It’s FA Cup third round Saturday, but as yesterday showed, the transfers won’t stop – and nor will The Independent’s live coverage of the January window.
Ross Barkley completed his £15m move to Chelsea while Everton drafted in £25m Cenk Tosun as his replacement to add to Liverpool’s £75m purchase of Virgil van Dijk.
And on Saturday Philippe Coutinho finally sealed his move to Barcelona, bringing the long-running transfer saga to an end.
Live Updates
That's all from today in a busy day of transfer news and the end to one of the saga's of the season. Come along tomorrow for more of the same... Bye!
Hodgson homing in on new keeper
That's right, more Palace... Roy Hodgson is very keen to sign a new goalkeeper at Crystal Palace and their latest target is Getafe's Vicente Guaita, according to reports.
The 30-year-old shot-stopper's contract expires this summer which could force the Spanish side to try and offload him in January to recoup a fee. He has been in fine form, conceding just 16 goals in 17 La Liga games as Getafe sit eighth in the table.
According to Sky Sports, the Eagles are one of a few clubs - including Watford and Besiktas - who are monitoring the keeper, believed to be available for around £3.5m.
Palace are desperate for a third goalkeeper with just Wayne Hennessey and Julian Speroni their current options, and Hodgson doesn't appear keen on either having alternated between the two in recent months.
"Everybody knows we've got two senior goalkeepers at the club, one of whom is 38 years of age so I think right from the very start of the season people have been saying that Crystal Palace need at least one more goalkeeper," he said recently."So I don't think that's a great secret."
Palace seeking permanent deal for Loftus-Cheek
Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgon is keen on turning Ruben Loftus-Cheek's loan deal into a permanent one, after the Blues signed midfielder Ross Barkley from Everton.
The England Under-21 star was brought to the club in the summer by previous manager Frank de Boer but the Dutchman lasted just 77 days in charge and was replaced by Hodgson after overseeing a start of four straight league defeats without scoring.
Loftus-Cheek had been a rare glimmer of light at the time and has gone on to feature prominently for Palace - scoring once - despite a handful of short-term injuries.
And with Barkley completing his £15m move to Stamford Bridge on Friday, Hodgson hopes the Blues might allow the 21-year-old to stay at Selhurst Park permanently.
"He's a player we'd like to have at our club, there's no doubt about that," Hodgson said.
"Ruben's a player we like very much. We're very impressed with him, delighted with the way he's developed as a player during the time he's been here. I'm pretty sure that if he's ever available for sale, we would certainly be in there with our hand up as one of the potential buyers.
"It could well be that Chelsea would like to have both Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in their team. I wouldn't mind both in my team, anyway.
"I didn't know until this morning that Ross Barkley is possibly signing for Chelsea."
Lionel Messi's new Barcelona contract incredibly includes a clause that could see him leave the Catalans giants for free. But before Manchester City and PSG get too excited, it all rests on a fairly unlikely set of circumstances relating to the recent vote for Catalan independence.
His father told Argentine radio station The Red : "All that has been said is not true. There is an agreement that Lionel will remain at the club as long as they are playing in a top league.
"If Catalonia gets independence then Lionel would remain as long as they were in a competitive league."
David Luiz heading to Turin on loan?
The Chelsea centre-back could be on his way to Juventus this month, according to the Express. The defender has a strained relationship with the manager Antonio Conte and could be heading for a temporary exit – despite signing a new contract with the Stamford Bridge club in November.
Diego Costa made his La Liga return with Atletico Madrid...
This might be the most Diego Costa six minutes of football ever. The perma-angry former Chelsea striker was sent off 69 minutes into his La Liga return against Getafe in a crazy, six-minute spell. The 29-year-old scored in his first league game back to double Atleti's lead but picked up a second yellow for jumping into the crowd at the Vicente Calderon and received his marching order.
READ MORE BELOW:
Zaha going nowhere, says Parish
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish is absolutely adamant that star man Wilfried Zaha won't be leaving the club in January.
The 25-year-old, who has won the Eagles' Player of the Month award for the last three months running, has been in scintillating form and is one of the main reasons Palace have managed to haul themselves out of the bottom three.
And with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City all reportedly interested – with Pep Guardiola singling the Ivorian winger out for praise recently – talk of a £50m move away from Selhurst has gathered pace.
But Parish has quashed any chances of a departure, telling Sky's The Debate show: "He won't go. It won't happen. It would be a stupid thing to do. I might be a lot of things but I'd like to think I'm not stupid.
"Why would we risk our position in this league? The player doesn't want to go. We've got a good team, an excellent manager, we're a little bit thin in terms of squad depth, but we can give anyone a decent game when we've got our first team out.
"We want to improve on what we've got, we don't want to go backwards."
The 25-year-old, who has won the Eagles' Player of the Month award for the last three months running, has been in scintillating form and is one of the main reasons Palace have managed to haul themselves out of the bottom three.
And with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City all reportedly interested – with Pep Guardiola singling the Ivorian winger out for praise recently – talk of a £50m move away from Selhurst has gathered pace.
But Parish has quashed any chances of a departure, telling Sky's The Debate show: "He won't go. It won't happen. It would be a stupid thing to do. I might be a lot of things but I'd like to think I'm not stupid.
"We want to improve on what we've got, we don't want to go backwards."
Jese on the move?
Stoke's on-loan forward Jese Rodriguez is set to end his loan move to Stoke City this month, according to Get French Football News, with the Spanish forward – who is contracted to Paris Saint-Germain – considering a move to Las Palmas, which would enable him to be closer to his seven-month-old son who is unwell and in hospital in Madrid.
