Friday's gossip column: Mourinho, Ibrahimovic, Pochettino, Torreira, Neymar

Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho is considering hijacking AC Milan's attempt to re-sign veteran Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 38, and bring him to north London. (Telegraph)

Lille coach Christopher Galtier has criticised Mourinho after he took two members of his coaching team to Spurs. (RMC Sport via Evening Standard)

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini says Mourinho is neither his friend nor his enemy. (Talksport)

Ex-Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is being considered by Bayern Munich to take over as their permanent boss. (Sky Sports)

Barcelona are also interested in the 47-year-old Argentine, who previously managed rivals Espanyol. (Sun)

Leicester City have started preliminary talks with England midfielder James Maddison, 22, over a new contract with the club. (Telegraph)

Arsenal's Uruguay midfielder Lucas Torreira, 23, has not ruled out a January exit from the club. (Sport 860 via Mirror)

Aston Villa, Sheffield United and West Ham are interested in 31-year-old former Argentina winger Nicolas Gaitan, whose contract at MLS side Chicago Fire runs out at the end of December. (Guardian)

A striker remains Manchester United's priority in January - and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been holding monthly meetings with his recruitment team in a bid to boil down a three-man shortlist. (Evening Standard)

Atletico Madrid have joined AC Milan in seeking to sign 31-year-old Serbia midfielder Nemanja Matic from Manchester United. (ESPN)

Celtic's Norway winger Mohamed Elyounoussi, 25, says the Scottish club's former midfielder Stuart Armstrong was pivotal to his loan move from Southampton. (The Scotsman)

Sunderland are unlikely to make a move in January for 26-year-old English left-back Marcus Maddison because Peterborough refuse to lower their valuation. (Newcastle Chronicle)

Liverpool could lose Egypt winger Mohamed Salah for the start of the 2020-21 season as the 27-year-old's country have reached next year's Olympics in Tokyo, which take place from 24 July to 9 August. (Mirror)

Juventus and Netherlands defender Matthijs de Ligt, 20, has denied claims by former striker Patrick Kluivert that he regrets moving to the Italian club from Ajax in the summer. (Mirror)

Spain defender Gerard Pique, 32, says he will end in his career at Barcelona in 2022. (Mundo Deportivo)

Paris St-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel says he did not like his forward Neymar going to Madrid to attend the Davis Cup. (Marca)

Colombia midfielder Juan Cuadrado, 31, has signed a new contract that will keep him at Juventus until 2022. (Corriere dello Sport - in Italian)

The agent of Real Madrid midfielder Gareth Bale says the player will not be worried about the Los Blancos fans' reaction to him posing alongside a banner that read, 'Wales. Golf. Real Madrid. In that order'. (ESPN)

Belgium have been charged by Uefa for the error that saw Hertha Berlin defender Dedryck Boyata wearing Chelsea forward Michy Batshuayi's shirt during their Euro 2020 qualifying victory over Russia. (Daily Mail)

Watford have opted against changing their badge, despite sifting through more than 4,000 new designs. (Independent)

Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce is "quietly confident" English midfielder Matty Longstaff, 19, will sign a new contract. (Newcastle Chronicle)

• Thursday's Scottish Gossip
• Thursday's gossip column