Key events
Ewan Glenton gets in touch to say: “Jock Wallace nearly(?) bringing Johann Cruyff to struggling Leicester circa 1980 was pretty audacious/cheeky, I’d say.”
We are off (when it comes to cheekiest bid)!
“I’m sure you’re going to get a torrent of people emailing ‘Arsenal’s £40m plus £1 for Suarez’ in answer to what the cheekiest bid of all time is,” emails Billy Ward. “But Arsenal thought that anything over £40m was required to trigger a clause, so why the hell would they add more?! Turns out the clause was simply ‘Liverpool have to consider’ rather than ‘Liverpool have to accept’. So not cheeky, just stupid.”
Glory days.
Louise Taylor
Lloyd Kelly is in Turin and set to join Juventus on an initial loan from Newcastle that will automatically turn into a £20m transfer in the summer. The left sided centre-half or left-back joined Eddie Howe’s team from Bournemouth on a free transfer last summer but has struggled to break into the first team.
At Middlesbrough Michael Carrick is close to securing two potentially key attacking loans. With Emmanuel Latte Lath in the United States finalising a £22.5m move to Atlanta, Boro have lined up a central striking replacement in Kelechi Iheanacho. The former Leicester forward is currently at Sevilla but has struggled for game time, hence the loan to Teesside.
Boro are also set to borrow Samuel Iling-Junior from Aston Villa. The England Under-21 winger has spent the first half of the season on loan at Bologna but now seems Championship bound.
Andy Hunter
A couple of outgoing loans are likely to be the only business for Liverpool today. Jayden Danns has interest from several clubs in the Championship and Sunderland are currently leading the way on that one, while Kaide Gordon is expected to join Portsmouth on loan. James McConnell may have also have gone out on loan but, as Arne Slot said after the Champions League game at PSV, the midfielder’s impressive display in Eindhoven has kept him in the Liverpool head coach’s plans.
Arsenal remain in talks over a potential move for Mathys Tel, although Bayern Munich are digging their heels in over the France Under-21 forward. Having rejected two bids from Manchester United over the weekend, the German side are pushing for a permanent sale or for an obligation to buy to be included in any loan until the end of the season.
It remains to be seen whether Arsenal are willing to make that commitment as they attempt to provide Mikel Arteta with attacking reinforcements to cover the injuries to Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus. They have targeted RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko in the summer and Arsenal are pushing Bayern for a loan with an option to buy.
Jorginho looks set to stay at Arsenal for now after they rejected an offer from Flamengo, although he is expected to join the Brazilians for their Club World Cup campaign in the summer at the end of his contract. Oleksandr Zinchenko could be allowed to leave today if Arsenal receive a suitable bid. Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund have both held talks over the Ukraine defender, whose appearances have been restricted by the emergence of Myles Lewis-Skelly this season.
Off the back of Jamie Jackson’s contribution. I ask the question … what is the cheekiest bid of all time?
Jamie Jackson
Manchester United would not be surprised if Chelsea make a cheeky late bid for Alejandro Garnacho though the early signs are the west London club may not. For United, after letting both Marcus Rashford and Antony go on loan (to Aston Villa and Real Betis) there would surely be serious uproar if Sir Jim Ratcliffe allowed another wide forward, who Ruben Amorim talked up last week, to depart.
Ruben Amorim left more than £100m of striker on the bench in yesterday’s 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace. Surely he wants the Manchester United hierarchy to invest in someone that guarantees goals. He also sanctioned the departures of Antony and Marcus Rashford, leaving them short of options in attack, not that either has done anything of note this season.
Where will Mathys Tel end the day?
I am told that Nottingham Forest are expecting a quiet day in the market. I doubt the Ward-Prowse news changes that as the weekend saw the return to Premier League action of Danilo and Ibrahim Sangaré to boost Nuno Espirito Santo’s central midfield options.
Does someone returning to their parent club from an unsuccessful loan count as the first official deal of deadline day?
Ward-Prowse returns to West Ham
Jacob Steinberg
West Ham are bringing James Ward-prowse back from his loan at Nottingham Forest. No recall option was included but a mutual agreement has been reached by the clubs and the midfielder will be back in east London soon. Meanwhile West Ham are set to confirm Evan Ferguson’s loan from Brighton. Their move for the Lorient forward Eli Junior Kroupi has stalled as he is looking to stay put until the summer. Celtic striker Daniel Cummings could join for £500,000 today.
As we wait for transfer to get into full swing, why not check out Premier League Talking Point after a fun weekend of action.
I have my own couple of transfer lines from yesterday and they are BIG!
Lewis O’Brien is set to join Swansea on loan from Nottingham Forest.
Ben Fox will leave Northampton for Harrogate.
Some of the latest transfer news from last night.
Marcus Rashford is now an Aston Villa player … until the end of the season at least.
Evan Ferguson and Ben Chilwell are on the move.
Manchester United sign Patrick Dorgu.
Preamble
This feels significant! The transfer window is set to SLAM shut at 11pm GMT and plenty of work needs to be done by clubs across the country. Agents and sporting directors will be working on their numerous phones and ensuring they always have a charger on hand to avoid missing out on the deal of the decade.
Spend in January is up on last year in the Premier League, although a lot of that can be put down to Manchester City opening the cheque book in an attempt to halt their slide down the table. Eyes today will be firmly across the road in Manchester to see if United can pull off something to help Ruben Amorim’s stuttering revolution, and at Tottenham, who need fresh bodies to help move them away from the relegation zone.
There are few guarantees on deadline day but I am sure it will be hectic. We will bring you the latest news from our correspondents and plenty of gossip to boot.