Exclusive from sports editor Ed Malyon:
The deal to take Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona to Liverpool is agreed almost in its entirety and the Brazilian playmaker could make the move official by Monday.
Coutinho, who has pushed strongly behind the scenes for the move, is said to be ecstatic that the clubs have found agreement and he “can smell” his dream of playing for Barca, a source close to the player told The Independent.
Discussions were entered into on Friday night with a feeling that a deal would be agreed. Liverpool had set a price that they were willing to accept, which started at around £105m but could reach nearly £140m with add-ons and clauses.
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Arsene Wenger says it is “not a possibility” that Arsenal will sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in this window, and that he wants Theo Walcott to stay. The Borussia Dortmund striker has been mooted as a potential replacement for Alexis Sanchez should the Chilean eventually go to Manchester City, while Walcott’s lack of game time has led to interest from former club Southampton. Wenger was however curt when asked about Aubameyang.
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Philippe Coutinho will travel to Barcelona this evening, according to Spanish sports daily AS.
They claim the Liverpool player will arrive in the Catalan capital tonight and watch tomorrow's game with Levante from a box at the Nou Camp on Sunday before training with his new teammates for the first time on Monday.
Here is more from chief football writer Miguel Delaney on Liverpool's hunt for a replacement for Philippe Coutinho:
Liverpool have prepared a contingency plan if they do sell Coutinho to Barcelona this window, and the Anfield club will first look to Monaco’s Thomas Lemar with Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez as a back-up, and also try to sign a new goalkeeper.
Monaco have however proven tough negotiators and already rejected a late bid from Anfield in the summer believed to come to around £75m, so it could well take around £100m of Coutinho’s expected £133m fee to sign Lemar. If they cannot push that through, they will move for Mahrez.
Liverpool are meanwhile looking at goalkeepers, amid ongoing debate about the contributions of Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius. Jan Oblak would be an ideal but his release clause at Atletico Madrid is £100m and there is other interest, but they have also monitored Allison at Roma, as well as Stoke City’s Jack Butland.
MORE DETAILS BELOW:
According to French outlet RMC Sport, Eden Hazard is still "flirting" with Real Madrid and has rejected a second contract extension and has "irritated" Chelsea manager Antonio Conte.
The Belgian's father confirmed the European champions were an option last month as conflicting reports reigned over whether Hazard had actually entered discussions on a new deal and whether he had actually formally rejected it.
Here's a bit from chief football writer Miguel Delaney on why Barcelona expect Philippe Coutinho to join them as soon as next week:
Barcelona now believe they can complete the signing of Coutinho as early as next week, after a breakthrough was made in pursuit of what would be the third-biggest transfer in football history.
While Liverpool are still trying to persuade the Brazilian to stay, their stance is no longer that he is definitively not for sale, and sources close to the Catalan hierarchy feel more confident than ever that the package they are putting together should now be enough to push the deal through.
The Anfield top brass are prepared to leave the final decision to manager Jurgen Klopp but, should he decide that Coutinho can go, it will really come down to the terms of the deal.
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A little exclusive from sports editor Ed Malyon:
Arsenal are keen on Boca Juniors' Cristian Pavon and are expected to make a move for the 21-year-old winger this summer. Juventus and Manchester City have also been following the versatile wide forward, but Arsenal are understood to be closest to pulling the trigger and have commissioned extensive background checks on the player already.
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Arsene Wenger has revealed Konstantinos Mavropanos was the first Arsenal signing done on the basis of new head of recruitment Sven Mislintat’s advice, as the manager spoke of how the club are currently adapting to a new structure and the need to find a “new balance”.
Asked whether Mislintat had identified Mavropanos, Wenger said: “yes”.
“We talk,” Wenger said on their new relationship. “We know the players. We know. It’s not that we discover, we know every single player in Europe before Sven arrived. Sometimes, in a little club in Germany, he might know somebody we might ignore.”
Tottenham are not planning on making any signings this January but they could be about to lose one of their prize assets in Mousa Dembele.
The Daily Mail are claiming that both Inter and AC Milan want the midfielder to join the San Siro this summer, despite Spurs being desperate to keep him as they prepare to move to their new stadium next season.
Antonio Conte believes Ross Barkley can become the complete player after the England international completed a £15m transfer from Everton to Chelsea on Friday.
Barkley, who saw a planned move to Stamford Bridge collapse on the final day of the summer transfer window, has signed a five-and-a-half year contract with current Premier League champions but will have to wait for his debut while he returns to match fitness following a four-month lay-off with a serious hamstring injury.
Conte was frustrated by Chelsea’s dealings in the summer transfer market and hopes any new signings arrive quickly this month.
“For sure, this is true because for me it is very important to work with the players very soon and for this reason our start to the season was poor because many players arrive in the last moment and also injured,” he said. “(Tiemoue) Bakayoko was injured as was Danny Drinkwater. Davide Zappacosta arrived in the last moment but he was lucky because he worked with me with the national team in Italy. If I have the opportunity to work soon with the new players it will be better for my team and the new players so they can adapt in our idea of football.”
Among the potential replacements for Liverpool is Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez.
The Independent revealed on Friday that the former PFA Player of the Year was one of two replacements being considered – alongside Monaco’s Thomas Lemar, although he would come at a far higher price than his Algerian counterpart.
French outlet L’Equipe are now claiming that contact has been made between the Reds and Leicester, suggesting Philippe Coutinho’s move to Barcelona is all but done.
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