And with that, we’re done for the day. We’ll be back tomorrow and in it for the long haul: from morn to night, because we love you. Have a pleasant evening, and farewell.
We’ll be wrapping up the blog shortly, so here’s a summary of what’s happened today:
- Liverpool are prepared to spend up to £150m on Thomas Lemar and Virgil van Dijk, although their respective clubs, Monaco and Southampton, are reluctant to sell. In the Lemar deal, Liverpool may send Divock Origi on loan as part of a potential swap deal.
- Also at Liverpool, they have rejected a bid worth £22m plus £3m in add-ons from Crystal Palace for Mamadou Sakho. They want the total deal to be worth £30m.
- The Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City deal is alive, and it could include Raheem Sterling going to Arsenal. The mooted move might be £20m plus Sterling for Sanchez, who of course has only a year of his contract left to run.
- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain does seem to be off to Chelsea, although at the time of writing that hasn’t been confirmed.
- Kieran Gibbs turned down a potential move to Watford, but he could be on his way to West Brom instead, for around £7m. Arsenal are also apparently interested in Jonny Evans, who remains a target for Manchester City and Leicester City.
- The Baggies look like they’ll be busy in the coming days: they’re set to sign Josef de Souza from Fenerbahce for £10.6m, and they might even have Eliaquim Mangala lined up as a replacement for Evans.
- Stoke have completed the signing of Kevin Wimmer from Tottenham for around £18m, are hopeful of signing Fabian Delph and are looking to rid themselves of midfielder Gianni Imbula, possibly to Monaco.
Quick line from League One, where one of the great love stories of our time has continued: Gary Roberts has signed for Wigan on a deal til the end of the season, which makes it the third club he’s worked with manager Paul Cook. The previous two being Chesterfield and Portsmouth.
Well, well, well...
#lfc have rejected #cpfc bid for Mamadou Sakho. Their 3rd bid of summer was £22m plus £3m in add-ons. Add-ons need to reach £30m.
— Andy Hunter (@AHunterGuardian) August 29, 2017
Interesting Newcastle update from Louise Taylor
Newcastle United are willing to sell Dwight Gayle for around £18m and Leeds United are extremely interested but Rafa Benitez will not sell the striker - last season’s leading scorer at St James’ Park - until he has a guaranteed replacement.
Although Gayle was fit he was not even on the bench against West Ham on Saturday. Benitez dropped him after becoming concerned that mentally he is not the same player as last season and appears troubled by fears that a long-standing hamstring problem may re-occur.
Meanwhile centre half Grant Hanley looks to be heading for Norwich and Jack Colback, frozen out of Newcastle’s first team picture and latterly training at the academy, could join Hull on loan with the East Yorkshire side paying half the midfielder’s wages....
DONE DEAL! Celta Vigo sign Emre Mor from Borussia Dortmund
He’d been rumoured to be off to Milan and even Huddersfield, but only one year after moving to Germany, Turkish attacking midfielder/winger Emre Mor is off to Celta Vigo. Dortmund have announced that Mor himself wanted out in order to play more football: even with Ousmane Dembele gone, they are pretty stacked in his position. Word is the fee will be a club record (for Celta) €13m.
Did you know Eden Hazard has a brother? No, not Thorgan: Kylian. And he’s just signed for Chelsea, but will probably only go into their development side, rather than the first-team.
Word from our man Dominic Fifield: Crystal Palace have agreed a deal for Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho - worth an initial £20m, with add-ons lifting it to £30m.
All pending a medical of course, which would presumably be very stringent.
— Dominic Fifield (@domfifield) August 29, 2017
Updated
DONE DEAL! Roma sign Patrik Schick
Roma did indeed have something brewing. And it was this rather avant garde announcement of the arrival of Sampdoria’s Czech forward Patrik Schick, in a deal said to be worth around €38m.
🐵💻🦁👑🇨🇿🕶🦁🎶🐐 #Schick #ASRoma pic.twitter.com/JAIvKGYS7P
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) August 29, 2017
It’s been a pretty eventful summer for Schick, who thought he was going to Juventus before a medical uncovered a heart condition, and they pulled the plug. Inter were also keen, but he’s now become Roma’s record signing, eclipsing the fee they paid for Gabriel Batistuta, way back when.
“Surely if we are talking about Arsenal and the Walkmen, the following is the most appropriate...” guffaws Padraig McAuliffe...
