And with that, we’ll call it a day. A quick summary of today’s developments:
- Arsenal agree club-record £55.5m fee for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
- Athletic Bilbao have confirmed Aymeric Laporte is on his way to Manchester City
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic can leave this season if he wants, says José Mourinho
- West Brom set to beat Newcastle to loan signing of Daniel Sturridge
- Chelsea have agreed a €20m deal for Emerson Palmieri
- That won’t have any knock-on for their pursuit of Edin Dzeko, which has stalled over personal terms
- Chelsea and West Ham are keen on Olivier Giroud, who is also a possible replacement for Aubameyang at Borussia Dortmund
- Tottenham and PSG are still negotiating over the transfer of Lucas Moura
Farewell everyone. We’ll see you again tomorrow.
Updated
Gerard Deulofeu is on his way to Watford
That’s the word from the ever-reliable (and incredibly hard-working) Fabrizio Romano. The Barcelona winger, who has played in the Premier League for Everton, is having talks with the Vicarage Road club right now with both parties expecting few hitches.
Chelsea agree deal €20m deal for Emerson Palmieri
The Roma full-back is on his way to Stamford Bridge in a deal that includes €6m in add-ons.
Emerson was initially part of a double transfer that would also see Edin Dzeko move to Chelsea but that particular part of the transfer has stalled over the Bosnian’s personal terms. That does not effect Emerson’s move, however, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Updated
West Ham are keeping an eye on Olivier Giroud. The French striker has been out of favour this season and he’ll be even lower down the pecking order if Arsenal can complete the signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. As reported already, Chelsea have also been linked with the Frenchman, but would Arsenal really do business with one of their rivals? Hard to see the logic there. West Ham would love to get Giroud on loan and he’d walk straight into their team.
Updated
Kevin Wilson has been in touch regarding Aymeric Laporte’s move to Manchester City:
“I love it whenever someone tries to sign a Bilbao player - there’s no negotiation, it’s just ‘pay the minimum release clause fee. We can’t really sign anyone with the money so we’re not desperate to sell’.”
Aymeric Laporte is on his way to Manchester City
Athletic Bilbao have confirmed that the French defender’s release clause, believed to be worth €65m, had been paid. The 23-year-old could now join City as early as Monday evening, although at some point on Tuesday appears more realistic.
Laporte abona la cláusula de rescisión https://t.co/WIIcwSCqM9 #athletic
— Athletic Club (@AthleticClub) January 29, 2018
An update on Edin Dezko’s proposed move from Chelsea to Roma, via Fabrizio Romano:
Discussions have continued between relevant parties in order to secure an agreement for the Bosnia striker. However as things stand, nothing has been finalised and Chelsea are prepared to switch targets if progress is not made soon. One of the players they are looking at? Olivier Giroud from Arsenal.
Updated
Some Manchester City and Arsenal-related transfer news, courtesy of Get French Football News:
The two clubs have approached Ligue 2 side Brest about 17-year-old left-winger Lenny Pintor. RB Leipzig are known to have to already made an offer for the player.
An interesting development on the Daniel Sturridge to West Bromwich Albion deal via Paul Suart, senior sports writer at the Birmingham Mail:
Alan Pardew has completed his first signing as West Brom boss with Egyptian centre-back Ali Gabr joining on loan until the end of the season.
— Paul Suart (@PaulSuartWBA) January 29, 2018
Striker search continues. Sturridge under consideration, but Deeney understood to be no.1 target. #wba
Another exclusive update from Get French Football News:
Barnsley have concluded an agreement with Ligue 2 side RC Lens for the signing of 22-year-old central midfielder Thomas Ephestion. He is due to have his medical with the Oakwell club, who are currently 19th in the Championship, on Tuesday.
