The January transfer window is at the half-way stage with Manchester United pushing to strengthen with potential moves for £60m for Sporting's Bruno Fernandes and Atletico Madrid's Marcos Llorente. Arsenal, too, promise to be involved in the closing few weeks with Mikel Arteta stamping his authority on his new club, though he has ruled out a move for Manchester City’s John Stones. Liverpool got their business done quickly, even if most would assume they did not need to strengthen, with Takumi Minamino arriving from RB Salzburg.
United appear intent on moves to strengthen on the pitch, seemingly passing on their biggest opportunity yet to land a world class manager in the shape of Mauricio Pochettino. While, Chelsea, fresh from their transfer ban being lifted, have signed youngster Bryan Fiabema, but Frank Lampard will want more to build on their promising start to the season. Manchester United and Arsenal have been linked with Paris Saint-Germain’s Edinson Cavani, who will be available for free this summer, but Atletico Madrid could move first for the Uruguayan, with Diego Simeone eager to add him this month to boost their Champions League campaign given their limited options up top right now. Chelsea have highlighted their defence as an area to upgrade, leading to rumours of moves for Issa Diop of West Ham and their former centre-back Nathan Ake at Bournemouth, with £40m the likely fee for both players.
Tottenham Hotspur could be ambitious with Jose Mourinho eager to overhaul his squad and now desperate to strengthen in the market due to Harry Kane’s long-term injury. Barcelona centre-back Samuel Umtiti could be targeted, but with Ernesto Valverde’s departure and the arrival of Quique Setien, Spurs may have to look elsewhere, while one of the stars of last season Matthijs de Ligt has failed to settle at Juventus and has been linked with a loan move back to Ajax, but the season-ending injury to Merih Demiral should end any possibility of that for now.
Hello, Thomas Lemar. And welcome back to the familiar setting of being a transfer target for Premier League clubs.
Chelsea and Tottenham both enquired this month about the possibility of an initial loan deal for the 24-year-old, who Diego Simeone admitted “hasn’t been able to live up to expectations” at Atletico Madrid, following his £52.7 million switch from Monaco in July 2018. Wolves are also in the mix for the World Cup winner as they seek another dimension to their attacking play, with Nuno Espirito Santo conceding the club have to reinforce their squad in the world.
Lemar has been here before, the subject of interest from England’s top-flight, although the circumstances are markedly different.
Jose Mourinho has told Christian Eriksen to leave Tottenham with his head held high amid reports of an imminent exit to Inter Milan.
The Denmark international’s Spurs career is definitely coming to an end, it is just a case of whether it will be this month or in the summer.
Reports in Italy suggest Eriksen has agreed a deal with the Serie A side, which could mean his outing in the 2-1 FA Cup win over Middlesbrough could be his farewell appearance.
Club captain Christophe Berra, Jake Mulraney and Craig Wighton have been told to find new clubs and train with the reserves after Republic of Ireland midfielder Glenn Whelan had his contract terminated.
Whelan branded the club "amateurish" over the manner of his departure and accused Stendel of "throwing him under a bus" following public criticism.
Berra felt there was a lack of respect about the way he was treated, while striker Aidan Keena revealed former boss Craig Levein told him about his move to Hartlepool rather than Stendel.
The recently-departed Jon Daly also branded Stendel "embarrassing" after the German claimed Andy Kirk was the only coach he trusted to work with him.
Stendel, who hopes to make a signing before Saturday's William Hill Scottish Cup clash with Airdrie, said: "With Christophe I can say I tried my best to handle it and maybe some decisions look a little bit difficult. But I have a short time to do things.
"Other decisions, I have no bad talk with Jon Daly. I can explain a lot of things, but I feel I do the best for this club.
"Honestly, I have not really heard what Glenn Whelan said, I have not heard what Jon Daly said. I hear a lot of things saying it was bad but nobody talked with me, and in our situation we are doing everything OK with Jon Daly and Glenn Whelan and I spoke with Christophe Berra. I understand his situation but I hope he understands our situation.
"The first half of the season was not good and we need to change things."
Berra was "hurt and angry" after being banished to the reserves two days after his wedding.
Stendel said: "I know everything he has done for this club and we give him respect and we also want to give him the chance to find his best way.
"He is the skipper, well he was the skipper in this team, he is an experienced player, but the feeling is he won't play so much in the second half of the season.
"What can I do? Well, I can speak with him and give him the chance to decide what is the best. He is experienced enough to say 'I want to play, I want to do this'. This is what we tried to do with him.
"In the end it's his decision, I gave him the chance to think about this and he wants to do it."
Stendel added: "We cannot bring players in when we have so many players but we hope very soon we have a new player coming in.
"We cannot train with 25-26 players, it's too much.
"It maybe looks bad from the outside but we try to give every player respect and find the best way for both sides.
"You will find in every club, every decision, it's not really the case that both sides are happy but we want the best for Hearts."
When asked how many players he would like to bring in, the former Barnsley boss said: "There is so much we need to improve."
However, the German does not want to lose Aaron Hickey amid reports that AC Milan are interested in the 17-year-old left-back.
Stendel said: "It's good when our player, especially in our situation, can play so well that other clubs are interested. This is our way for the future, but at the moment we look at what we can do here.
"We want to keep all the players that we need and this is 100 per cent Hickey." PA
“At my age, it was important for me to go somewhere that I’m going to play football at an appropriate level.
“It will be my third time in the Championship having played on loan at Blackburn Rovers and Burton Albion at this level, so the adaptation process has already started.
“It’s more important that I get to know my new team-mates and adapt to the team’s style of play but I have proved before that I can play in the Championship and I just can’t wait to get going in a Hull City shirt."
Xavi explains reason behind Barcelona snub
"It's true that I received an offer from Barcelona," he confirmed ahead of Friday's Qatari Cup final, with his side Al Sadd facing Al Duhail.
"[Barcelona directors] Éric Abidal and Óscar Grau made the offer, but I didn't accept it.
"I felt it was too soon for me to coach Barcelona.
"[But] that doesn't mean it's not still my dream to coach Barcelona one day."
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load.
United and Chelsea have both been linked with Dinamo and Spain star Dani Olmo. There could also be some big moves across Europe. Real Madrid have been linked with a £68m move for Timo Werner, as well as Flamengo wonder kid Reinier, while Arsenal have turned their eyes to RB Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano as a long-term target.