Who should move to improve their prospects ahead of the World Cup? WhoScored’s Martin Laurence has a few suggestions...
Bumper Liverpool update from Andy Hunter...
Liverpool are prepared to spend in the region of £150m to land Thomas Lemar and Virgil van Dijk in the final days of the transfer window but, as they have often found this summer, the reluctance of rival clubs to sell remains a formidable obstacle. Several enquiries for France international Lemar have been dismissed by Monaco who, despite agreeing a deal for Lazio winger Keita Balde Diao, maintain the 21-year-old will not be leaving in this transfer window. That will not deter Liverpool’s attempts to strike a deal before Thursday’s deadline. Divock Origi would be allowed to move on loan in the opposite direction as a makeweight in a Lemar transfer, though Liverpool insist reports of an €80m-plus Origi bid are premature.
They are also adamant – for the nth time this summer – that Philippe Coutinho will not be sold to Barcelona despite their interest in Lemar. Likewise, and despite excitement over a silver van being spotted at John Lennon Airport on Tuesday, Southampton are standing firm in their refusal to sell van Dijk to the Anfield club. The Dutch defender prefers Liverpool to Chelsea or Arsenal, Jurgen Klopp is prepared to make van Dijk the most expensive defender of all time at around £70m, but Southampton have not yet bowed to the 26-year-old’s attempts to force an exit.
Strained relations between St Mary’s Stadium and Anfield do not help Liverpool’s cause either. However, having eventually concluded a deal with Red Bull Leipzig for Naby Keita – believed to be a £7m premium on next summer’s £48m release clause to secure the midfielder – Liverpool know resolve can be broken. Though he appears destined for Chelsea, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain remains a target for Klopp but – similarly to Southampton over Van Dijk – Arsenal have been unwilling to deal with Liverpool so far.
“Absolutely scandalous that you’ve overlooked The Walkmen’s ode to Alexis Sanchez leaving Arsenal’s sinking ship,” Jonathan Grieve points out, quite rightly.
From reading the book I also became aware of the precursor to The Walkmen, Jonathan Fire*Eater, which is an excellent thing...
Roma have got something brewing, then....
Hitting 'Send / Receive' as you wait for the OK to go with the #ASRoma announcement video pic.twitter.com/XxjGub6LFI
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) August 29, 2017
A lament, from Matt Loten: “It’s a real shame that Birmingham couldn’t get a deal done for Ravel Morrison - if anybody is going to be able to put an arm round the lad, make him understand his talent, and wring the best out of him, it’s Harry Redknapp. He managed to turn a washed-up, boozy and unfit Paul Merson into the heartbeat of one of the most swashbuckling Portsmouth teams I’ve had the pleasure of watching; Morrison could have torn up the Championship if ‘Arry had been given the chance to work his magic.”
You do wonder whether a nondescript/struggling Championship team is the best place to bring someone’s talent out, mind. Although nothing else seems to have worked.
Given there’s a bit of a lull at the moment, allow me to recommend a book. I’m currently reading ‘Meet Me In The Bathroom’ by Lizzy Goodman, an oral history of New York music from about 2001-2011. It’s really very good, and as much as anything it reminds you that many of the songs/artists mentioned still really do hold up. A personal selection from me here, but feel free to send in your own nominations...
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge
Interpol - PDA
TV on the Radio - Staring At The Sun
Here’s Ravel Morrison leaving a clinic in Guadalajara, after taking his medical ahead of a move to Club Atlas. Assuming he coughed when he should have coughed, his move from Lazio will be done and dusted shortly.
#VIDEO El inglés Ravel Morrison a su salida de las pruebas físicas en Guadalajara para reforzar al #Atlas 🔴⚫️@ESPNmx pic.twitter.com/8uSkSJQXxC
— Salvador Pérez (@YoSoyChavaPerez) August 29, 2017
A burst of West Brom updates from Stuart James
There has been a flurry of activity at the Hawthorns, where West Brom are close to completing the signings of Kieran Gibbs fromArsenal for about £7m and Josef de Souza from Fenerbahce for £10.6m. As for Jonny Evans, Albion are digging in their heels over their valuation of the player and, as has been noted on here by Mr Miller, the prospect of Arsenal and Manchester City going head to head over the Northern Ireland international will do them no harm in that respect. For Albion, however, it is also about having the time and opportunity to sign a replacement – and that’s where City’s Eliaquim Mangala could come into the equation. How Mangala feels about that is not so clear.
