Where will Ainsley Maitland-Niles end up come 11pm? Southampton have pulled out of a loan deal for the Arsenal full-back after growing frustrated with the player’s representatives. Maitland-Niles, who is also a target for Leicester and West Brom, was understood to be dallying over a move to St Mary’s, leading Saints to look elsewhere. Full-back cover for Ryan Bertrand and Kyle Walker-Peters is a priority and versatility is king for Ralph Hasenhüttl, whose squad is already down to bare bones.
“I might be late to the party on this one ...” emails Darrien Bold “... but my Finch Farm sources tell me that Everton are seeking to solve the problem of their ponderous midfield with a deadline-day swoop on Premier League rivals Tottenham for Vinny Samways.”
With Tottenham up there and challenging for the Premier League title? I find that very hard to believe, Darrien.
A permanent move for Marcos Rojo to Boca Juniors from Manchester United looks to be on - but as Argentina’s transfer deadline is later this month, it may not occur for next few days.
News from north of the border: PA reports - as Ben also mentioned earlier - that Celtic have been tipped to complete a loan move for Everton right-back Jonjoe Kenny after appearing to lose out to Liverpool for Ben Davies.
Unless something unexpected occurs - which it can, of course, on deadline day - there will be no major signings by Manchester City and Manchester United.
Jayden Braaf, City’s 18-year-old winger, looks set to be loaned to Udinese while Manchester United’s Teden Mengi will go on loan to Derby.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær is going to speak to the media at 1pm, so we may glean a little more about Man United then ...
Hearing from a couple of places that Shkodran Mustafi may end up at Schalke 04 by this evening. It’s all part of the merry-go-round: Schalke would need a replacement for Ozan Kabak if Liverpool end up closing that move out. Arsenal would definitely be keen to get a deal done for Mustafi.
Reports that Brighton are confident of signing the 19-year-old Ecuadorian midfielder Moisés Caicedo, from Independiente del Valle, before the window slams shut tonight. We will keep an eye on that one.
Caicedo has already got four appearances for Ecuador’s national team in the bag, scoring one goal. His debut was against Argentina in a World Cup qualifer in October, a 1-0 defeat, and he scored in a 4-2 win against Uruguay later in the month, so it’s fair to say he has already played a decent level.
Just in: It seems Taylor Harwood-Bellis has wrapped up a loan move from Manchester City to Blackburn Rovers until the end of the season. He’s trained with Blackburn today, say Sky Sports News, even if official confirmation of the loan deal is yet to appear on t’internet.
Who is Ben Davies, asks the Press Association, ahead of his move to Liverpool to shore up the Premier League champions’ central defence?
“Davies, born in Barrow-in-Furness in 1995, was spotted playing for Furness Rovers aged 11 and was signed up for Preston’s youth system, through which he progressed to eventually captain their academy team.”
“Davies’ move to Anfield will require a step up in his social media game,” adds the PA story. They have clearly been trawling the archives of his social presence: “The defender has made just 93 Instagram posts in just over six years and 110 Tweets in nine years. Meeting former England cricketer-turned-TV celebrity Andrew Flintoff after a 2015 pre-season friendly at Ashington appears to be a highlight.”
If I could do a sideways-glance at the camera à la Eddie Murphy in Trading Places right now, believe me, I would do it.
This just in: An ‘unnamed Premier League club’ apparently offered former Chelsea bully-boy striker Diego Costa a loan deal until the end of the season. But, apparently, he’s not interested because he wants a longer deal. So that’s the end of that one, it would seem.
Meanwhile, Ozan Kabak of Schalke has been spotted arriving at their training complex, fuelling speculation that he may be about to have a medical ahead of a rumoured move to former Premier League crisis-club Liverpool.
“As for your little programme on the telly where you’re counting down … just go and get a job. Get a life. It’s just not very good, is it?”
Who said that about the transfer window? Find out in this angry manager rant’s quiz. Naturally we reject such scepticism on this blog and are very excited about the afternoon and evening ahead.
Thank you Ben for the sterling work so far today - I’ll be here until 2pm, then back at 6pm, with Nick Ames taking the reins 2pm-6pm. My favourite rumour of the day so far is Patrick van Aanholt to Arsenal. A fantastic player, no doubt, but someone who would possibly find his enthusiasm for defending questioned on Arsenal Fan TV?
Get in touch with me on email or Twitter with hot breaking stories or comments.
A little movement regarding Arsenal loans. They are in talks with Newcastle to send Joe Willock there before tonight’s deadline; that one is ongoing but the signs are looking good. Willock needs a run of games somewhere and to shake off the “Europa League specialist” tag he’s assumed. I get the sense Arsenal do not expect today’s business – there will be more – to be wrapped up especially early ...