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Why not check out all the deals that have been completed this month via the Guardian’s incredibly smart and easy to use interactive guide:
And here is Andy Hunter’s story on Daniel Sturridge’s impending loan move from Liverpool to West Bromwich Albion:
Here is Paul Wilson’s report from José Mourinho’s press conference in which he opened the door to Zlatan Ibrahimovic leaving Manchester United:
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Roy Hodgson has spoken regarding Crystal Palace’s pursuit of Getafe goalkeeper, Vicente Guaita. “No update on that, but he’s a player we like and are still pursuing,” he said. “It would be nice if he could come in during the January window, and it’s something the chairman and Dougie Freedman are trying to do.”
Regarding a loan move for Lille defender Ibrahim Amadou, Hodgson said: “Another name we’ve talked about, but it’s a deal or a decision or a situation being dealt with by the chairman and the sporting director.”
The Palace manager added: “On 12 September, when I inherited the squad, the obvious thing for me was we are desperately short of centre-forwards who are natural centre-forwards. We have plenty of wide players who can fill in there. So a successful window would be if we get cover in the areas we’re talking about: goalkeeper and centre-forward.
“We’ve been short from the offset, when I joined the club. Right from the beginning we’ve spoken about areas in our team where we think we’re short of cover and players to help us out if anyone gets injured. We lost [Christian] Benteke for a long period and didn’t have a recognised centre-forward to come in. The same applies to goalkeepers. We should really have three in case one gets injured, and we still only have two.
“Nothing has really changed in those areas since 12 September, which is why we continue looking and continue our work. We’d like to add players to our squad to get stronger and better cover. I’m not unhappy with the XI I can put on the field, and the two or three subs. Tomorrow [for the match against West Ham United] we have literally 19 players to choose from, and one of those could go out on loan. So that would be 18. That’s unusual.”
Updated
Daniel Sturridge set to join West Brom on loan from Liverpool
Yes, that’s right. The 28-year-old is heading to The Hawthorns after WBA agreed a £1.5m loan fee with Liverpool.
Sevilla, Internazionale and, as of earlier, Newcastle United had been in the running for Sturridge but the Birmingham-born player is returning to the Midlands for a few months at least having fallen out of favour with Jürgen Klopp.
Sturridge has not featured for Liverpool since coming on as a substitute in the 7-0 victory over Spartak Moscow in early December and has made only five starts in all competitions this season.
Full story from Andy Hunter to follow ...
Now it’s José Mourinho’s turn to get on board the transfer train, with the Manchester United manager saying Zlatan Ibrahimovic can leave the club if he wishes.
This is in response to rumours that the Swedish striker, who is still recovering from a long-term knee injury, could join LA Galaxy.
“If Zlatan wants a future in another club in another country we are here to help and create conditions to help, not to make his life difficult,” said Mourinho on Monday afternoon. “But the last thing Zlatan told me was he wants to recover totally and help the team.”
Mourinho has also declared his desire to see Marouane Fellaini remain the club. The Belgian’s contract with United ends in the summer and he has yet to agree to an extension.
“It is my desire, it is the board’s desire, it is his desire,” said Mourinho. “Are we going to agree? I don’t know.”
Updated
Jürgen Klopp has spoken and it’s more bad news for Liverpool fans: Philippe Coutinho will not be replaced during this window.
The manager made the admission during his press conference on Monday afternoon, and ahead of the trip to Huddersfield on Tuesday. “Coutinho is not to replace in this transfer window. It’s pretty rare, we can stop thinking about it,” Klopp said. “It’s about using our own opportunities, tools, players, tactics, formations.”
As you can imagine, this has not gone down well with a fanbase still reeling from a shock FA Cup defeat to West Bromwich Albion and the news that Daniel Sturridge could be on his way to Newcastle United on loan this month with a replacement for the striker also unlikely to come in.
So Diafra Sakho has gone. A shame. In my opinion he has easily been West Ham’s best striker since he joined for £3.5m from Metz in the summer of 2014.
His mobility and strength meant he was capable of playing up front - look at how good West Ham were when Sakho was making space for Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini and Victor Moses at the start of Slaven Bilic’s time - and he got goals, too. Yet he has suffered a lot of injuries and has also had issues away from the pitch. He didn’t see eye to eye with Bilic and almost left in the summer of 2016, only to fail a medical at West Bromwhich Albion. Then he was set to join Rennes last summer, only for West Ham to cancel the deal on deadline day.