The internet and excitable Liverpool fans was always going to be an odd combination: that combo has hit gold at the moment, with some having discovered a private plane heading to Merseyside, and deciding that Virgil van Dijk is on board. It’s possible that this is not true.
THEORY:
@NickMiller79 Should Liverpool not offer West Brom an Evans-Sahko swap deal? Keeps a decent player goin to a rival and gets rid of Sakho.
— Ruairí Hegarty (@rhegarty678) August 29, 2017
And Evans would be more reliable than Dejan Lovren, in all probability. I like it.
Rafa Benitez has been frustrated about the lack of incomings at Newcastle, but here’s some news about a potential outgoing: the Press Association reports that they’ve accepted a bid from Norwich for central defender Grant Hanley. Norwich need the help too: they’ve shipped four goals in both of their last two games, so a solid Championship citizen like Hanley should help them out.
The BBC’s David Ornstein, whose transfer updates are generally more like a papal bull rather than mere window tittle-tattle, reports that Arsenal have ‘joined the race’ for Jonny Evans. And with that, West Brom have themselves a nice little bidding war - Manchester City and Leicester City are still keen, too.
Bit of a lull in actual news/rumours at the moment, so here’s Roy Keane shouting at a cloud (not that he’s necessarily wrong):
It’s mind-boggling, the figures that are out there - especially for the average players. If ever there was a time to be a professional player it’s now. Average players are going for £35million. My goodness.
“I don’t really analyse it too much, but that’s the market place at the moment. There aren’t many top players out there. The really big players are going for big money and it’s filtering down now.
“When average players are going for £30-40million, it does make you scratch your head. But if the clubs are prepared to pay that, then it’s not the players’ fault.”
He also said Ryan Giggs would probably be worth £2billion in today’s market.
One for pedantry’s corner, from Simon Garner: “One flaw in Harvey Kelly’s theory is that Stoke is not in the North West, it is in the West Midlands… as a West Midlander I am sickened to see my homeland being erased from maps once again.”
DONE DEAL - Monaco sign Stevan Jovetic
It’s perhaps not the most stunning deal of the window, but Monaco have confirmed they have signed Stevan Jovetic on a four-year deal from Inter. Such is the way of things that most will be interested in this not as a transfer for a man who used to be one of the most promising young things as European football, but a mere domino to fall with another promising young thing seemingly on his way out of Monaco.
Harvey Kelly has a pretty ‘out there’ theory about Imbula: “Regarding Imbula, he was pretty immense for Marseille before moving to Porto for €20 million, and then he went to Stoke for a similar amount. Who knows, maybe he weirdly prefers living in the south of France to the north-west of England?”
You’ll have noted that Crystal Palace are already wondering about Frank de Boer’s position after only three games, and that a return for Sam Allardyce has been mooted should they decide to bin the Dutchman. Well, it sounds like Sam is...not massively keen. He told Talksport this morning:
Being associated with any club at this early stage of the season would not be of any interest to me at the moment. I have just had a trip to Hawaii watching from afar and I went to watch Manchester United on Saturday and I wouldn’t associate myself with any job at this moment in time.
Three games into the Premier League season, it is a little hasty when people talk about you coming back into football. At this moment in time, I am very comfortable in my life. My time in the Premier League for many, many years has been tremendously exciting and I have enjoyed every minute, but having a break from football is the right thing for me to do.
I am just watching Premier League football with great interest, watching how it is panning out, and not living under the pressures that every manager in the Premier League is.”
A reminder: for updates about the actual facts, remember to check out our transfer window interactive. All the confirmed deals lie within...
"I don't care if he took you all to Alton Towers, he's not your real Dad. Make sure you tell your mother that as well..." pic.twitter.com/gXtQxJGveQ
— Mundial Magazine (@MundialMag) August 29, 2017
“A little amazing to see that Norwich City, Middlesbrough and Birmingham City have all supposedly tabled £3.5 million bids for Bristol City’s Aden Flint,” writes Steven Hughes. “Flint scored an astonishing 15 goals in the 2014 - 2015 season, as a non-penalty-taking centre-back, when we went up into the Championship but, since then, his form’s been more in-out than the Hokey cokey. Getting three and a half million for Flint would be like finding money in the street.”
Dipping into the cesspit that is the Championship now, and Preston have confirmed that forward Jordan Hugill has handed in a transfer request, but they have scrunched up that request and thrown it back in his face. Or just ‘rejected’ it. Wolves and Reading are supposed to be keen on the young man.
