Armando Broja’s future at Chelsea remains up in the air. After rejecting a loan bid from Wolves for the striker last week, they’re now ready to let him go out on a straight loan. No option or obligation necessary. But potential suitors are unsure about paying a £5m loan fee. Fulham are also interested and look the likeliest of anyone to do it.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, are nearing a Championship capture of their own. We’re expecting this one to be rubber-stamped today after Rogers’ medical.
Speaking of Championship clubs with an embarrassment of riches, here’s league leaders Leicester City, who could be tempted to flog Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall if they receive a bid of around £30m. The midfielder is thought to be a January transfer target for Brighton. Here’s what Foxes manager Enzo Maresca had to say:
“I don’t want Kiernan to go - ask the club if we need to sell or not. The only way we can do something is to sell players. I don’t think that Kiernan’s future was about this game. Kiernan is a Leicester player, hopefully he can play in the next game.
“Here, he showed once again he is in love with the club, if something will happen now, I don’t know. He cares about the club and he has 10 goals this season, probably for the first time in his life, these kind of things, people don’t give the right importance to and it’s not a good thing.”
Absolutely sensational that a benchwarmer at Southampton can sign for probably the biggest club in Italy, even if it is on loan. Carlos Alcaraz joins Juventus, and what a move that is for the Argentinian.
“Considering the midfield options we have available to us right now, and Charly’s lack of game time, we wanted to allow him this chance to gain some valuable experience in one of the top leagues in Europe,” said Southampton’s director of football Jason Wilcox. “Juventus are a huge club and we are convinced that this move will allow Charly the opportunity to flourish and then come back and be a success at Southampton.”
The strength is depth that Saints have is absolutely ridiculous. They signed David Brooks and Joe Rothwell from Bournemouth on loan a couple of days ago. Both are easily Premier League players, but it goes to show how parachute payments are distorting the Championship. Southampton are third, just one point behind second-placed Ipswich and one point ahead of fourth-placed Leeds.
Congratulations, everyone. You made it. January is over, unless you are in Hawaii or another remote Pacific island, in which case you’ve still got another couple of hours to go. The end of this month means three important things. Firstly, dry January is over. Secondly, it is nearly time to start worrying whether a card and a kiss will suffice for Valentine’s Day in a couple of weeks. And lastly, it is ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL’S JANUARY TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY.
This month has been a relatively underwhelming affair. There have been only 10 permanent transfers by Premier League clubs, a far cry from the record-breaking £843m spent in last season’s January window. Perhaps this is a good thing, as clubs worry about FFP and start to operate with a modicum of common sense. Still, there are a few clubs out there who have been biding their time, waiting until the last moment to low-ball their rivals with a cheeky bid for a striker they so desperately need. We will certainly see some action today, and this liveblog (and transfer interactives) will be here to bring you all the latest movers and shakers from the men’s and women’s game.
Onwards!