But now he’s got his move - Rennes are paying £8m - and that leaves West Ham with three days to find another striker for David Moyes. They’re looking at Graziano Pelle, but the former Southampton striker earns £350,000 a week in China. The 32-year-old Italian would have to take a significant wage cut. West Ham want him on loan initially and are offering an 18 month deal subject to staying up. It looks unlikely at the moment. West Ham aren’t ruling it out completely at the moment, though.
These are worrying times. It has emerged that Pedro Obiang, who has been such an important player for Moyes in midfield, might need surgery after injuring his knee on the weekend. That would rule him out for a while.
Right, I’m off for a lunch break. While I’m away why not have a go at our January transfer window quiz. I got 7/10 - sure you can do much better. Enjoy!
This from Ruth Purdue on the Daniel Sturridge to Newcastle rumours:
“If Sturridge is serious about playing, he should leave England. It will do him some good and he will develop still because of the different styles, especially in Italy. Staying in ‘comfort’ won’t do him any good.”
A solid point. Personally I’d love to see Sturridge go to Internazionale, who have been linked with the 28-year-old, and test himself in Serie A.
Some exclusive transfer lines from the reliable and well-sourced Get French Football News:
- Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain are continuing to negotiate the finer points of a potential deal for Lucas Moura. The player has already agreed personal terms with Spurs, having visited the club’s facilities last week and met with both Daniel Levy and Mauricio Pochettino. Tottenham initially entered negotiations seeking a loan agreement with PSG, but for Financial Fair Play regulations reasons, PSG are insisting on a permanent transfer that, if talks reach a successful conclusion, is expected to be worth €25m excluding bonuses. The player’s agents remain in touch with Arsenal, according to L’Équipe.
- Chelsea had representatives at the Parc des Princes on Saturday to watch 20-year-old Montpellier defender Nordi Mukiele.
-
Javier Pastore is seeking to push through a move to Internazionale, but the Serie A side and PSG are not close to an agreement, with the former seeking a loan deal and the latter wanting to sell, again for FFP reasons.
- Bolton & Stoke City are monitoring the contract situation of 19-year-old Bordeaux attacking midfielder Yassine Benrahou, according to France Football.
Updated
Well, well, well, what’s this - Newcastle United are interested in signing Daniel Sturridge on loan from Liverpool. That’s the word, anyway, from a few sources, including the Newcastle Chronicle.
Sturridge had been linked with a loan move to Sevilla or Internazionale this month having well and truly fallen out of favour with Jürgen Klopp, so this news doesn’t come as a huge surprise. Nevertheless, its noteworthy that he could be on the move to another Premier League club.
Fitness permitting, Sturridge will undoubtedly get a game at Newcastle given their chronic lack of goals. It could be a good move for him, especially as he looks to get back into the England squad ahead of this summer’s World Cup.
Updated
Aubameyang update: Several sources are reporting that Borussia Dortmund have made contact with Chelsea in regards to signing Michy Batshuayi on loan, a deal which would all but secure Aubameyang’s transfer to Arsenal.
Among those sources is the respected Belgian football journalist Kristof Terreur
Dortmund have contacted Chelsea over Michy Batshuayi... But as yet they haven’t taken a decision.
— Kristof Terreur 📰 (@HLNinEngeland) January 29, 2018
Everton have received several loan enquiries for Sandro Ramírez and Davy Klaassen, Sam Allardyce has confirmed, but “nothing sufficient for us to allow the player to leave”.
The Spanish striker and the Holland midfielder, who was signed for £23.6m in the summer, have barely featured under Allardyce and will be allowed to depart should the right offer materialise before Wednesday’s deadline. The Everton manager has also dismissed reports that young winger Ademola Lookman will be allowed to depart on loan this month. “Not after Aaron Lennon went,” he explained. “The club got a good deal financially for Aaron [from Burnley], who was coming to the end of his contract.”
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Updated
Rennes sign Diafra Sakho from West Ham United
The French club, who are currently eight in Ligue 1, have announced that they completed a move for the 28-year-old striker.