Incidentally, for all of us who enjoy a bit of 2+2=5 transfer detective work, plenty of word flying around that Monaco have agreed a deal for Lazio winger Keita Balde Diao. Whether that’s to replace Lemar or sign him...who can say.
Stoke, who completed the £18m signing of Kevin Wimmer from Tottenham Hotspur earlier today, haven’t entirely given up hope of trying to convince Fabian Delph to join them from Manchester City, although they are increasingly pessimistic about their chances (put at about 10%, according to one source at the club today). Manchester City are willing to loan or sell Delph and at one point this summer Stoke thought they were close to agreeing a deal for the former England midfielder, who is valued at £12m, but mixed messages have come back ever since as to what the player wants to do, leaving the Potters rather frustrated with it all and almost resigned to defeat. As for Imbula, it would be fair to say that Stoke are desperate to find a new home for their club-record signing and would welcome interest from Monaco or anywhere else. The feeling at Stoke is that the best they can hope for with Imbula is a season-long loan. Not really what they had in mind when they paid Porto £18.3m for him 18 months ago.
Updated
Liverpool up their bid for Lemar?
According to L’Equipe, Liverpool have chucked in a revised bid for Thomas Lemar. The new offer is €80m - €50m down, €30m next summer - plus a borrow of Divock Origi for a season. No word on whether it will prove acceptable to the Monaco brass yet, though. Now, we wait.
Updated
Cheers to Paul for covering. Shortly, a report from France that might interest Liverpool fans...
Nick Miller has had enough. Lunch, that is, so now he’s back to keep you abreast of all the latest developments, and any further kangaroo-themed badinage.
Last night Lyon’s chairman Jean-Michel Aulas retweeted a video with the caption “Nasser and financial fair play”. Aulas’s counterpart at PSG is one Nasser Al-Khelaifi. The video depicted a kangaroo pleasuring himself. Aulas quickly undid his retweet but has explained today that he believes it was righteous production. “I fell over laughing,” said Aulas. “Then I realised I had retweeted it instead of simply ‘liking’ it. For those who don’t understand the humour in the tweet, which is brilliant, because that’s what’s happening in real life ... well, OK, if people are shocked ... I’m sorry to the souls who aren’t shocked by the insults I get all day long. I find it funny. I don’t regret it.”
Thank you all for your correspondence regarding the news that Brazil sources say Coutinho has overcome his back agony and is fit enough to play for them against Ecuador this week, in a qualifier for a tournament for which they have already qualified. Unfortunately I can’t print any of your mails for reasons of legality and taste. But the sentiments are understood. And presumably they will be reversed if Coutinho doesn’t move to Barcelona and resumes duty for Liverpool?
Libor Kozak, released by Aston Villa in the summer after enduring a particularly unhappy four years even by recent Villa standards, has joined Bari.
In a less challenging move than the mooted Imbula one, Monaco are also keen on the Lazio winger Keita Baldé, whom they could nab for around £25m.
“It’s been a terrible week to be an Arsenal fan but yeah I trust the Professor to bring in two or so signings and the season is still at its’s infancy,” writes Ola Toba, who, with trust like that, is presumably also still in his infancy.
Stoke and the new Radamel Falcao
Hello, Doyle here so Miller can drink eat his lunch. Now then, what a pitiful failure Stoke’s record signing has been. Giannelli Imbula arrived 18 months ago from Porto, canny recruiters who had also made him their record signing a short while previously. But the only impact Imbula can be credited with at the Bet365 stadium is the imprint on a wall caused by people banging their heads against it as they try to figure out how to get the midfielder to fulfil his potential. Now, would you believe, Monaco are said to be keen on giving it a go. They have proven to be deft rehabilitators in the past, in fairness, and have certainly helped Falcao recover from his injury woes. If they can help Imbula overcome whatever it is that’s holding him back, that’ll be some feat. Sorry, what do you mean the headline on this entry was a trifle misleading? That is only appropriate when pondering the Imbula enigma.
Updated
I’m going to nip off for a spot of lunch: Paul Doyle will be your guide for a little while. Email him on Paul.Doyle@theGuardian.com if you have anything to say.
It keeps getting better and better for Arsenal: according to our pals at Sky Sports News, Watford have pulled out of a deal for Kieran Gibbs because they can’t agree personal terms. Hoo boy.