Eleven hours to go klaxon! My colleague Luke McLaughlin will steer you through the choppy waters of this afternoon but, before then, a recap of deadline day so far:
• Liverpool are wrapping up a £2m deal for Preston’s Ben Davies and are ramping up interest in Schalke centre-back Ozan Kabak
• Southampton remain hopeful of signing Ainsley Maitland-Niles, but face competition from Leicester and West Brom
• Dele Alli looks set to stay at Tottenham amid PSG interest
• Newcastle reject Bournemouth’s bid to re-sign Matt Ritchie
• Bergkamp signs for Watford ... Mitchel, son of former Arsenal legend Dennis, has joined the club’s Under-23s
Southampton’s Yan Valery has agreed to move on loan to Birmingham ... which would suggest Saints are optimistic of beating Leicester and West Brom to the loan signing of Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles. At the start of the day Southampton were hopeful of doing a deal for Maitland-Niles. Certainly one to watch.
Essential lunchtime reading, courtesy of Paul MacInnes:
Danny Rose – remember him? The 30-year-old left-back has been in the deep freeze at Tottenham, having not even been given a squad number. His football this season has been a pair of appearances for the club’s under-23 team in November. Rose will be out of contract in June but the club do not expect him to be on the move today, raising the prospect of a damaging stand-off being prolonged.
Newcastle have rejected Bournemouth’s bid to take Matt Ritchie back and made it clear Ritchie will not be going anywhere this window. That is a blow to manager Jason Tindall, who was keen to reunite with the winger. As for Joshua King leaving for Southampton, that one seems unlikely at this stage. Burnley and West Brom have also been credited with an interest.
Who wants to hear more about Winston Reid joining Brentford? The lesser-spotted 32-year-old has joined the Championship club on loan until the end of the season from West Ham. “We felt we needed to bring an extra centre back in,” says head coach Thomas Frank after landing the New Zealand international. “Pontus Jansson will be out for at least six weeks and Luka Racic came back from his loan at Northampton Town with a back injury.”
Done deal! Wolves have allowed Burton to snap up Terry Taylor, who sounds like a tough-tackling veteran midfielder from the 50s. The Wales Under-21 international has signed a two-and-a-half year contract at Burton, becoming the struggling League One club’s seventh signing of the January transfer window. Manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was quick to big him up. “He has big potential and the sky is the limit – whatever he wants to achieve, he will achieve,” Hasselbaink says.
From Real Madrid to Bournemouth, via Middlesbrough ... Bournemouth have confirmed Jonathan Woodgate will work under manager Jason Tindall as a “senior first-team coach”. Tindall has overseen one victory in his past seven Championship matches, including three successive defeats. The 41-year-old former Tottenham defender was identified by Bournemouth as a fresh voice. Woodgate, who was sacked from his first management role by Boro last June, previously spent time at Liverpool in a recruitment role. He replaces Graeme Jones, who held the same role until joining Steve Bruce’s staff at Newcastle last week.
Bit more Spurs news. With Dele Alli set to stay, the focus will be on a few more fringe loans. Troy Parrott will be recalled from Millwall and sent to Ipswich for the remainder of the season and Gedson Fernandes, who has six months to run on his contract, is expected to join Galatasaray. Paulo Gazzaniga could get a loan to Spain.
Done deal klaxon! The Arsenal midfielder Matt Smith has joined Charlton Athletic of League One on loan until the end of the season. The midfielder impressed at Swindon Town in the first half of this season, scoring two goals and recording four assists. “I think he suits the way we play, he’s an energetic midfielder,” says Charlton’s manager, Lee Bowyer. “I like that he looks to play forward every time he receives the ball, he’s going to be another good addition to our squad.”
Steve Bruce has confirmed a nugget of news at Newcastle: the out of favour full-back DeAndre Yedlin is swapping Tyneside for Istanbul, joining Galatasaray on a permanent deal. “Sometimes you have to let one out to bring somebody in so it could be a busy day for us,” the Newcastle manager says, teasingly. Bruce is in for the Leicester midfielder Hamza Choudhury but has others on his list.
Will Liverpool end the day with sufficient cover for Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joël Matip? Plenty more topics to debate here:
Centre-backs are all the rage at Liverpool. Not only are they putting the finishing touches to a £2m deal for the Preston defender Ben Davies but they have, according to Sky, trained their sights on another: Ozan Kabak of Schalke. Liverpool are reportedly working on paying a loan fee of around £2.5m to sign Kabak until the end of the season with an option to buy the player in the summer. The only thing is, as my esteemed colleague Gregg Bakowski points out, Schalke are bottom of Bundesliga having conceded 49 goals in 19 games. Yikes! Liverpool have also been linked with a move for Marseille’s Duje Ćaleta-Car. All good fun, isn’t it?
