Transfer news live: Maresca in shock Chelsea exit, Man City close on Semenyo as Johnson nears Palace switch

Manchester United are among the club monitoring RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande, according to Sky Sports.

Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-German are also thought to be tracking his development closely, with the player’s value understood to be in the region of £52m-£61m.

After appearing to miss out on Antoine Semenyo, United could accelerate their interest in the Ivorian.

Former Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo is set to leave Al Hilal in the January window, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Inter have approached Al-Hilal to ask for loan deal conditions and explore the potential structure of the deal, while Barcelona and Juventus have also been in contact.

Cancelo has previously played for all three clubs.

The club who began 2025 with an eight-point advantage at the Premier League summit could end it with a greater deficit to the leaders. A year of triumph and tragedy for Liverpool has also featured unprecedented spending. Glance at the league table and their transfer business and it suggests they have spent £450m to get worse. They will enter 2026 exactly half-way through their Premier League campaign. If the half-term report for the team reads ‘could do better’, that applies to most of their signings.

Giovanni Leoni, of course, cannot do better in the second half of the season, as he is ruled out for the remainder of it. The Italian is blameless for that and, to varying degrees, others can plead mitigating circumstances for their slight returns. But so far Jeremie Frimpong has only made two league starts. Alexander Isak only has two Premier League goals (and none in the Champions League). Florian Wirtz only has one league goal and assist. In each case, the same statistics in the next five months would render their debut campaign at Anfield a failure.

Richard Jolly assesses Liverpool’s summer spending, five months on:

Liam Rosenior, the head coach of French club Strasbourg, who are owned by Chelsea's parent company BlueCo, has emerged as the early favourite to replace Maresca among bookmakers.

Former Barcelona head coach Xavi, Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner, Fulham's Marco Silva and Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola are other potential candidates.

Amid reports of tension behind the scenes, he missed his post-match press conference following that game, albeit his absence was attributed to illness.

However, speculation of a rift with the Chelsea hierarchy had grown after Maresca claimed following his side's 2-0 win over Everton on December 13 he had endured his "worst 48 hours" at the club because "many people didn't support me and the team". He repeatedly refused to clarify the comments.

Chelsea return to action on Sunday away to Manchester City, the first of nine fixtures across four competitions during a packed January schedule.

Former Leicester boss Maresca was appointed as successor to Mauricio Pochettino in June 2024.

The 45-year-old guided Chelsea to Champions League qualification via a fourth-placed finish last season, in addition to winning the Conference League and Club World Cup.

His contract was due to run until 2029, with the club holding an option for a further 12 months.

Maresca's final match was Tuesday evening's 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth.

"Chelsea Football Club and head coach Enzo Maresca have parted company," read a club statement.

"With key objectives still to play for across four competitions including qualification for Champions League football, Enzo and the club believe a change gives the team the best chance of getting the season back on track."

Enzo Maresca has left his role as Chelsea head coach after 18 months in charge.

The Italian departs with the club fifth in the Premier League table - 15 points adrift of leaders Arsenal - following one win from their last seven top-flight games.

Speculation about Maresca's future had intensified during the poor run of form amid reports he endured a strained relationship with key figures at Stamford Bridge.

Borussia Dortmund are interested in taking Oscar Bobb on loan from Manchester City.

Talks have not yet been held between the clubs but the Norway international could be allowed to leave the Etihad Stadium as City look to bring in another winger, in Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo.

Bobb has made 15 appearances for City this season but, after starting the first three league games, he has only begun two more and none since October as Pep Guardiola has preferred players such as Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki.