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Live Coverage: Transfer Deadline Day - as it happened

Relive the final day of the 2016 winter transfer window as Stoke City made the biggest splash with a club-record midfield signing.
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Good evening and welcome to Sports Mole's live text coverage of the final few hours transfer deadline day as the January window comes to a close.

We'll bring you all the latest rumours and done deals in the Premier League and further afar on the day that Manchester City revealed that Pep Guardiola will take over from Manuel Pellegrini at the end of the season.

Will we see a move involving a player on that scale? There's only one way to find out - keep your eyes peeled below!


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Good evening one and all! Here we'll be taking you through right up until the 11pm transfer deadline and further into the night to see what moves will be made in the Premier League, Football League and more!

Before we get into the latest live updates, let's just remind you what has already happened today. If you click here you'll get to our Transfer Talk homepage, where you can catch up on all of today's done deals and hot gossip. The biggest move so far? Well it's just happened, with Watford breaking their club-record fee to sign Abdoulaye Doucoure, who has immediately been sent to sister club Granada on loan.

There's now under four hours to go until the window slams shut, but we are expecting several big-money moves to be finalised between now and then. Stoke are on the verge of smashing their club record to sign Giannelli Imbula from Porto, while Everton are linked with a Β£13m deal for a striker from Moscow.

The Premier League, which broke the Β£1bn barrier for money spent this season earlier today, will take up the bulk of our focus here, but you won't miss any news of big moves in Europe or the Football League. The one we're all waiting to hear on from the Championship is whether Jordan Rhodes will sign for Middlesbrough. Boro said yesterday that the deal was off, only for Rhodes to show up recently at the club's training ground to re-open negotiations after a reported Β£11m fee was agreed with Blackburn.

To some live gossip then and could there be a move away from Stamford Bridge for Radamel Falcao. Like last year at Man Utd, it has not worked out for the Colombian with Chelsea, who are said to be considering cancelling his loan from Monaco so that he can rejoin Atletico Madrid. Another Blues striker, Loic Remy, has been linked with a move to Leicester, but it's hard to see Chelsea letting two strikers go. Maybe one, maybe neither, but I can't imagine both will leave.

Chelsea's Colombian striker Radamel Falcao runs with the ball during the FA Community Shield football match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium in north London on August 2, 2015Β© Getty Images

Sky Sports News are claiming that Storm Henry could wreak havoc on Leicester's move for Remy if the Foxes' owner tries to fly the Frenchman to the Midlands in his helicopter, which is said to be in West London. Not sure about that πŸ‘ƒ

That's either Pinocchio's growing nose or smelling something fishy from Sky. Whichever you like.

DONE DEAL! A second signing of the day for Celtic, who confirm the arrival of Colin Kazim-Richards. The Glasgow club also bagged Manchester City hot prospect Patrick Roberts on an 18-month loan earlier today.

The latest on Saido Berahino's possible West Bromwich Albion exit is that it is not going to happen. The Daily Mail's North-East correspondent Craig Hope tweets that Newcastle have given up on the striker, but will resurrect their interest in the summer.

A striker has been high on Newcastle's wishlist and they did manage to sign Seydou Doumbia on loan from Roma earlier today. The Ivorian is a bit of a legend on FIFA because of his pace, but can he cut it in England?

If you look at the Premier League table, you'll see that Newcastle are still in the bottom three and two points from safety, but I think most Magpies fans would be quite content at the moment. They've signed Jonjo Shelvey, Andros Townsend, Henri Saivet and Doumbia, as well as announcing a new five-and-a-half year contract for Ayoze Perez earlier today.

Roma's Ivorian midfielder Seydou Doumbia celebrates with Roma's forward Daniele De Rossi after scoring a goal during the Italian Serie A football match between AS Roma and Genoa on May 3, 2015Β© Getty Images

This is what's been going on over in Italy today


Honestly amazed the reporter let that go on for as long as it did

Manchester United fans, how about a bit of news? Unfortunately it's not a new arrival, but a loan exit, with Nick Powell reportedly closing in on a move to Championship leaders Hull City.

