The January Transfer Window - 2016

[Adam]

2 hours ago, Lineklaus said:

Blackburn Rovers have signed the winger Elliott Bennett from Norwich City for an undisclosed fee. The 27-year-old, who has joined on a two-and-a-half-year deal, links up again with Paul Lambert at the Championship club having played under him at Brighton and Norwich. He had a loan spell at Bristol City earlier this season and played against Blackburn last month.

This confused me, when I read the article earlier it said it was the third time he had been signed by/played under Lambert, but when was Paul Lambert at Brighton!? I don't think he ever managed there, and Bennett played for Brighton between 2009 and 2011, when Lambert was manager of Colchester and then Norwich, who took him from Colchester after his side thrashed them royally on the opening day of the season.

[Lineker]

They all look the same to the Guardian apparently  

[Colly]

Apparently we've put a bid in for Lacazette, because strikers.

[Baddar]

Ambitious 

[stokeriño]

Quote

"After Messi and Ronaldo, Hazard is my favourite player. It is spectacular to see him play. Do I see him going to Real Madrid? I love the player, that's all I will say"
-Zinedine Zidane (Marca)

[The Lusophone]

He did the same with Bale iirc.

[DavidMarrio]

Zidane must have a lot of love to give 

[Lineker]

Bayern Munich defender Jan Kirchhoff is having a medical at Sunderland. 

Norwich have agreed a deal to sign Ivo Pinto from Dinamo Zagreb for a fee in the region of £2.2m

[Colly]

1 hour ago, stokeriño said:

Triffic.

[Lineker]

Liverpool have responded to their mounting injury problems in central defence by asking Aston Villa to cancel Tiago Ilori’s season-long loan at Villa Park. Ilori, the London-born Portugal Under-21 international, has not played a competitive game for Liverpool since signing for £7m from Sporting Lisbon in 2013. The 22-year-old is yet to feature for Villa either this season, despite their struggle at the bottom of the Premier League, but such is the shortage of fit centre-halves available to Jürgen Klopp that his parent club are exploring the possibility of an Anfield return.

Liverpool have completed the £5.1m transfer of the coveted Serbian midfielder Marko Grujic from Red Star Belgrade. The 19-year-old has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal at Anfield but will be immediately loaned back to Serbia’s league leaders for the remainder of the season.

Derby County have announced the signing of Nick Blackman from Reading for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £2.5m. The 26-year-old forward, who has scored 11 goals in the Championship so far this season, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with Paul Clement’s side. Blackman is Derby’s second new signing of the transfer window following the arrival of Abdoul Camara from the French side Angers SCO on Monday.

[Hobo]

Liverpool have signed 19 year old Serbian midfielder Marko Grujic  from Red Star. He's going back to them on loan. He's revealed that getting a phone call from Klopp is what convinced him to sign. My favorite thing is how Grujic's dad was apparently really against this move and took his son's passport away!

There is also a possibility of Thiago Illori being brought back from his loan at Aston Villa because Liverpool have literally no fit first team centre backs. Might be worth recalling Andre Wisdom too.

Maybe Carragher wouldn't mind coming out of retirement.

 

[Nerf]

29 minutes ago, Lineklaus said:

Liverpool have responded to their mounting injury problems in central defence by asking Aston Villa to cancel Tiago Ilori’s season-long loan at Villa Park. Ilori, the London-born Portugal Under-21 international, has not played a competitive game for Liverpool since signing for £7m from Sporting Lisbon in 2013. The 22-year-old is yet to feature for Villa either this season, despite their struggle at the bottom of the Premier League, but such is the shortage of fit centre-halves available to Jürgen Klopp that his parent club are exploring the possibility of an Anfield return.

Not strictly true. Villa want to cancel the loan to free up the wages for a striker.

[Lineker]

Lille’s Sofiane Boufal is a transfer target for Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham and Manchester City, although the winger is unlikely to be allowed to leave in the January window. The 22-year-old, who has scored five goals in Ligue 1 so far this season, has been heavily scouted by several clubs in England, Spain and Italy over the last few months after his impressive displays for the French side. However, with Lille currently struggling in mid-table, it is expected that they will resist any offers to sell their prized asset this month despite ongoing financial difficulties at the club. Boufal, who was signed from newly-promoted Angers last January for an undisclosed fee believed to be around €4m, is now valued at around €25m (£18.3m) by Lille. Although sources close to the player insists he is “99% certain” to stay in France this month, the club are understood to be willing to cash in at the end of the season. The reigning French champions Paris Saint-Germain are also believed to have registered an interest in Boufal, who came through the youth system at Angers and has yet to represent either France or Morocco – for whom he qualifies through his parents – in a competitive match. Tottenham are understood to have been the first Premier League club to have scouted the player who has been compared to former Lille forward Eden Hazard in the past, although scouts from Arsenal, United and City have also been in attendance at recent matches. Boufal is said to be relaxed about his future, with his club having only appointed manager Frédéric Antonetti at the end of November.

