The January Transfer Window - 2016

[Gazz]

Arsene Wenger will spend all of January thinking about signing the currently 6 year old 2035 Ballon D'Or winner before deciding against it.

[Lineker]

Rémi Garde has admitted Aston Villa are considering the idea of bringing Ashley Cole to Aston Villa.

Cole is currently out of favour at Roma and has not played for the Italian club, who he joined last July following a glittering spell at Chelsea, since last season.

The 35-year-old’s contract expires at the end of the current Serie A campaign and Garde is looking to exploit that by bringing him to the Premier League’s bottom side during the January transfer window. Villa are also in need of a left-back following the season-ending cruciate knee ligament injury suffered by Jordan Amavi last month.

“Every good player is interesting for me and Ashley is a good player,” said Garde, the Villa manager. “He is someone who has experience but he didn’t play for a while now. Experience is also something we need. I will speak soon with the club and I’m already working on the January window. We know what we want to do.”

Villa host one of Cole’s other former clubs, Arsenal, on Sunday.

[Colly]

Good signing for anyone, I'd have him in without question. Even after what he did to wor Cheryl.

[Lineker]

The Liverpool chief executive, Ian Ayre, has flown to Serbia to seal a deal for Red Star Belgrade’s talented teenage midfielder Marko Grujic.

The 19-year-old has been strongly linked with a move to Anfield over the past month and indicated on Wednesday he could become Jürgen Klopp’s first signing as Liverpool manager when he posted an image of himself and the Kop on Facebook. Klopp has become personally involved in the pursuit of the playmaker following encouragement from his assistant, and Grujic’s compatriot, Zeljko Buvac.

Internazionale had been favourites to sign the Red Star academy graduate but talks with Klopp appear to have swayed the player towards Merseyside.

Grujic would cost about £5m and is likely to remain on loan with the Serbian league leaders until the end of the season should he sign a contract with Liverpool in January. Ayre wants to conclude the transfer and see off competition from Inter.

The Anfield club are also hoping to strike a pre-contract agreement in January with the Schalke defender Joël Matip, who is out of contract with the Bundesliga club next summer.

[Lineker]

Aston Villa have recalled left-back Aly Cissokho from his season-long loan spell at Porto, although he will not be eligible to play until January.

Villa's first-choice Jordan Amavi has been ruled out for the season with a serious knee injury.

Cissokho, 28, who played under Villa boss Remi Garde at Lyon, made only three appearances for Porto.

He played 27 times for Villa last season but made his final appearance in former boss Tim Sherwood's first game.

Villa have won just one of their 16 Premier League games this season and are bottom with six points, eight adrift of safety.

[DavidMarrio]

Any excuse to post this Aly Cissokho video

 

 

[Nerf]

1 hour ago, Lineklaus said:

Aston Villa have recalled Aly Cissokho from his season-long loan at Porto.

Season. Saved.

[Gazz]

 

[Twist]

10 hours ago, Gazz said:

 

Phil Neville's face when he pops up in that video is one of 'for fuck sake, who put my brother in charge?'

[Baddar]

I fucking love that man.

[Lineker]

Roma striker Juan Iturbe is in London to finalise a loan move to Watford, according to Sky sources, but manager Quique Sanchez Flores insists the club will resist any January offers for Odion Ighalo.

The deal for Iturbe will be completed during the transfer window and includes an option to make the deal permanent in the summer.

Meanwhile, Flores hailed Ighalo for staying with the club in the summer amid a reported £10m bid from Hebei China Fortune after bagging 12 goals in 17 Premier League appearances this season.

[Lineker]

The Sunderland midfielder Jeremain Lens has admitted he could look to leave the club next month after failing for force his way into manager Sam Allardyce’s plans.

The 28-year-old Holland international was left out of the squad for Saturday’s 3-1 Premier league defeat at Chelsea for disciplinary reasons, but has not started a game for the Black Cats since the 3-0 derby victory over Newcastle on 25 October amid Allardyce’s concerns over his work-rate.

That has left Lens, who arrived on Wearside during the summer from Dynamo Kyiv in a transfer which could eventually cost the club £13m, considering his options.

Lens told Fox Sports: “It’s definitely annoying. I am not playing and I did not come to the Premier League to sit on the bench. Something will have to change anything. What, we will see though. A transfer in the winter? That could happen. Once the window is open, we will see what will happen.”

Allardyce revealed after the game at Stamford Bridge at the weekend that Lens had been omitted from the squad as the result of an unspecified incident following the previous weekend’s defeat by Watford.

Reports have suggested he will be fined, but the player insists he is in the dark. Lens said: “I know nothing. No one has spoken to me.”

[Baddar]

Sky are reporting that Bournemouth are going to sign Iturbe instead. So, still a Lineker win, basically. 

[Nerf]

Grujic will wear the #8 when he joins Liverpool in the summer. Bold strategy, Cotton.

[stokeriño]

Eh, the quicker you move these numbers on, the better.

[Lineker]

1 hour ago, Baddar said:

Sky are reporting that Bournemouth are going to sign Iturbe instead. So, still a Lineker win, basically. 

WHY CAN'T THEY ALL BE FRIENDS.

But seriously, Bournemouth need the players more right now. So I am OK with this.

[Lineker]

The Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that Clinton Njie will be out of action for up to three months after undergoing knee surgery last week. The loss of the Cameroonian forward increases the likelihood of Spurs venturing into the transfer market in January to strengthen their strikeforce as they seek to stay in the top four of the Premier League, at least.