LEROY SET FER SWANS SWITCH! Multiple reports reaching us that Swansea are going to sign QPR's Dutch international Leroy Fer on loan for the rest of the season. The 26-year-old has not exactly set England alight since he first came here with Norwich, but he is good enough to play in the top flight you'd say.

The Peterborough United club photographer brings us an update from the League One side. Looks like the club have struck a real zinger of a deal..


For more on that news that Swansea have approached QPR for Leroy Fer, head this way.

Sky Sports News man Rob Dorsett tweets that Leicester City defender Ritchie 'Control Alt' De Laet is on his way to Middlesbrough. The Championship high-flyers are pulling out all the stops to earn promotion!

Scratch the Falcao-back-to-Atleti rumours! The Mirror say that a move from the La Liga title contenders for their former player is unlikely today. If he stays at Chelsea, it's hard to see him ever featuring with Diego Costa the main man at Stamford Bridge.

Boro defender Ben Gibson suggests that Adam Clayton is the man to avoid sitting next to on the team bus. Rhodes must be fed up of this will it won't it situation!


Today's rumours suggested that West Brom had turned down bids as high as Β£24m for Berahino. If that's true, then surely the Baggies have missed a trick. That's much more than a player who has played sporadically this season is worth, surely?!

Blackburn might be losing star striker Rhodes, but it seems that a creative midfielder could be arriving, with Sunderland's Jordi Gomez joining the Lancashire club on loan, according to BBC Sport.

Someone sign him up!


REMINDER! If you do not have our Transfer Talk news feed open in another tab then, well, you've only got yourself to blame.

A couple of lines from the Football League, with Alex Henshall leaving Ipswich and MK Dons reportedly lining up a move for QPR forward Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.

Steven Fletcher, who I'm sure you'd like to know I once stood next to in Faro airport, has completed a loan move to Marseille, according to French publication La Provence.

Gillingham's Bradley Dack has been in superb form in League One this season with 12 goals from midfield and he has reportedly caught the eye of Championship duo Ipswich Town and Bristol City, who are both said to have failed with Β£2m bids today. Bold from the Gills to reject money like that!

Maybe not the best signing Fer the Swans? πŸ‘Ž


RHODES DONE? BBC journalist Ian Dennis tweets: "Jordan Rhodes transfer agreement now signed for his move from Blackburn Rovers to Middlesbrough."

Boro seem to have huge spending power in the Championship, but this should be Β£11m well spent. Rhodes has scored 37, 28, 25 and 21 league goals the last four seasons. Pretty good, but on a downward trend?

CHOW MUCH?


DONE DEAL! It's never dull down at Watford!


DONE DEAL! Here we go! Big moves happening at last at Valencia bag Denis Cheryshev on loan from Real Madrid. The developing story can be found here. Liverpool were linked with a move for the Russian earlier today, but he is staying in Spain with Gary Neville's Los Che.

A little more on that Watford signing: Venezuela Under-21 international Penaranda joins the Hornets from Granada, who are also owned by the Pozzo family. The 18-year-old is a striker and he has scored four La Liga goals in nine appearances in Spain's top flight so far this season.

OK, get ready for some confusion. Watford are sending Penaranda back to Granada on loan, like they did with Doucoure earlier this evening. Here's a stat on the teenager: The Venezuelan beat Lionel Messi's record in December as the youngest non-Spanish scorer of a brace in a La Liga, having become Granada's youngest-ever player in November 2015.

DONE DEAL! Brighton sign Czech Republic international Jiri Skalak.


DONE DEAL! Now we're cooking on gas! Arsenal confirm that full-back Mathieu Debuchy is off to Bordeaux on loan. More on that over here.

Sky are doing their live link from inside the Emirates and behind reporter Geraint Hughes an actual fox is scurrying around on the pitch! Cue inevitable fox in the box puns, but they've perhaps never been more true!

DONE DEAL! Middlesbrough confirm the arrival of Jordan Rhodes on a four-and-a-half year contract!

DONE DEAL! Everton join the party, annoucing the arrival of Oumar Niasse for Β£13.5m.

This is the biggest deal of the transfer window so far and doesn't he look delighted!


Like Rhodes, it's a four-and-a-half year deal for Niasse, who is a 25-year-old Senegalese international that they have bagged from Lokomotiv Moscow.

DONE DEAL! Steven Fletcher, one of three Scottish players to score 50 goals at Premier League level, has sealed a move to Marseille from Sunderland. Read the full story here.

I would say shall we have 10 minutes to get our breath back, but clubs tend to schedule announcements on the hour, so we could have some more DONE DEALS when we hit 9...

DONE DEAL! As promised, a big move as Charlton confirm the loan arrival of Arsenal youngster Yaya Sanogo.


Sanogo, who is now 23, had been on loan at Ajax earlier this season, but he hardly had an impact in the Eredivisie. Although he's failed to live up to a lot of the hype from his younger days, he should still be a good signing for a Charlton side stuck in the Championship's bottom three.

Bit of a mad hour or so just then. We've had Penaranda to Watford, Cheryshev to Valencia, Debuchy to Bordeaux, Rhodes to Middlesbrough, Niasse to Everton, Fletcher to Marseille and Sanogo to Charlton! Someone take my temperature πŸ€’

Another friendly reminder that you need this page open in a new tab for all of the individual, more detailed news stories from the SM team. Merci!

He knows where the goal is!


And who are Middlesbrough playing at the weekend? Blackburn of course! If Rovers were clever they will have put in a clause preventing him from playing!

DONE DEAL! A signing for Championship leaders Hull City as they bring in 30-year-old Slovakian international Dusan Kuciak.

DONE DEAL! Everton send Conor McAleny to Wigan Athletic for the rest of the season.

Sky Sports News are reporting that there will be NO MORE business done at Leicester today. Sorry Foxes fans, it does not look like Loic Remy will be joining the Premier League leaders.

Charlton say that more news is on the way! The Addicks supporters are not happy with how their club is being run, but maybe these signings tonight will relieve a bit of the pressure on Belgian owner Roland Duchatelet.

DONE DEAL! And it's the most innuendo of all innuendo footballers as ROD FANNI arrives at Charlton on loan for the rest of the season.

Here's the Frenchman with former Marseille teammate Dimitri Payet, now of West Ham of course. Fanni joins Charlton from Qatari side Al-Arabi.

Marseille 's Dimitri Payet celebrates with teammate Rod Fanni after scoring the opening goal against Bastia during their Ligue 1 match on February 8, 2014Β© AFP

DONE DEALS! Confirmation of two loan deals to the Championship that we heard about earlier as Nick Powell moves from Man Utd to Hull and Leicester send Ritchie de Laet to Middlesbrough.

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has been speaking about new Β£13.5m man Oumar Niasse: "Oumar is a player we have been following for a long time. He is the right personality and someone who is in a very good moment of his career. He has had a lot of success in Russia and he brings a different quality to what we already have in our squad. I'm really pleased to be able to bring in Oumar in this window and we know he's going to have a massive impact going forward." More here!

DONE DEAL! Coventry make an actual signing after their short-term deal for a whopping Chinese earlier. The Sky Blues have secured a loan deal for Southampton defender Jack Stephens.

Don't get too excited, Everton fans.


It's hard not to laugh at this Charlton graphic πŸ‘€


Arsenal fan @gunnerblog on Twitter writes: "If Charlton can do to Sanogo what they did to Song and Coquelin then we'll be getting back a bona fide goal machine." Can't see it, I'm afraid.

TOUCH AND GO! Hello hello! Norwich chief executive David McNally sends his first tweets in 10 days as the final hour of the window approaches! He says business with the senior squad is done, but that "we are trying to complete another one with an eye to the future. Given the time though, this one is touch and go."