Meanwhile, Angers have yet to receive any concrete bids for Boufal’s former team-mate Romain Thomas. The defender is wanted by both Crystal Palace and Stoke having impressed in his side’s rise to third place in Ligue 1 this season.

The Belgium striker Michy Batshuayi, a reported transfer target for Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Newcastle, has signed a new deal with Marseille. The 22-year-old has committed his future to the club until 2020, the club said on their official website. Defender Benjamin Mendy has also signed a contract extension until 2019.

[METALMAN]

7 minutes ago, Lineklaus said:

Lille’s Sofiane Boufal is a transfer target for Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham and Manchester City, although the winger is unlikely to be allowed to leave in the January window. The 22-year-old, who has scored five goals in Ligue 1 so far this season, has been heavily scouted by several clubs in England, Spain and Italy over the last few months after his impressive displays for the French side. However, with Lille currently struggling in mid-table, it is expected that they will resist any offers to sell their prized asset this month despite ongoing financial difficulties at the club. Boufal, who was signed from newly-promoted Angers last January for an undisclosed fee believed to be around €4m, is now valued at around €25m (£18.3m) by Lille. Although sources close to the player insists he is “99% certain” to stay in France this month, the club are understood to be willing to cash in at the end of the season. The reigning French champions Paris Saint-Germain are also believed to have registered an interest in Boufal, who came through the youth system at Angers and has yet to represent either France or Morocco – for whom he qualifies through his parents – in a competitive match. Tottenham are understood to have been the first Premier League club to have scouted the player who has been compared to former Lille forward Eden Hazard in the past, although scouts from Arsenal, United and City have also been in attendance at recent matches. Boufal is said to be relaxed about his future, with his club having only appointed manager Frédéric Antonetti at the end of November.

Sorry buddy, that paragraph is far too long. I'm not reading that. I can't.

[Steeb]

1 hour ago, Social Justice Nerf said:

Not strictly true. Villa want to cancel the loan to free up the wages for a striker.

Other sources say he hasn't impressed here - and I can see that being true, being as he hasn't played even with our godawful defense - so we wanted to terminate anyway.

[Nerf]

30 minutes ago, Steeb said:

Other sources say he hasn't impressed here - and I can see that being true, being as he hasn't played even with our godawful defense - so we wanted to terminate anyway.

Aye. Hes permacrocked and hasn't really done much in his career to date other than have Harry Kane in his back pocket that one time and beating Ronaldo's sprint record or something at Sporting. Kinda worried that he's now going to be thrown straight into our first team.

[Hobo]

17 minutes ago, Steeb said:

Other sources say he hasn't impressed here - and I can see that being true, being as he hasn't played even with our godawful defense - so we wanted to terminate anyway.

It's not surprisingly really that the team on the bottom of the league doesn't want to play a 22 year old centre back who hasn't played a competitive game in English football.

Also Tiago Illori has never played in England despite being contracted to an English club for three years. That's nuts.

[DavidMarrio]

4 minutes ago, TLHobo said:

It's not surprisingly really that the team on the bottom of the league doesn't want to play a 22 year old centre back who hasn't played a competitive game in English football.

Also Tiago Illori has never played in England despite being contracted to an English club for three years. That's nuts.

That last part sounds like something we would do under Houllier and Rafa. Buy some youngster who'll  never play a game and sell them on. 

 

6/10 LEAN

[stokeriño]

3 minutes ago, David Marrio said:

That last part sounds like something we would do under Houllier and Rafa. Buy some youngster who'll  never play a game and sell them on. 

In entirely unrelated news, Chelsea have confirmed the sale of Ulises Davila to Santos Laguna. He moves on after having 'joined' Chelsea 4.5 years ago.  

[TCO]

On the one hand the Lacazette bid sounds exciting. On the other hand, he'd never in a million years sign for us.

So I have mixed feelings on this.