needed minutes in the build-up to Euro 2024.

The 3AM Verdict: If the chance to sign a player of Kimmich’s class comes up, you simply don’t turn it down. After eight years at the serial German champions, Kimmich seems to be leaning towards finding a new challenge while he’s still in his pomp, and if City can pounce on the opportunity then they’ll be getting one of the few players around who can make them appreciably stronger. A terrifying prospect for just about everyone else…

Liverpool looking to loan young star

Finally for today, word from Caught Offside that Jürgen Klopp is taking a brief break from breathlessly demanding that all Liverpool games which involved refereeing injustices be replayed to consider the immediate future of talented young midfielder Stefan Bajčetić, who starred in the spring of last season but has found it harder to get minutes this campaign, admittedly partly because of injury.

Bajčetić could be on his way out of Anfield in January, albeit only on a temporary basis, with a loan move looking increasingly likely for the young Spanish Under-21 international, who hasn’t got on the pitch for Liverpool since last March when he suffered an adductor injury.

The 3AM Verdict: The young midfielder’s brief stint in the first team was genuinely impressive, demonstrating a combination of immense energy and maturity beyond his meagre years – but it does make sense for him to go elsewhere to get some game time if Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and Ryan Gravenberch are all ahead of him in the queue. Quite a few Premier League sides would benefit from his snappy performances, so expect to see a lot of activity around him in the winter transfer window should he be allowed to leave.