Sakho, who joined West Ham from Metz in 2014 and scored 18 goals in 62 appearances for the London club, passed a medical at Rennes on Sunday and has a signed a two-half-year-deal.
Arsenal agree fee for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Here is Dominic Fifield’s story in full:
Updated
All this talk of January signings has reminded me of a fun piece the Guardian did on the back of Paul Scholes returning to Manchester United in January 2012: Which former player would you bring back to your club?
We ask supporters from each of the 20 clubs that were in the Premier League at the time - some of them Guardian journalists - and each provided an interesting answer. Given relatively recent events, my favourite is probably Evertonian Martin Rose wishing Wayne Rooney would return to Goodison Park. Enjoy:
Updated
Arsenal have reached agreement in principle with Borussia Dortmund over the club record €63m (£55.5m) signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, though the Bundesliga side will only sanction the completion of the deal once they have secured a replacement.
Full story to follow ...
Updated
According to Get French Football News, Rennes have called a press conference for this afternoon in which they are likely to unveil West Ham’s Diafra Sakho on a permanent move that will be worth up to just under €10m.
Aubameyang update: There are reports coming from Germany that Borussia Dortmund do not plan on signing either Anthony Modeste or Olivier Giroud as a replacement for Aubameyang, which could hold up his departure to Arsenal. However, there are supposedly interested in taking Michy Batshuayi on loan from Chelsea instead, with Antonio Conte expressing some openness to the player leaving the Premier League champions on a short-term deal this month if they too can sign a replacement before the close of the window, following Sunday’s 3-0 victory over Newcastle United.
Updated
Calling all hipsters: According to the Spanish publication Depor, Denmark midfielder Michael Krohn-Dehli is close to completing a move from Sevilla to Deportivo La Coruña.
Krohn-Dehli, who is 34 and has 57 caps for Denmark, is set to undergo a medical at Deportivo on Tuesday afternoon.
In non-transfer related news, here is Paolo Bandini’s latest Serie A blog, containing a photo of Gennaro Gattuso that is the most Gennaro Gattuso photo you’ll ever see:
Reece Oxford was due to return to Borussia Mönchengladbach on loan this week, but it’s sounding like West Ham United will stop that deal happening after Pedro Obiang’s injury. Oxford replaced Obiang against Wigan.
Daniel Gefen has been in touch...
“As a Liverpool fan, I would really love to see Jürgen Klopp try and get a proper defensive midfielder who sees it as his job to predict what will go wrong at the back (see Emre Can relaxing at just the wrong moment the other night to let in Jay Rodriguez, with Jordan Henderson having the same tendency.) Who can they get? Is Naby Keita earmarked for that job? I hope not.
“On the bright side, maybe teams will leave a bit more space to attack them in the Champions League.”
Liverpool play Porto in the last-16 of the Champions League, with the first leg, at the Estádio do Dragão, taking place on 14 February.
Updated
Brighton complete loan signing of Leonardo Ulloa from Leicester
Ulloa returns to the Amex Stadium three-and-a-half years after he left Brighton. The 31-year-old scored 26 goals in 58 appearances for the Seagulls and secured the club a record transfer fee received - £8m - when he moved to the King Power Stadium in July 2014.
“We’re delighted to welcome Leo back to the club,” said Brighton manager, Chris Hughton. “He’s scored goals at Premier League level and will further strengthen our attacking options.
“I wasn’t here during his first spell at the club, but I know he was very well thought of by all concerned, including the club’s supporters. He’s achieved a great deal since he left, including winning a Premier League title, and his experience at this level will be hugely beneficial to us.”
Updated
Charly Musonda is in Glasgow undertaking a medical prior to completing a loan move from Chelsea to Celtic for the rest of the season.
Before Celtic fans get too excited, it’s worth pointing out that Brendan Rodgers has a patchy record with Chelsea loanees: Josh McEachran and Victor Moses were (relatively) underused by him at Swansea City and Liverpool respectively.
