And that, ladies and gentlemen, is it for today. It started very well with an actual signing in the morning – Anton Donker joined Everton on loan from Wolfsburg – and then we had excitement with Burnley having their £10m bid for Robert Snodgrass accepted and Palace agreeing an initial deal of £9m for Robbie Brady but, frankly, we expected more with only six days left of the transfer window. Either way, it’s been enjoyable so please join us again tomorrow when there may well be some Swedish metal rock videos. Unless, there are some actual transfer news of course … have a good night everyone.
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So here we are … Snodgrass update. Burnley have had a bid accepted but it is far from a foregone conclusion that he will join Sean Dyche’s team. Middlesbrough and West Ham are still very much in the frame with question marks over Burnley’s ability to agree personal terms with the 29-year-old. Crystal Palace, Watford, Swansea, Sunderland and Bournemouth have also registered an interest, although it remains to be seen whether they follow that up with an official bid.
Antonio Cassano is leaving Sampdoria - as we thought he would. End of an era. The fantastic Gianluca Di Marzio is reporting that all that is missing is Cassano’s signature and he will leave the club. All has been agreed.
This, on Cassano, is from a Said and Done column from 2008: Sex plus pastries - could it be any better?
Cassano in his new book ‘Dico Tutto’ (I’ll Tell Everything): ‘I’ve only had four girlfriends in 11 years - that’s very few. But then again, I’ve also done it with around 600 or 700 women, at least 20 of them from the world of showbiz. In Madrid it was easy because I lived in a hotel. The bell boy was my good friend: it was his job to bring me three pastries after sex. He would hand me the pastries, I would hand him the girl, and he would return her into the night. Sex plus pastries - could it be any better?’
But before the Snodgrass news please have a read of this, good news for everyone and fantastic work by Barney Ronay and the Millwall fans
Not been a good day for the Swiss Super League today, they’ve lost two good players. First Birkir Bjarnason, who has joined Aston Villa from Basel, and now Yuya Kubo has agreed to join Ghent from Young Boys.
And don’t worry everyone, there will be a Robert Snodgrass update before we finish this live blog for the day.
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Probably a good move for all three parties. Good player.
#lcfc midfielder @MattyJames_8 has joined Barnsley on loan until the end of the 2016/17 season: https://t.co/VSsmk0Elf2
— Leicester City (@LCFC) January 25, 2017
Good luck, Jamo! 👍 pic.twitter.com/HaXXj34IRf
This is also good, today’s Fiver: Southend, Millwall, meats and comestibles
This, from 2006, is such an amazing read on Patrice Evra …
Patrice Evra tells Darren Tulett about how he made it to Manchester United with the help of a Senegalese stranger in Milan, a group of nuns, the coach he argued with for a whole season, and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink on a bloody night at Chelsea
Patrice Evra joins Marseille on 18-month contract
Patrice Evra is joining Marseille. The former Manchester United full-back, who has had such a good time in Turin until recently, has signed a deal until 2018. Still a very good player and a good signing for Marseille.
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How well do you know your January transfer deals? Try this to find out…
I find Emanuele Giaccherini quite fascinating. Such a good player, clearly, but seemingly only when playing for Antonio Conte ... Very good at Juventus, very poor at Sunderland, very good at Euro 2016 and no, er, not playing at all at Napoli. He is likely to be on his move in January after his agent, Furio Valcareggi, told Radio Kiss Kiss (what a name!) the following: “I have now understood that Emanuele will never play again [at Napoli]. I am friends with [Napoli manager] Maurizio Sarri and there isn’t an argument with him. But I am asking, together with my colleague Giulio Marinelli that we find a solution for him to leave the club.”
Thanks Ed. Good to get Oscar Hiljemark in there (but better dressed than me? Honestly...). Anyway, good player I think, slightly surprised Palermo are letting him go. But there we are. In other news, our very reliable friends over at Turkish Football have this story on Bayer Leverkusen’s Hakan Calhanoglu, who is been tracked by a host of Premier League clubs: Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham and, now Everton. He won’t leave in the January transfer window but I think he would be a good signing for a Premier League club in the summer. Still only 22. A bit inconsistent perhaps but wonderfully skilful.
It’s been emotional but my time is up. Marcus Christenson will be along soon to take you through until the end of the day – please keep your comments and emails coming in.