West Ham’s Winston Reid is joining Brentford on loan until the end of the season. The defender has just returned from a loan in MLS side Kansas City and is nowhere near David Moyes’s first team. The 32-year-old, whose West Ham career hit the rocks when he suffered a bad knee injury in February 2018, needs regular football. He was once a key player for West Ham, signing a six-year deal in the summer of 2017. That deal still has two and a half years left on it ...
On Dele Alli, José Mourinho said after Sunday night’s defeat at Brighton that he “always told that I did not have any indication he was leaving.” That is not strictly true. The Tottenham manager was asked repeatedly about Alli’s situation previously January, amid a link to Paris Saint-Germain, and he tended to sidestep the question. I don’t know, it’s not up to me, I don’t want to comment etc ... The change in tone would appear to indicate that Mourinho has accepted he will still have Alli for the coming months and the bigger question for him, really, is whether he is happy about that.
Mourinho has not put his trust in Alli at all this season and he was believed to feel that a loan move would be best for all parties. On the other hand, nobody at Spurs, least of all Mourinho, has wanted to weaken the squad and so there has been pressure (mainly from him) to find a new midfielder before tonight’s deadline. That has been difficult. Christian Eriksen has been available but it always looked like a difficult deal to do.
Bergkamp signs for Watford! ... Mitchel, the son of former Arsenal legend Dennis has joined the Championship club’s Under-23s until the end of the season. Bergkamp Jr spent nine years with Almere City in Holland before moving to England this year. It has been a busy few days at Vicarage Road, with Maurizio Pochettino, son of the Paris Saint-Germain manager, also joining the club’s youth setup. Dan Gosling arriving from Bournemouth, while the goalkeeper Rob Elliot has also signed. Meanwhile they have terminated loan deals for James Garner and Glenn Murray, while Domingos Quina has departed to Granada. Back to Bergkamp ...
When I was younger it was difficult [to be compared all the time] but I’ve adapted to it now. It’s just my name and I’m my own player and hopefully I can leave my own legacy. He’s been amazing to me and for me. He’s my No 1 fan and has always been there for me. It’s a privilege to have him as my dad and to work with him on my game.”
Joshua King could be on the move before the deadline – a swap deal with Shane Long has been floated – but Bournemouth have other irons in the fire. They are keen on bringing Matt Ritchie back to the south coast from Newcastle. Steve Bruce has said Ritchie is “frustrated he’s not playing” and “you can never say never” about a move. In terms of outgoings, Nnamdi Ofoborh, who spent last season on loan at Wycombe, and Jack Simpson, are set to depart before midnight. Simpson is set for a move to Rangers.
A bit of tubthumping Crystal Palace news: goalkeeper Vicente Guaita has signed a contract extension until 2023. The 34-year-old Spaniard joined Palace from Getafe in 2018 and has gone on to register 24 clean sheets in 80 appearances. His new deal comes with the option to extend for a further season. Lovely stuff.
Jonas Lössl has started what could be a bit of a clear-out at Everton today by returning to Danish club FC Midtjylland on a permanent transfer. The 31-year-old goalkeeper, signed from Huddersfield in July 2019, has not featured under Carlo Ancelotti and was way down the pecking order behind Jordan Pickford, Robin Olsen and João Virginia.
With Cenk Tosun rejoining Besiktas on loan Everton are in need of striking cover for Dominic Calvert-Lewin. “We’re looking but we’re not desperate,” Ancelotti said after Saturday’s dismal display against Newcastle. Bernard, also omitted from the match-day squad against Newcastle, is in talks over a move to Al Nasr in Dubai while Jonjoe Kenny has interest from several clubs including Burnley and Celtic.
A couple of Done Deals™ to indulge in: Domingos Quina has departed Watford to join Granada on loan, while Norwich have snapped up the former Aston Villa goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland. The 30-year-old has signed a deal until the end of the season. The Norway international will provide competition for No 1 Tim Krul.
One last hurrah? Glenn Murray has swapped Watford for Nottingham Forest, joining until the end of the season on a free transfer. The Brighton manager, Graham Potter, has had his say on the veteran striker. “Glenn has been outstanding for this football club, a great pro and pleasure to work with,” Potter says. “He quite rightly has earned legend status here. He will always be welcome back here at the club, at the training ground and the Amex.”
It’s expected to be a slow day at Frank Lampard’s ... Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea. One player who had a chance of leaving was Billy Gilmour, who has been left out of Tuchel’s first two matchday squads. The 19-year-old midfielder was open to the idea of going on loan to get some games under his belt after returning from a knee injury, with his place in Scotland’s squad for the Euros in mind. However I’m told that Gilmour will be staying. Tuchel indicated as much during his unveiling last week, praising the youngster and saying there will be chances for everyone in his squad, and the situation is unlikely to change.