So, with one hour and five minutes until the deadline, what are we waiting on? The big move is Stoke's club-record pursuit of Gianelli Imbula. Should that reported Β£18m deal go through, it would be the biggest deal of the window. Unless, of course, we get a complete bolt from the blue πŸ™

PA journalist Simon Peach says on Twitter that Alex McCarthy's proposed loan move from Crystal Palace to Fulham has fallen through. Still, Fulham have kept Moussa Dembele and Ross McCormack and also signed Rohan Ince from Brighton today. The Cottagers can be pretty happy.

DONE DEAL! QPR and Swansea both confirm that Leroy Fer has made a loan move to South Wales.

Leroy Fer of QPR celebrates scoring the opening goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers at Stadium of Light on February 10, 2015Β© Getty Images

Back to the Championship and it seems that Middlesbrough striker Kike will not be joining Wolves, even though Boro were able to sign Jordan Rhodes a little earlier.

DONE DEAL! MK Dons confirm that striker Simon Church has moved North of the border to Aberdeen for the rest of the season.

SAIDO SPEAKS!


So no move for Berahino, then. As I said earlier, it seems mad not to take upwards of Β£20m for a player who only has 18 months left on his contract, but maybe West Brom did not want to sell him to a relegation rival.

Former Villa striker and fan Stan Collymore is not happy with the club's owners. The Premier League's bottom club have done absolutely no business in January and Collymore has just tweeted this: "You let the season ticket holders down today. Not even a ******* glimmer of a signing to give them a lift." Meow!

Not a done deal as such, but Fulham have recalled defender Fernando Amorebieta from his loan at Middlesbrough.

DONE DEALS! They're busy in the Championship! Blackburn sign Jordi Gomez from Sunderland for the rest of the season, while Jay Emmanuel-Thomas moves from QPR to MK Dons, also on loan.

Ooh, it's actually a double arrival at the Dons, with Alex Revell joining JET at Stadium MK. Look at that co-ordination, one wearing the away shirt and holding the home kit, the other doing the opposite. Marvellous.


DONE DEAL! ANOTHER new face at Middlesbrough! The club has just announced the signing of "rising Belgian star" - their words, not mine - Julien De Sart, who signs a three-and-a-half year contract after an undisclosed fee was agreed with Standard Liege.

Something to add on that double Dons signing - Emmanuel-Thomas is a loan from QPR, while Revell joins permanently from Cardiff City.

DONE DEAL! With Amorebieta back at Fulham, the club has just announced that Nikolay Bodurov has been loaned to Danish side FC Midtjylland for the rest of the season.

Busy busy down in the Championship, but what about Stoke and Imbula?! There's just half an hour until the window shuts and still we've heard nothing from the Potters on their potential club-record signing.

Oooooh! @SportsPeteO claims on Twitter that the young player Norwich are trying to sign before the deadline is Coventry City's James Maddison, who was linked with Liverpool earlier.

A late-night tweet from Arsenal, but it's just Arsene being a top bloke.


DONE DEAL! Stoke announce the signing of Giannelli Imbula from Porto for Β£18.3m!

It's the biggest deal anywhere across Europe this month and a player who will be seen as a replacement for Steven N'Zonzi, who left last summer. Here's some quotes from Potters chief executive Tony Scholes: "Giannelli is a player we have been trailing for some time and we are delighted to have concluded a deal to sign him. At one stage it looked unlikely that we would be able to get the deal over the line but things accelerated quickly earlier today and Giannelli is really excited about the prospect of playing in the Premier League with us."

Giannelli Imbula of Marseille warms up prior to the French Ligue 1 match between Olympique de Marseille and OGC Nice at Stade Velodrome on August 29, 2014Β© Getty Images

DONE DEAL! With Imbula arriving at Stoke, the Potters have sent Marco van Ginkel back to Chelsea and he's now been loaned straight back out to PSV Eindhoven. More on that over here.

Well well well! I wonder what odds you could have got on Stoke doing the biggest deal across all of Europe in January.

DONE DEAL! Another new arrival for Coventry as they bag Baily Cargill on loan from Bournemouth for the rest of the season.