Njie damaged his medial ligaments during Spurs’ Europa League victory over Monaco a fortnight ago and the news that he will miss a significant chunk of the season leaves Tottenham even more reliant on their two fit forwards, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. Although Pochettino says that the Belgian attacker Nacer Chadli can also play as a striker if required, he has admitted that Spurs are keeping an eye out for forwards in January.

It seems likely that Spurs will revive their interest in West Bromwich Albion’s Saido Berahino, for whom they had three bids rejected in the summer. Berahino has lost form and been out of favour at the Hawthorns since then, with Tony Pulis criticising the player’s attitude. Spurs may now fancy their chances of persuading Albion to let the player go for less than the £23m that the Midlands club turned down in August.

Njie’s knee trouble is the latest blow to a player who has been unable to show his potential since being signed from Lyon in the summer in a £12m deal. The 22-year-old had to wait until mid-September to make his debut for Tottenham, having pulled a hamstring while playing for Lyon in a pre-season defeat at Arsenal.

Pochettino sought to integrate him gradually into the Spurs side after that, with Njie’s 13 appearances so far including just one Premier League start, but that process has been brought to an abrupt halt.

Apart from Njie and the midfielder Alex Pritchard, Spurs have a full squad available for their Boxing Day duel with Norwich City, as left-back Danny Rose has recovered from the illness that forced him to miss Saturday’s victory at Southampton.

[Lineker]

Norwich have agreed the signing of winger Matt Jarvis from West Ham. The 29-year-old, who moved to Carrow Road on loan in September, will sign a three-and-a-half-year contract on 2 January.

The fee for Jarvis is undisclosed but is reported to be around £2.5m, meaning the Hammers have taken a big loss on a player they signed for a then club-record £10.75m in 2012.

Jarvis has made seven appearances for the Canaries so far and scored two goals, including one on his debut in a 3-1 victory over Bournemouth, but has sat out recent matches through injury.

He told the club website: “I’ve really enjoyed my time here so far, so I’m delighted to sign on the dotted line.

“It’s nice to get it done before the window opens as the club have shown they really wanted me. I had a great start here and hopefully I’ll be back up and running soon for the rest of the season.

“My first game especially was great. To get out in front of the home fans and score in a win was a perfect start which carried on for a while.

“Unfortunately I then picked up an injury but I’m desperate to get back fully fit, and back playing. To get the deal sorted is really nice and I’m looking forward to helping the team as soon as I can.”

City boss Alex Neil added: “Matt is a good competitor and a good team player. He’ll give us pace on the other

flank which I don’t think we’ve had. Only a few years ago he commanded a transfer fee of over £10m and as a player he has a lot to offer.”

[FLiam]

Various sources are reporting that Arsenal are close to signing Mohamed Elneny from FC Basel for £5m.

He's an Egyptian international defensive midfielder. Fits the bill, playing in a second tier European league and impressing by all accounts.

[Lineker]

Norwich City have agreed a deal in principle with Everton for the £8m purchase of Steven Naismith having revived interest first expressed in the summer, though they face competition from a number of rival Premier League clubs to secure the Scotland international.

Naismith, scorer of an eye-catching hat-trick in the victory over Chelsea in September, has started only four Premier League games this season, and none at all since the loss to Manchester United at Goodison Park in mid-October.

The 29-year-old had been the subject of a £7m bid from the Canaries in the last week of the summer window which was rejected with Roberto Martínez suggesting then that the player was “too important to Everton” to be permitted to leave given there was no real time in which to secure a replacement.

The manager’s stance has since shifted, with Martínez indicating earlier this month that he intended to adress the situation in face-to-face talks with Naismith in January.

Norwich, who have made no secret of their desire to add to their forward ranks having also failed with a £9m move for Crystal Palace’s Dwight Gayle on deadline day in September, have now returned to the Merseyside club with a new offer that has been deemed acceptable, though it remains to be seen whether the striker’s other suitors follow suit.

Sunderland, Swansea City, Aston Villa and Newcastle United have indicated an interest in the Scot as they search for goals to stave off the threat of relegation. Middlesbrough, who are currently top of the Championship, have also been monitoring the potential availability of a player who scored against Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City last season, only to find his place usurped by the excellent Romelu Lukaku and the ease in which Gerard Deulofeu has settled back in the Premier League since his summer arrival from Barcelona.

While Naismith is not agitating for a move, the need for regular first-team football at this stage of his career is clear. Martínez, who faces a similar situation with the under-used Belgium international Kevin Mirallis, addressed Naismith’s bit-part role earlier this month.

“I sat down with Steven in August and said: ‘You are too important to Everton to allow you to go at this stage. I don’t know how Arouna Koné will be, how Gerard Deulofeu will be, how the others will be,’” he said. “The offer of Norwich arrived very late and I couldn’t replace him. It was a very honest communication and I said in January we will reassess it.

“The way Steven Naismith behaves, and the way he works, means that when he says something you have to listen. Anything could happen between now and then, but I will listen to him. If it is someone who is selfish and has never been bothered about helping the team then you can pay them back in the same way. It is quite straightforward.”

Naismith may have been out of the team but he kept busy over Christmas by paying for dinner for hundreds of homeless people in Glasgow, an event organised by the charity Loaves and Fishes, which helps those sleeping rough in the city.

Norwich will complete the £2.5m permanent signing of West Ham’s one-time England winger Matt Jarvis, who has spent the first half of the season on loan at Carrow Road, on 2 January.

The manager Alex Neil was frustrated by the inability to force through further late business in the summer window, but has still steered his side three points clear of the relegation zone in the period since.