January transfer news LIVE: Liverpool seal Cody Gakpo signing as Arsenal target Joao Felix
Chelsea and Manchester United are both expected to sign players in the January transfer window and Arsenal will push to keep their Premier League title bid running smoothly
The Premier League transfer window is set to open on 1 January and already there are completed deals to ensure some of England’s top teams will see their squads boosted as early as possible.
Chelsea added Ivorian forward David Datro Fofana to their ranks on Wednesday, signing him from Molde, while Liverpoolcompleted the £35m deal for Cody Gakpo from PSV the same evening, one of the stars of the recent World Cup.
Elsewhere Arsenal are being linked with moves for two big-money attackers, Shakhtar’s Mykhaylo Mudryk and Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix, while Chelsea are interested in Argentina’s World Cup-winning midfielder Enzo Fernandez, who is currently with Benfica. Man United boss Erik ten Hag has also hinted at wanting a forward to replace the departed Cristiano Ronaldo.
Follow all the latest January transfer rumours and confirmed news below:
Remarkable Grealish-Leao swap on the cards?
Put this rumour down as highly unlikely.
According to Italian media outfit Calciomercato, Manchester City might offload Jack Grealish as part of a deal to bring Rafael Leao to the club.
The England playmaker joined City in a club-record £100m deal from Aston Villa in 2021 and it seems unreasonable that they would let him go so soon yet the report suggests Pep Guardiola’s side are said to be prepared to swap him out if it helps them secure Portugal star Leao.
The 26-year-old Grealish recorded two assists in the 3-1 victory at Leeds on Wednesday night and could have scored at least two goals for City.
He won’t be going anywhere.
Talks ongoing between Shakhtar and Arsenal
Shakhtar Donetsk chief executive Sergei Palkin has confirmed that “negotiations are continuing” with Arsenal over the signing of forward Mykhailo Mudryk.
The Gunners reportedly had an opening offer worth around £55m including add-ons rejected are yet to meet the demands of the Ukrainian club who are holding out for a bid of at least £85m.
Speaking to Shakhtar’s official website, Palkin said: “Negotiations are continuing. We receive offers, but they are not the ones we would like to see on our table.
“Now, literally in 5 minutes, I will have a phone conversation with Arsenal. We are open to negotiations, ready to exchange ideas and figures.
“If we will agree, then let it be so. If we will not, then let it be another time.”
2022 was a momentous year for football, wrapped around a rotten core
As the Emir of Qatar draped a bisht around Lionel Messi, it closed a year when the veil actually slipped for football.
It was forced to confront so many realities it constantly tries to obscure, in service of the great show, but that it isn’t actually equipped to deal with. The repercussions from Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine ended what one European official described as football’s “game of pretences”, with that all part of the same international programme that involved the 2018 World Cup, the consequent need for fossil fuels only strengthening Qatar’s position for the most controversial World Cup ever held.
If these seem like big topics for a review of football in 2022, it is because this was genuinely one of the sport’s most momentous years, a true dividing line in history. Two eras closed, both of them interconnected.
One was the Qatar World Cup. It’s impossible to overstate how important this was, given that the preparations for the tournament weighed over, influenced and reshaped the game for 12 years.
2022 was a momentous year for football, wrapped around a rotten core
As the year closes with Lionel Messi’s World Cup triumph and the greatest of sporting victories, the game has never been so unhealthy as sportswashing projects and other forces transform the sport
Van Dijk encouraged Gakpo move
Liverpool’s new signing Cody Gakpo has revealed that Netherlands teammate Virgil van Dijk told him to move to Anfield.
“We spoke a lot over the phone [in] the last days,” Gakpo said following his move to the Reds.
“What he told me was that this is the right move for me to make and for me to develop and to become a better player, that the club is a really big and massive club but also like a real family — I think that’s also very important for me because I’m a family guy. He said only good things.
“I’m also happy that he’s here, so he can help me with some stuff. I’m really grateful to be here.”
Ingle extends Chelsea contract
Sophie Ingle has signed a new contract with Chelsea Women to remain at the club until the summer of 2025.
The midfielder has made 15 appearances for the Blues in all competitions this season and has signed a two-year contract at the Women’s Super League leaders.
“I’m really delighted to sign for Chelsea again.” Ingle said on Chelsea’s club website, “I feel like this club is home away from home. I’ve settled in from the very first moment that I signed about five years ago.
“I’m really delighted to continue this journey with this amazing club.”
Giroud signing new deal with AC Milan
World Cup winner Olivier Giroud will extend his stay in Italy after his contract runs out in June 2023 says transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano.
The 36-year-old forward is said to have reached a new deal with Milan and will sign an extension in the next couple of weeks.
Cody Gakpo fills an immediate need for Liverpool but could be Jurgen Klopp’s next long-term central project
Cody Gakpo is in, the latest Liverpool addition and the third part of a renewal of the front line which, for most of Jurgen Klopp’s tenure, had been dominated by the triumvirate of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.
Only the latter now remains an immovable part of the Anfield attack, Mane departed and Firmino both injured and approaching the end of his contract. As such, the regeneration has come on apace across 2022, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez added to the mix before Gakpo now joins too.
In the short term, he’s an obvious stop-gap addition: Diaz is sidelined, Diogo Jota too, while Nunez is needed centrally due to Firmino’s own injury absence. That leaves the left wing spot up for grabs, at least on a temporary basis.
Gakpo fills Liverpool need now but could be Klopp’s long-term central project
The new signing from PSV starred for Netherlands at the World Cup and joins at a time when Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota are sidelined by injury
Maddison leaving Leicester City?
During the summer there were rumours that Leicester City playmaker James Maddison would be leaving the midlands side and moving on to pastures new although nothing concrete materialised.
However, Maddison has started the season brilliantly and has notched up seven goals and four assists in 13 Premier League appearances giving rise to the rumours of him potentially leaving the struggling outfit.
The newly minted Newcastle United have been linked with Maddison with manager Eddie Howe impressed by the midfielder’s skills and work ethic.
Maddison missed Leicester’s 3-0 defeat to Newcastle on Boxing Day with Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers saying that he had suffered a “reoccurrence” of the knee issue he sustained ahead of the World Cup however he absence gave rise to more rumours of a potential transfer in January.
“He’s a huge miss for us. He’s a real catalyst for the team and without him, we lacked quality at certain times,” Rodgers said after Monday’s home defeat.
“We’re hoping he can get back soon but we’re not sure when that will be yet. (It’s a) reoccurrence of his knee coming back (from the World Cup). We’ll wait to hear from the medical team when that will be.”
Where will Enzo Fernandez end up?
Another star of the recent World Cup, Enzo Fernandez, has been rumoured to make the move to the Premier League in January.
Liverpool were heavily linked to the Argentina midfielder but that interest has cooled since the signing of Cody Gakpo earlier this week.
According to Standard Sport Chelsea are seriously interested in bringing Fernandez to Stamford Bridge and The Sun are claiming that the London club have told Benfica they will pay the 21-year-old’s huge £105m release clause.
Talks between Chelsea and the player’s agent to discuss terms are set to be going ahead as well.
Ten Hag wants a new striker
Manchester United boss, Erik ten Hag, says the club is in the market for a new forward after letting Cristiano Ronaldo go at the start of the World Cup but they would only bring in a player that fits the playing style of the team.
Ten Hag conceded that any signing would have to make sense at both a sporting and financial level in order for the club’s higher ups to splash the cash in January.
When speaking after United’s 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, the manager told Prime Sport: “We are always in the market. But what you say, it has to match the sporting criteria but also the financial criteria.
“We’ll do what we can to bring that player in who we need.”
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