More from our Sweden correspondent Marcus Christenson now and it seems Oscar Hiljemark is joining Genoa from Palermo for €2.5m. According to Wikipedia he has a dog called Milo and was voted Sweden’s best dressed man in 2016.
Ben Blatch-Hanlon has been in touch to correct my earlier posting on Salif Diao...
I hate to be a pedant (actually that’s a lie) but I believe Liverpool had agreed a deal to buy Diao before the first game of the World Cup. They may have completed the purchase after the tournament had finished but I’d argue they didn’t actually sign him “off the back” of his tournament performances!
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West Ham remain interested in signing Robert Snodgrass from Hull but have yet to match Burnley’s bid of £10m. Where do you all think the Scotland star will end up?
And here’s another interesting tale from Germany, where Tunisian international Änis Ben-Hatira has been released by Darmstadt. According to this, it was his alleged connections to Düsseldorf-based Ansaar International – an organisation that has been involved in radical Islamist activities – which resulted in the decision. Ben-Hatira, however, has described that as “complete nonsense.” Read more on this here.
Some interesting news from Germany now and it seems Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be allowed to leave Borussia Dortmund this summer, but only if a club stumps up a cool €80m for the Gabon striker. Real Madrid and Manchester City have both shown an interest in the past. Here’s Dortmund’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke...
We can never guarantee that a player will stay with Borussia Dortmund forever, but our strength is to always find new solutions,” he was quoted as saying by Kicker TV. “Auba was our alternative to ‘the world ending’ after [Robert] Lewandowski’s departure [to Bayern Munich]. With an €80 million offer, I would be thinking about [club president] Reinhard Rauball and [sporting director] Michael Zorc - if we had one [an offer], we would have to get together with Pierre-Emerick [to discuss it]. We always have to differentiate between situations where there is such an offer, but we have no pressure... I would prefer it if no offer came.
Here’s Fabrizio Romano’s story from last week with all the details on Zárate’s move
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Mauro Zarate joins Watford
The former West Ham forward has signed a deal until 2019 at Vicarage Road for a fee of £2.3m
OFFICIAL: Mauro Zárate has joined #watfordfc from @acffiorentina in a two-and-a-half-year deal.
— Watford FC (@WatfordFC) January 25, 2017
More ⬇️️https://t.co/o8nimt1yMr
🐝 pic.twitter.com/VZpycNkXQJ
An update on Southampton’s chase for Marco Manolo Gabbiadini now from Italian media. The Italy striker almost joined Everton last summer but could now be heading to the south coast. Or not. Sounds a complicated one...
Gabbiadini mess stumbles on. #Saintsfc have now apparently offered more than new asking price. https://t.co/Tf9vCxoDe0
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) January 25, 2017
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Everyone knows it’s usually not a good idea to sign players off the back of their performances in tournaments (remember Salif Diao?) but the performances of DR Congo at the Africa Cup of Nations must have caught the attention of some scouts. As well as the wonderfully named Fulham midfielder Neeskens Kebano, top of the list must be Junior Kabananga after he scored in third goal in as many matches against Togo on Tuesday. He’s had a chequered career so far but is out of contract with Kazakhstan’s Astana this summer if any managers fancy a punt?
Another signing confirmed - this time it’s Slovenia international Miha Zajc who has joined Italians Empoli
L´Empoli Fc comunica di aver acquisito dall´Olimpia Lubiana a titolo definitivo le prestazioni di Miha Zajc fino al 30 giugno 2021 pic.twitter.com/EFl2dq19H8
— Empoli Fc Official (@EmpoliCalcio) January 25, 2017
He was once billed as the new Didier Drogba after winning the golden boot at the 2011 under 17 World Cup but Souleymane Coulibaly’s career in British football is over for now after joining Egyptian side Al Ahly. Having failed to make an appearance for Tottenham, Coulibaly also had spells at Peterborough and Newport County before moving to Kilmarnock last year.
Fantastic video of @SCoulibaly19 that is dominating the news in Egypt :https://t.co/jpqOT5QdGT
— Dan Chapman (@DanFullContact) January 25, 2017
Away from transfers for the moment and there’s been a hugely significant development in the Millwall CPO saga. Over to you Barney Ronay
Aston Villa have confirmed the signing of Icelandic midfielder Birkir Bjarnason. He scored the equaliser against Portugal at Euro 2016 if you can remember that far back...