It’s fair to say Mikel Arteta was unwilling to give much away about Arsenal’s deadline day when he faced the media at 9am. Might they sign a left-back before the bell tolls? “Things can happen. They might happen, they might not happen. We are on it,” came the answer. Arteta would, in fact, like to sign some back-up for Kieran Tierney and Crystal Palace’s Patrick van Aanholt is one name that has been mentioned. There is a chance that one could develop today.
As for outgoings, does Arteta know who he would like to send out on loan? “Yes we have decided and we are working on it, so we’ll find out before 11.” Hopefully it won’t take that long to confirm a temporary home for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who has a clutch of clubs at his tail but seems likely to join either Southampton or Leicester. Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock, who both need to get their careers going, are other names to look out for today. Shkodran Mustafi could also depart, particularly if the club find a way to settle up his contract. At this early stage in the day, talk of a move to defender-hungry Liverpool seems highly fanciful – but stranger things have happened as the last-ditch scramble heats up.
A Christian Eriksen-shaped update:
Ben Davies – no, not that one – is undergoing a medical at Liverpool ahead of a £2m move from Preston. Elsewhere, a swap deal between Southampton and Bournemouth for the strikers Shane Long and Joshua King has been mooted ... but there is work to do if that is to happen. Bournemouth are interested in taking Long on loan until the end of the season and King, who is out of contract in June, heading to St Mary’s on a permanent deal but Ralph Hasenhüttl has other priorities.
The Women’s Super League window may have closed ... but in France, Italy, Spain and Germany plenty of clubs are trying to dot the i’s and cross the t’s on some last-minute deals:
Plenty going on across the Football League: 37-year-old Glenn Murray has joined Nottingham Forest until the end of the season, reuniting with former Brighton manager Chris Hughton, while the Wales midfielder Jonny Williams is heading to Cardiff from Charlton. Rivals Swansea are close to sealing a deal for the 20-year-old Derby forward Morgan Whittaker, who has played under Steve Cooper at youth level for England. Blackburn, meanwhile, are hopeful of landing both Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Harry Pickering before the day is out, the former on loan from Manchester City. Another centre-back, Tosin Adarabioyo, now of Fulham, impressed on loan at Blackburn from City last season.
This morning’s update from the Get French Football News team:
• Marseille have received a proposal from Liverpool for Croatia central defender Duje Ćaleta-Car – but OM Head of Football Pablo Longoria wants to sign a replacement and RMC are pessimistic that they will find one in time for Caleta Car to make a move to the Premier League. A deal was agreed last night and the player even went to Marseille Provence Airport to take a flight to Manchester, before being told by the Ligue 1 club not to get on the flight ...
• Pini Zahavi’s attempts to broker the loan departure of Dele Alli from Tottenham to PSG look like they will fall short – RMC and L’Équipe believe a deal is improbable owing to Daniel Levy’s insistence that the club find a replacement before sanctioning a deal
• Bristol City have shown an interest in 22-year-old Marseille left-back Christopher Rocchia, but a deal looks unlikely owing to the lack of time to complete a transfer
• Jean-Clair Todibo will sign for OGC Nice, on loan with an option to buy from Barcelona, should he pass the medical that he is undergoing this morning
• The Serbia winger Nemanja Radonjic is travelling to Germany this morning to complete a loan with €12.5m option to buy move to Hertha Berlin
Stay on top of all of the moves across Europe here:
Liverpool are expected to wrap up that £2m move for the Preston defender Ben Davies, who had been all set for a move to Celtic until Jürgen Klopp and co got on the blower over the weekend. Elsewhere, there is three-way tug-of-war for Arsenal’s Mr Versatile: Ainsley Maitland-Niles. That is a big part of the reason Ralph Hasenhüttl is so keen to bring in the full-back on loan, while Leicester and Newcastle are also trying to twist his arm. José Mourinho says he expects Dele Alli to stick around at Tottenham but a move to PSG is not off the table yet.
So, this is it. This time last year Premier League clubs had already splashed more than £200m on shiny new toys but this season, understandably, they are less willing than ever to break the bank. Only four teams have paid a fee for a player to date. Without the prospect of Andrey Arshavin battling the elements to land a move to Arsenal and Fernando Torres swapping blue for red, we are left with a string of rather lukewarm questions: will Liverpool get a £2m deal for Ben Davies over the line? Where will Ainsley Maitland-Niles end up come midnight? Who will Big Sam rope into the relegation fight at West Brom? Will Dele Alli stay put at Spurs, after all? And might there be another twist in the Joshua King saga?
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