Chelsea had other offers for Musonda, from Leganes in Spain and, apparently, Nottingham Forest. Their instinct was to find him Premier League football but there were no takers from rival top-flight clubs. They deemed Celtic the next best scenario.
Musonda, a 21-year-old Belgian midfielder, has made three substitute appearances for Chelsea in the Premier League this season and most recently supplied an assist for their fourth goal at Brighton.
Updated
Justin Moyse has been in touch...
“With Monsieur Wenger’s current taste towards all things Borussia, will Arsenal make a last minute move to hire Herr Klopp in a capacity as defensive coach perhaps..?”
Liverpool have conceded seven goals in their last three games, so I’m guessing not, Justin.
Arsenal fans are rightly getting excited about their club’s increasingly likely signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Yes, his attitude can stink worse than a piece of trout that’s been lying in a sweaty shoe for a fortnight, but he’s undoubtedly a talented striker.
Better still, he already has a decent track record of scoring against English teams, and better-better still; against Tottenham Hotpur in particular, as this compilation video shows:
West Ham United are desperately looking for reinforcements after Pedro Obiang joined their massive injury list during the weekend defeat to Wigan Athletic and Arthur Masuaku brainlessly got himself sent off for spitting.
Unfortunately things are moving slowly in east London. West Ham did bring in Joao Mario on loan from Inter last week - and will be paying the Portuguese midfielder’s £100,000 a week wages in full - but they had a bid knocked back for James Maddison last week (Norwich want £20m for the young midfielder, who scored a peach in the win over Brentford) and Fulham have told them they’ll have to pay a lot more than £15m for Tom Cairney.
Anderlecht’s Leander Dendoncker is another midfielder on West Ham’s list, but will they meet the £20m asking price? No guarantees there. But time’s running out and the squad is stretched. At the moment all that seems certain is that Diafra Sakho will be on his way out today - a move to Rennes is close - and that means West Ham will lose another body.
With former Chelsea target Andy Carroll out with a foot injury, they’re looking for a target man on loan. But who? Graziano Pelle’s wage demands are eye-watering. Daniel Sturridge’s injury record makes him a risk. But they need someone and the crowd’s mood at when West Ham host Crystal Palace on Tuesday will be interesting.
- As expected, Aymeric Laporte should complete a move from Athletic Bilbao to Manchester City today. As reported by the Guardian on Friday, the Premier League leaders have agreed a £57m deal for the 23-year-defender and he is expected to sign a five-year contract at the Etihad Stadium.
- An agreement is close for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to join Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund. According to Fabrizio, a deal in the region of €65M (£57.1m) has been sorted between the clubs and, all going well, Aubameyang will sign a contract until 2021 at the Emirates Stadium, worth €10m a season.
- Roma have confirmed that they have an agreement in place with Chelsea for the double transfer of Edin Dzeko and Emerson. However, Dzeko has not personally agreed to the move - he wants a three-a-half-year contract from the current Premier League champions but they are reluctant to offer him that given a deal until 2021 would mean committing themselves to the forward past his 34th birthday.
Updated
Preamble
Hello and welcome to day one of the Guardian’s transfer blog ... and it’s LIVE!
Yes, that’s right, I’ll be bringing you news, as it happens, of rumours, gossip and actual done deals throughout the day (well, until 5pm GMT), courtesy of the Guardian’s crack team of reporters, as well as via anything I spot on the internet that looks interesting. Think of me as a less Scottish but equally annoying version of Jim White.
It’s highly likely that we’ll see Manchester City complete a deal for Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte today, and Arsenal could well make significant progress in their pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund. Elsewhere, Liverpool seem set to sign absolutely no one despite their fans spending every waking minute since Saturday’s FA Cup defeat to West Bromwich Albion calling on Jürgen Klopp to do some transfer business. If you’ve missed the clamour, let me summarise it with one handy phrase: “SPEND THE COUTINHO MONEY, WILL YOU!!!”
Updated
Feel free to email me with any thoughts, queries and questions - I’ll read as many and publish as many as I can. In the meantime, why not checkout today’s transfer rumours as collated by Simon Burnton. Apparently, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is on his way to LA Galaxy:
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