Football transfer rumours: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Barcelona?

Mikel Arteta isn’t anticipating major transfer activity involving Arsenal this month, but Barcelona have other ideas. The Spanish champions are keen to kickstart the Quique Setién era with a headline signing up front and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could be just the man. With the injured Luis Suárez possibly on the move in the summer, the Express reckons Aubameyang’s desire for Champions League football might be decisive in prising him to the Camp Nou from the Europa League perennials.

Currently frustrated in their attempts to get a deal for the Sporting midfielder Bruno Fernandes over the line, Manchester United have scanned the rumourmongers and gossip rags for another oft-mentioned name and decided Lyon’s Moussa Dembélé could be the man to provide much-needed firepower up top. FootMercato suggests United are lining up a £43m bid for the former Celtic forward in an attempt to silence Gary Neville’s carping about the state of their squad-building. They also have a plan B lined up for a midfielder as hopes fade of securing Fernandes, in the form of Internazionale’s Matias Vecino. The 28-year-old Uruguay international has played 17 times for Inter this season but is not considered a first-choice by Antonio Conte, and could be ripe for plucking by Ole Gunnar Solskjær, reports the Mirror, though much may depend on Inter getting that pesky Christian Eriksen deal done.

Related: Transfer window January 2020 – every deal from Europe's top five leagues

Away from the Eriksen saga, Tottenham like the look of Sheffield United’s Jack O’Connell. The 25-year-old has impressed in Chris Wilder’s funky defensive formation this season, having moved through the divisions with the Blades, but he is out of contract in the summer and Spurs think he could be the man to replace Jan Vertonghen in the heart of their defence, according to the Daily Star. United may also have to fend off interest from Arsenal in their midfielders John Fleck and George Baldock come the summer.

Wolves have been quiet during this window but you can’t keep a good agent down and Jorge Mendes has been told by Nuno Espírito Santo to get busy with trying to bring in Olympiakos’s Portuguese forward Daniel Podence to the Black Country. Podence scored for the Greek side in their Champions League draw with Spurs earlier in the season and Wolves are reportedly closing on a £20m deal. Wolves have also been linked with another Greece-based forward, the AEK Athens striker Nelson Oliveira, as they look to reinforce their squad during their 1,000-game season.

At the foot of the Premier League Bournemouth need something, anything, to arrest their slump and, though Eddie Howe is downplaying reports of major January transfer activity, the local Daily Echo believes the Cherries are interested in a securing the Borussia Dortmund winger Jacob Bruun Larsen on a loan deal.

And you just can’t keep Inter out of this column, with the latest reported item on the merry-go-round being their winger Valentino Lazaro, 23, in whom Newcastle are reportedly interested. Lazaro’s agent was on Tyneside at the weekend and the Newcastle Chronicle suggests a deal could be done in the next 24-48 hours. Newcastle are finding it rather harder to prise Jarrod Bowen from Hull though, the Championship club’s £20m-plus asking price proving a sticking point.