Breaking news: We’re delighted to announce the signing of Birkir Bjarnason from FC Basel. #WelcomeBirkir #AVFC pic.twitter.com/Xz1G2fidTu
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) January 25, 2017
Talking of former non-league players, there’s been a plethora of them who have made the leap to the Premier League in recent seasons. Here’s my piece from last week...
Followers of League Two will know the name Omar Bogle very well. The Grimsby striker has scored an incredible 65 league goals in the last three seasons and is thought to be available for £1m, with Reading and Derby interested despite the fact that Jaap Stam claimed on Tuesday that he had “never heard of him”. That may be a little economical with the truth given that Reading have been in touch with Bogle’s representatives in the past couple of weeks but we will see. Incidentally, apropos of nothing in particular, Bogle’s father is called Elvis...
Hi Ed Aarons here. Marcus is tucking into some well-deserved lunch so I’m taking over for the next hour or two. A few deals starting to happen with less than a week of the transfer window remaining so let’s recap a little on this morning’s progress...
- Burnley had a £10m offer accepted for the Scotland international. It is understood that Middlesbrough, West Ham and Watford are now expected to match that offer
- Palace have now agreed a £9m fee for Norwich City’s Robbie Brady but remain in talks over Patrick van Aanholt of Sunderland
- Watford agree €16m deal with Milan for M’Baye Niang but player yet to decide
Erik Lamela, meanwhile, is eager to clear a few things up. He is not in Rome for another other reason than to get fit (ie, he is not about to rejoin his former club).
Just to be clear, I am in Roma at the moment recovering for an injury and not for any other thing that is not to do with football!
— Erik Manuel Lamela (@ErikLamela) January 24, 2017
David Conn has looked into the situation at Everton. Well worth a read.
It’s almost lunch time so as you scroll down to catch up on today’s updates (Gonçalo Guedes to PSG, Burnley bid for Snodgrass expected but other clubs circling, Andros Townsend back to Newcastle etc) why not do this little quiz and have a look at our club-by-club guide to all the transfers in the top five leagues in Europe in January (features Ryan Babel and Carl Medjani among others...)
What about Pepe to China? Why not?
NOTICIA @partidazocope: Pepe se marchará al Hebei China Fortune la próxima temporada. Cobrará unos 15mill €.https://t.co/aNH4lhXOe0 pic.twitter.com/yV3AT3Zca7
— El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) January 25, 2017
Newcastle remain hopeful of convincing Crystal Palace to allow Andros Townsend to rejoin them on loan, with the move resting on whether Sam Allardyce can find a replacement in time. Palace have agreed a fee of an initial £9m for Norwich’s Robbie Brady and Patrick van Aanholt from Sunderland but look unlikely to sign both, although Allardyce still wants more reinforcements before allowing Townsend to depart to the club he left last summer for £13m. Newcastle’s move for Modou Barrow now seems unlikely to go ahead with Swansea preferring to sell the Gambia international rather than loaning him out.
Manchester City have no intention of allowing Tosin Adarabioyo to leave in the window despite the 19-year-old having six months left on his deal and the defender asking for markedly improved terms or he will consider departing. Pep Guardiola initially talked Adarabioyo up when he became head coach in the summer but last week stated the centre-back is not yet ready for the first team. Adarabioyo has made only three appearances this season – one each in August, September and December – and clubs including Everton and Celtic are monitoring his situation.
City’s stance is that the player is wanted but the contract he is demanding is currently too much, so where it goes from here, and whether Adarabioyo is still at the club by the end of the summer window, is yet to be decided.
Things are, finally, moving in Germany as well with Daniel Caliguri set to join Schalke from Wolfsburg for €2.5m.
Flügel-Flitzer Caligiuri - Wolfsburg-Star vor Wechsel zu Schalke https://t.co/TqRhfbPx3s #S04
— BILD FC Schalke 04 (@BILD_Schalke04) January 25, 2017
The chase for Robert Snodgrass looks like being resolved soon after Burnley had a £10m offer accepted for the Scotland international. It is understood that Middlesbrough, West Ham and Watford are now expected to match that offer, with Swansea, Sunderland and Bournemouth also in the hunt for a player who has scored seven Premier League goals this season. Where he ends up will depend on Snodgrass agreeing personal terms, although you can expect the transfer to move quickly now that Hull have named their price.
Palace agree £9m fee for Norwich City's Robbie Brady
It’s all happening. Palace have now agreed a £9m fee for Norwich City’s Robbie Brady.