A bit of reading? It’s vaguely transfer related, in that the player involved has recently been involved in a transfer. Have a look at Suzy Wrack’s interview with Lucy Bronze, who followed Toni Duggan out of Manchester City, but to sign for Lyon rather than Barcelona.
I just want to challenge myself all the time,” Bronze said. “I stay somewhere for a couple of years and then think: ‘What next?’ I find it easier to challenge myself by going to different clubs, environments and playing with different players. Going to a new country and league is what I think I need right now.
Over the weekend Pepe Reina departed Napoli’s match against Atalanta with tears in his eyes, which some took as proof that he was on his bike, in the direction of PSG or even a reunion with old pal Rafa Benitez at Newcastle. But, as it turns out, he’s staying. His old man, Miguel, told Radio Crc in Italy:
I can confirm that Pepe will stay at Napoli. Pepe is well-liked by everyone, and it’s further confirmation of his wonderful relationship with [Coach Maurizio] Sarri. I’m happy, this is very good. Pepe is happy in Naples, he has a wonderful relationship with the fans and he wants to respond to the affection the city has always shown him.
Speaking of Barcelona, there’s been some talk that a handy replacement for Neymar would be Angel di Maria, but Jorge Mendes has put the kibosh on that one, it seems. “It’s not true what you are publishing,” he told reporters in Barcelona, according to Marca.
Most of the talk about transfers at Barcelona has surrounded arrivals, but some players might still leave: Andre Gomes is one, Rafinha another and Arda Turan could be invited to do one too.
A slightly different tweak on the Sanchez-Sterling thing...
Arsenal proposed including Raheem Sterling in a swap deal for Alexis Sanchez. Man City want cash-only deal for Sanchez.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) August 29, 2017
Can't help but wonder exactly how the conversation goes when a club has to break the news to their player that he's a makeweight in a deal
— Adam Hurrey (@FootballCliches) August 29, 2017
It’s weird how the mentality differs from sport to sport. This is a relevant point in football, but in baseball/American sports players will get told where they’re going, and unless they’ve got a specific clause in their contract allowing them to veto certain destinations, they have to go...
Bit of Liverpool news from the Echo: they’re looking to get rid of Mamadou Sakho, which isn’t perhaps the biggest revelation, but word is they want £30m for the defender, and will play three clubs off against each other to get it. Those are Crystal Palace, West Brom and Leicester.
Spot of reading for you, on why Kylian Mbappe might want to sign for PSG, by Igor Mladenovic. If that isn’t a question with a blisteringly obvious answer.
Oumar Niasse is a target for Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace – both of whom are desperate to increase their options up front – but a deal has so far proved problematic because Everton are demanding a £10m fee for him and that he leave on a permanent basis. Brighton have made two offers for the Senegal striker, both loans with an option to buy at the end of the season, with the latest involving a loan fee of £750,000. Palace have not made an official offer. Niasse, who is under contract at Everton to 2020, spent the second-half of last season on loan at Hull City, where he scored five goals. He continues to be given the deep-freeze treatment by Ronald Koeman, the Everton manager, who does not rate him; Niasse has been barred from first-team training and is working with the club’s Under-23s.
Here’s Mr Hytner’s interview with Niasse from last season. Hard not to feel quite sorry for him after reading this.
“Kind of curious with players like Vlasic, now prices have snowballed so spectacularly, is he kind of rubbish?” muses Michael Hunt. “If a club can’t extract something in the region of 20m for a player who’s a first team regular with bags of potential, what’s going on? Or is it really only if you have a couple of years of middling Prem experience or happen to be a quick and unproven Frenchman that the costs spiral?”
I think the one thing that the transfer window has taught us is that cost is not necessarily related to quality. You could argue that, just as a large pricetag doesn’t definitely mean a good player, a small one doesn’t definitely mean a good one.
Have some further details on the potential Sterling-Sanchez swap. You know, this might just been one of those incredibly rare occasions where a swap deal might actually work for everyone...
DONE DEAL!
Lyon have signed Celta Vigo midfielder Pape Cheikh Diop. Brief appraisal here...
Pape’s on the verge of something I feel, so OL get a very promising talent. Has all the tools to become a complete midfielder.
