Transfer deadline day: Spurs and Newcastle seek signings – live updates!
Published
09:24
Jacob Steinberg
West Ham’s latest idea for a new striker is Benfica’s Darwin Núñez. They’re still holding on to slim hopes of signing the Uruguay forward but it sounds unlikely at the moment. Benfica won’t sell him on the cheap – it could take about £70m to get them to think about it – and it’s said there are a lot of competing interests around the player.
David Moyes also wants a centre back. Marseille’s Duje Caleta-Car is a long time target but the French club are reluctant to loan him out today.
09:14
An update to this Liverpool story, from Mr Romano.
09:13
Here’s Andy Hunter on Lampard’s in-tray at Everton. There have been no updates on the Donny van de Beek loan from Manchester United this morning, but the Dutchman is widely expected to sign on a deal until the end of the season.
09:09
Newcastle have reportedly had an offer for Hugo Ekitike accepted by Stade Reims. Eddie Howe and co have been tracking the young striker since the start of the month, with most expecting the move to be dead, following Newcastle’s signing of Chris Wood. However, it looks like we’re back on. The fee is thought to be in the region of £25m-£30m, plus add-ons.
09:03
Sid Lowe on Ousmane Dembélé and a toxic ‘blackmail’ situation that could be resolved today.
09:01
Two potential transfers from that Mill that make perfect sense. The first is the idea of Ruben Loftus-Cheek joining Everton and Frank Lampard. The young man is absurdly talented, but just can’t seem to get it going at Chelsea on a consistent basis. He needs regular football, and what with Conor Gallagher/the next big Chelsea summer signing incoming for next season, I can’t see how he’s ever going to play 30-40 games each year.
The other is Aston Villa’s Matt Targett to Newcastle, who is thoroughly dependable and probably looking for an exit after the arrival of Lucas Digne. Targett is certainly good enough for a relegation scrap, but he’s the sort of Newcastle signing you can imagine on the scraphead in a couple of years, as the club fight their way towards … the top half!
08:50
A cuppa, a crumpet and a Rumour Mill: transfer deadline day has started in earnest.
08:40
Eriksen will become the eighth Danish player at Brentford, and the second signed by Thomas Frank (a Dane) this month, after Jonas Lössl. Ever prior to the Eriksen signing, despite playing just 23 matches in the Premier League, they have used more different Danes than any other side in the competition’s history.
08:37
Preamble
Happy Transfer Deadline Day, everyone! Such is the importance to the Gregorian Calendar these days, I’m surprised you can’t buy Hallmark cards to mark the occasion. A Fabrizio Romano mug, perhaps. I’m sure there are probably some Jim White socks somewhere.
Anyway, let’s get straight down to business. Today’s news feels very Spurs-y. This is mainly due to the host of players that Tottenham have already missed out on in the past few days: Liverpool nabbed Luis Díaz from Porto before Antonio Conte got the chance, while dallied for most of January over signing Adama Traoré, only for Barcelona to beat them to it.
In a further blow, over the weekend, Spurs could not even get a bloke from the Isthmian League Premier Division to sign, as talks with Lewes’ Ollie Tanner, a 19-year-old previously of Arsenal’s academy, fell flat. A statement read:
Lewes Football Club would like to confirm that whilst the club and a Premier League club agreed a deal in principle for the transfer of Ollie Tanner, Ollie and the Premier Club were not ultimately able to agree personal terms and he remains a Lewes FC player.”
Oh! Spurs! Well there’s still time today, and it very much looks like Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur will sign on the dotted line today, as Conte raids Italy for any Juventus off-cuts.
We finish this preamble with our first significant transfer of the day! Christian Eriksen, formerly of Tottenham of course, has signed for Brentford! This is very exciting, and I think the entire footballing world will be wishing him well, as he puts his cardiac arrest behind him and attempts to force his way back into the Danish World Cup squad.