DONE DEAL! A departure at Leicester City, with defender Yohan Benalouane moving to Fiorentina for the rest of the season. Just over 10 minutes until the deadline now!

Seems that Arsenal did try to do a bit of business today, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts to poach 16-year-old starlet Ryan Sessegnon from Fulham. This way if you want to read more about that.

We heard Stan Collymore's angst about the situation at Aston Villa and there is now murmurs that manager Remi Garde is considering his future after the club failed to make any new signings this window. The Premier League's bottom club reportedly went in for both Wahbi Khazri and Seydou Doumbia, but they were beaten to their signatures by the other two teams in the bottom three, Sunderland and Newcastle.

Click here for more on that news about Garde.

Remi Garde looks on prior to the Premier League match between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace at Villa Park on January 12, 2016 Β© Getty Images

⏰ TRANSFER WINDOW SHUT ⏰

Right then folks, that's it! The window is now shut, but there might still be some deals to be formally announced. I'll be here until midnight just in case anything silly has happened at the 11th hour.

I've got my beady eyes all over Twitter, but there's been no new big announcements since the deadline and I'm not seeing any strong rumours of a move that we did not know about. Boooooo! 😭

Useful table here from Sporting Intelligence, which shows how much all 20 Premier League clubs have spent both in the summer and over the last month. Look at Spurs, who are doing so well this season, they broke even!


KANE IS OFF! Speaking of Spurs, their star striker has just tweeted this: "I'm OFF..... to bed 😴😴😴 night everyone! Big game tomorrow! #COYS #DeadlineDay"

DONE DEAL! We brought you news that this might happen and Norwich have indeed announced the signing after the deadline!


The 19-year-old will be loaned straight back to Coventry for the rest of the season. Canaries boss Alex Neil tells the club website: "We're delighted to sign James as he is a fantastic prospect who has already made a mark at Coventry at such a young age. He has real potential to develop, making this deal one we're really pleased to get over the line."

Not a transfer story, but one that will interest Everton fans as former defender Johnny Heitinga hangs up his boots at just 32 years old.

It was hectic at times, but there wasn't much to get excited about at the top of the Premier League today. NONE of the top eight - Leicester, Man City, Arsenal, Spurs, Man Utd, West Ham, Southampton or Liverpool - made a signing today, with ninth-placed Stoke making the biggest splash with their Β£18.3m capture of Imbula.

By far the biggest football news of the day was not a transfer story and in case you somehow missed it, you can read all about Pep Guardiola being confirmed as Manuel Pellegrini's successor on our Manchester City homepage. Looks like Guardiola will rival Quique Flores for best-dressed boss in England. Those Spaniards, eh?

Bayern manager Pep Guardiola on the touchline against Sao Paulo on July 31, 2013Β© Getty Images

With Guardiola coming in, the papers are already speculating who he will try to sign this summer. The Sun say tonight that City will rival Real Madrid to sign Robert Lewandowski from Guardiola's current club Bayern for Β£75m. Lewandowski and Aguero? Phwwoarrr πŸ’₯

Before we say goodbye for the night, a reminder that our transfer talk hub is where you can catch up on all of today's done deals, including a new Β£18.3m midfielder for Stoke, Β£13.5m striker for Everton and a new club for Jordan Rhodes. Thanks very much for joining SM tonight, over and out! πŸ‘‹

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Everton boss Roberto Martinez watches on as his side take on Southampton on August 15, 2015
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool15113131131836
2Chelsea16104237191834
3Arsenal1686229151430
4Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest168442119228
5Manchester CityMan City168352823527
6Bournemouth167452421325
7Aston Villa167452425-125
8Fulham166642422224
9Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton166642625124
10Tottenham HotspurSpurs1672736191723
11Brentford167273230223
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle166552321223
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd166462119222
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham165472129-819
15Crystal Palace163761721-416
16Everton153661421-715
17Leicester CityLeicester163582134-1314
18Ipswich TownIpswich162681628-1212
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1623112440-169
20Southampton1612131136-255


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