— David Cartlidge (@davidjaca) August 29, 2017
Updated
Now this is the sort of email we like to see. Here’s Özgür Çeltíkçí with a scouting report on a new arrival:
“Just a short brief on Everton new boy Vlasic. He is the younger brother of Croatian high jump legend Blanka Vlasic. In other words, he has an athletic DNA and a solid physique. As for the type of player Everton fans should expect to see, I can say that Nikola is a winger who likes to cut inside and bring others in to the game. He doesn’t score too often, which is always a negative for wing-forwards but he has more of an ‘Özil game’ rather than a ‘Robben’ one. He has a tendency to drift off every now and then, and you can’t really see him help his full-back defensively. However, with a bit of tactical work on the training ground, he should end up being an ideal squad player for that price. Everton is definitely going to be an intriguing prospect with Moshiri and Koeman in charge.”
Brief bit on Barcelona, whose president Josep Maria Bartomeu was politely invited to do one by fans at Ousmane Dembele’s unveiling on Monday, but who are still in the market for new players, naming no names etc. Their technical director Robert Fernandez said:
We hope to present another player before the end of the month. My intention is for one player to come or maybe two, if possible. I won’t go into names but I admit that the club is working on the possibility of signing new players.”
Despite Johnny Rotten’s old remark about the man on the street, we go to the public now for some thoughts on the Arsenal/Sanchez/Sterling situation. Well, sort of the public: the first one isn’t even outside the building. But Toby is a splendid Gooner so let’s listen to what he has to say...
With regards your live blog questions. It's a hard no to sterling - if they gave us aguero for Sanchez then that's another matter...
— Toby Moses (@tobymoses) August 29, 2017
And then, just to prove that this is a game of opinions, Saint, here’s another take...
@NickMiller79 Re Sterling for Sanchez - considering the alternatives and facts as they are, yes I would take that swap in a heartbeat! #COYG
— Thomas Krantz (@thomaskrantz) August 29, 2017
DONE DEAL!
It’s barely 10am and already the burning flames of the transfer stove are blazing hot: Stoke City have completed the signing of Kevin Wimmer from Tottenham. £18m is your price there, apparently.
And here’s this morning’s Rumour Mill. Emre Can, Mustafi, Van Dijk and Renato Sanches all right in there.
Across the park, Everton have sorted a slightly more low-key deal, for Hadjuk Split winger Nikola Vlasic. £9m, which in today’s berserk world of transfers basically qualifies as change from the glove box as your car.
Liverpool have done some smart dealings here, not least that they’ve saved us from another continuing saga by wrapping up the signing of Naby Keïta for next summer. Details...
Let’s have a brief catch-up for some stuff you might have missed from yesterday, starting with the news of another departure from Arsenal. Getting £35m for a fringe player with one year of his contract left might look on the surface like excellent business, but this is Arsenal so it’ll probably turn out to be bad in some way.
DONE DEAL! Barcelona sign striker!
Well, sort of. They have paid €3.4million for Real Valladolid Jose Arnaiz, who’ll go straight into their B team. Hopefully he’ll thus escape having do to that stupid seal performing act and risk having internet dunces immediately write him off as a waste of money.
"You want to make sure you are playing at the highest level", Raheem Sterling on why he left Liverpool
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) August 29, 2017
Get a load of THIS:
Man City make player-plus-cash offer for Alexis Sanchez involving Raheem Sterling https://t.co/o58RR1N62p
— John Cross (@johncrossmirror) August 29, 2017
Some questions about this:
- Gooners, would you take it?
- City types, would you take it?
- Has anyone asked Sterling about this?
- Would he be prepared to enter the house of chaos just for the promise of a bit more regular football?
- Would Arsenal just end up playing him at left wing-back?
- Could Arsenal still keep Atom and Humber?
Morning all. What will today have in store for us? Anything exciting? Anything concrete? Maybe! We’ll bring you a red-hot rumour shortly...
Meanwhile: email any thoughts you have to Nick.Miller@theGuardian.com, or tweet @NickMiller79
Hello. Nick will be here shortly. Here’s Andy Hunter on Everton, who simply refuse to stop spending:
Everton are close to completing a €10m (£9.26m) deal for the Hajduk Split winger Nikola Vlasic as they look to improve Ronald Koeman’s attacking options before the transfer deadline.
The 19-year-old, who played against Everton in the recent Europa League play-off, is set to sign for the Goodison Park club after a fee including add-ons was agreed between the two clubs. Vlasic has scored 10 goals in 85 appearances for Split since breaking into the first team three seasons ago and is a Croatia under-21 international.