Crystal Palace have agreed a deal worth an initial 9m with Norwich City for the Republic of Ireland wing-back Robbie Brady to cast doubt on the south London club’s pursuit of Patrick van Aanholt. The offer for Brady could potentially rise to as high as £12m with appearance and achievement related add-ons, an identical arrangement to that negotiated with sunderland for Van Aanholt earlier this week. The Dutch international had agreed personal terms at Selhurst Park and is understood to have initiated what would be a stringent medical. Yet Palace’s decision to explore a deal for Brady would suggest Sam Allardyce is keeping his options open as to which left-sided defender to sign.
Brady had been expected to move to Burnley. It remains to be seen if Palace also match the Clarets’ £10m offer for Hull City’s Robert Snodgrass. That deal may only be possible if Palace move on one of either Yohan Cabaye or Andros Townsend to Marseille or Newcastle respectively.
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Watford agree €16m deal with Milan for M'Baye Niang but player yet to decide
Another big update, this time from Fabrizio Romano: Watford have agreed a deal with Milan to sign the exciting but uneven 22-year-old striker M’Baye Niang from Milan. The agreement is that the player will be loaned out for the rest of the season for a fee of €1m with an option to buy for €16m. The only slight problem: the player wants a permanent deal straight away.
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Hull City accept £10m bid for Robert Snodgrass from Burnley
Burnley have had a £10m bid for Robert Snodgrass accepted. But, as Philip Buckingham at the Hull Daily Mail says, that does not necessarily mean that he will end up there. West Ham, Bournemouth and Middlesbrough also still interested. Hull have the bidding war they wanted …
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Aston Villa have been busy this morning. They have signed James Bree from Barnsley on a four-and-a-half deal and are hoping to complete the deal for the Icelandic international Birkir Bjarnason from Basel.
✍️ We're delighted to confirm the signing of @jamesbree_97 from @bfc_official on a four-and-a-half year contract. #WelcomeJames #AVFC pic.twitter.com/rUIuWxiXz0
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) January 25, 2017
Continuing the theme … remember Joseph Minala? The poor Lazio player who had to prove that he was 17 years old, and not 42 (read the story here). I am pleased to report that he is doing well and has just secured a loan move to Salernitana. Good for him.
Remember Alen Halilovic? The young Croat who was (maybe) going to become the next Messi? Well, things haven’t quite worked out for him. His spell at Hamburg have been nothing but disastrous and it now looks as if he is going on loan to Las Palmas. Hopefully he can get back to his best, clearly an extremely talented player. But you do wonder what it does to young players to complete such a high profile transfer as he did (and Martin Odegaard)
#LasPalmas on verge of loan deal for Hamburg midfielder Alen Halilovic, formerly of #Barcelona and #SportingGijon https://t.co/fgLhHeJYsG pic.twitter.com/K8O1dIqjR5
— footballespana (@footballespana_) January 25, 2017
The Arsenal striker Chuba Akpom looks set to go out on loan this window with Aston Villa in pole position to sign the 21-year-old. Akpom, of course, spent last season on loan with the current Villa manager Steve Bruce at Hull City. Brentford and Fulham are also interested.
An update from our colleagues at Get French Football News concerning what transfer market activity to expect today in France:
- PSG intend to complete the signing of Portuguese international attacker Gonçalo Guedes for €30m from Benfica today after he arrived in Paris last night. Manchester United and Monaco had been cited by the Portuguese press as interested parties, but a series of discussions between PSG Director of Football Patrick Kluivert, the player’s agent Jorge Mendes and Guedes himself are said to have swung a deal in the Ligue 1 champions’ favour.
- Patrice Evra’s agents are scheduled to meet with Marseille representatives at the club’s training ground today, after OM accelerated discussions for the French international in the last 24 hours. They have been assured that he can leave Juventus for free this month. As of last night, the only major factor that was preventing Evra from signing the 18-month contract that Marseille have put in front of him related to security concerns for his family, as reported by SFR Sport, with a consistent string of robberies having occurred on players’ homes over the course of the last two seasons. Should discussions between Evra and Marseille fail to advance today, then the player has concrete propositions from Valencia and an unnamed Premier League side (not Crystal Palace), according to RMC. Lyon have also held constructive talks with the player’s agents, but have yet to make a formal proposition for the 35-year-old.
- Lille hope to announce the first transfer window signing of new owner Gérard Lopez’s project today, after left-sided defender Júnior Alonso underwent the first part of a medical last night ahead of a proposed move from Paraguayan outfit Cerro Porteño. Les Dogues also have a €7m deal in place with Ajax to sign highly-rated attacker Anwar El-Ghazi, whose move they will seek to finalise before the month is up.
- Finally, the Dimitri Payet saga continues to rumble on, even if the French press this morning gives the situation surprisingly little coverage. The last report of note on the matter came from RMC on Monday, who reported that a fourth offer from Marseille to West Ham United was imminent and that it would meet the Hammers’ apparent revised valuation of €30m.
Borussia Dortmund are so excited about Alexander Isak they’ve just posted a video of him … jogging.
.@alex_isak: #läuft. 👍 pic.twitter.com/8C9F8ZXJKn
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) January 25, 2017
Fabrizio Romano checks in from Italy with a little list of what might happened today:
- Patrice Evra is in talks with Olympique Marseille, move could happen today.
- Manolo Gabbiadini. No agreement yet with Southampton but that, too, could move today.
- M’Baye Niang will leave Milan. Premier League clubs keen on him.
- Chelsea and Everton target Franck Kessié will NOT leave Atalanta in January.
Fabrizio Romano tweets here. Well worth a follow.
Here is the latest on West Ham’s pursuit of Scott Hogan
West Ham’s protracted pursuit of Scott Hogan rumbles on, with Brentford yet to receive a fourth offer for the striker having already rejected three. It is understood that manager Slaven Bilic has reservations about a deal that could be worth up to £15m with bonuses for a player who has scored 14 goals in the Championship this season and was still playing non-league football in 2013. Hogan has been left out of Brentford’s team for the last few matches after manager Dean Smith admitted the 24-year’s head had been turned. West Ham are also interested in signing French forward M’Baye Niang, with Milan manager Vincenzo Montella admitting on Tuesday that the 22-year-old is “studying offers” to leave San Siro, with Everton, Crystal Palace and Everton also thought to be interested.
Must admit I didn’t see this one coming … Tyrone Mears has joined Atlanta United. Love the tweet (Proven Winner) but I guess, in fairness, he did win the 2016 MLS Cup with Seattle Sounders. Spells at Preston North End, Burnley, Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City (one appearance) yielded nothing, however. And I see that he made four appearances for Marseille. Wow, impressive stuff.
BREAKING: #ATLUTD sign defender @TyeMears
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) January 25, 2017
📝: https://t.co/sQwU05s982 pic.twitter.com/Lwfx8Uiu0w
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Here is this morning’s Rumour Mill, which has news (fake or not, we’re not entirely sure) about Leverkusen’s Julian Brandt, Juventus’ Dani Alves, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Antione Griezmann.
A bit of background on Everton’s new signing, Anton Donkor (courtesy of a piece in the Wolfsburger Allgemeine). His parents (his father is from Germany, his mother from Ghana) met at the football stadium in Göttingen and he has already proved that he will do what it takes to succeed: for a year, when there was no place in the Wolfsburg Academy, he got up at 5am every day to travel from Göttingen to Wolfsburg by train – and got back home at 10pm. “It wasn’t a problem,” he said.
Not a transfer as such but we have also had the news of Philippe Coutinho signing a contract extension with Liverpool, understood to be for five years. Cynics would say that it won’t stop him from joining Barcelona next summer – but we are not cynical here (well not today at least) – although it has to be said that Jürgen Klopp has some work to do before his arm-around-the-shoulder-effort reaches the immaculate standards that Mauricio Pochettino has set over the past 12 months. Get closer to him, Jürgen … Also worth noting, no buy-out clause in Coutinho’s contract.
Well, how about that. We have a signing already this morning: Everton have snapped up the Germany Under-20 international Anton Donkor from Wolfsburg on loan for the rest of the season. He will join up with Everton’s Under-23 squad.
📝 | We have today signed young German forward Anton Donkor on loan from @VfL_Wolfsburg for the rest of the season. Welcome, Anton! #EFC pic.twitter.com/Q3tG7eW9XM
— Everton (@Everton) January 25, 2017
Good morning everyone. Let’s see what today brings as far as transfers are concerned. We expected Benfica’s Gonçalo Guedes will join Paris St-Germain this morning with the player having travelled to the French capital yesterday. Patrice Evra is set to hold talks with Marseille and we’ll obviously see if Chris Samba impresses on his trial at Crystal Palace.
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