Transfer News RECAP: Arsenal continue pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as Newcastle snap up Kenedy loan from Chelsea

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DOMINIC KING: Phil Neville has been confirmed as the new manager of England's women's team after meeting his squad for the first time.

England are currently on a warm weather training camp and Neville spent Tuesday at their base in La Manga to get to know the players who will be under his charge for the qualification campaign for the 2019 World Cup.

Neville was first approached by Dan Ashworth, the FA's Technical Director, about succeeding Mark Sampson before Christmas and he decided to accept the challenge after meeting Ashworth, Chief Executive Martin Glenn and Sue Campbell, the head of the Woman's game, in London 12 days ago.

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Newcastle have announced the loan signing of Chelsea winger Kenedy until the end of the season.

The Magpies revealed the news on Tuesday evening after the Brazilian youngster completed his medical earlier in the day. 

The Premier League outfit, who are looking to maintain their status in the top flight come the end of the season, announced the signing of Kenedy with a short video on their Twitter page. 

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Paris St Germain have signed former France midfielder Lassana Diarra on an 18-month contract.

The 32-year-old, who has represented Real Madrid along with English clubs Chelsea, Arsenal and Portsmouth in a much-travelled career, was a free agent after leaving Al Jazira last month.

The Paris-born player told his new club’s official website: “I am very happy to have signed for my home-town club.

“I am lucky enough to make this dream come true, to know what it feels like to play at the Parc des Princes wearing the Rouge et Bleu.”

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Gary Neville has given his backing to Manchester United's pursuit of Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte.

Aston Villa are aiming to complete Axel Tuanzebe’s loan move from Manchester United in time for this weekend.

A number of clubs have been chasing the young defender but it is believed Steve Bruce presented the most compelling case.

Jose Mourinho has been reluctant to let the 20-year-old leave this month with Eric Bailly injured so far in January but United and Villa are working on concluding a deal.

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Crystal Palace have announced the signing of Poland defender Jaroslaw Jach from Zaglebie Lubin.

The 23-year-old has signed a three-and-a-half year contract and moves for an undisclosed fee.

Jach earned his two Poland caps to date in friendlies against Uruguay and Mexico in November.

We have a signing in the Championship, with Leeds United announcing the arrival of Leyton Orient striker Sam Dalby.

Sean Dyche has signed a new long-tern deal at Burnley, extending his current contract by four and a half years. 

The deal is worth £3.5 million a year and will see the 46-year-old become the highest paid employee at the club.

The boss had previously been linked with jobs away from the Clarets after his side has impressed this season.

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Stephane Sessegnon, the former Premier League star who played for West Brom and Sunderland, has signed for Turkish side Genclerbirligi.

Gers boss Graeme Murty didn't deny it in his press conference today...

Partick Thistle have sealed the loan signing of Baily Cargill from Bournemouth until the end of the season - and he could make his debut against Celtic tonight. 

Robinho's career has been surrounded by controversy in recent months, after he was sentenced to nine years in prison for gang rape last year.

However, with the former Manchester City and Real Madrid forward appealing the decision, he is free to continue his career, and has signed for Turkish side Sivasspor.

Looking at the images of Robinho's arrival in Sivas, you would have little idea that he has been convicted of rape, as he was greeted by crowds of fans and media.

Robinho carried and wore a club scarf in Sivasspor's red and black colours, while fans clamoured to shake his hand, waving flags and setting off flares.

He arrived in pelting snow, but nonetheless was smiling, happy with the warm welcome, as he left for the stadium for his medical and to confirm terms.

Chelsea's Antonio Conte expects Kenedy to imminently complete his proposed loan move to Newcastle.

The Brazilian, 21, rarely features at Stamford Bridge but is a long-term target of Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez, and Conte is prepared to let him leave to encourage his development.

It is understood his departure could even be finalised by Tuesday evening, with Conte comparing his situation to that of Andreas Christensen, who has proven himself since spending two years on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach.

'I think he's going on loan to Newcastle,' said the Chelsea manager, 48.

'For sure, we are talking about a young player with great potential. At this moment of his career he needs to play with great regularity, and to go to Newcastle is a great challenge for him.

'This is a good way for the club. We used the same method for Christensen, and now he's a Chelsea player, always playing in the starting XI. This is a good opportunity for him.

'At the same time, he must know he must fight. He must be ready to fight to play in Newcastle. Don't forget, last season in the first half of the season, Kenedy played only 24 minutes at Watford.

'Now he's more ready. He played with us many games, and now he can show his potential, going on loan.'

Eusebio Di Francesco has confirmed Edin Dzeko will start for Roma in Wednesday's Serie A clash at Sampdoria, despite rumours of an imminent transfer to Chelsea.

The former Manchester City striker is a target for Blues boss Antonio Conte as he looks to bolster his attack, with Alvaro Morata struggling for form and Belgian forward Michy Batshuayi used sparingly in the starting line-up.

The Premier League champions have also been linked with moves for West Ham's Andy Carroll, Stoke's Peter Crouch and Burnley's Ashley Barnes during the January transfer window as Chelsea look for a target-man to back up for Spain international Morata, who has failed to score in his last six matches in all competitions.

Recent reports have suggested a double-deal for Dzeko and left-back Emerson Palmieri is close to a conclusion, but the Giallorossi boss insists the Bosnian forward will lead the line at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

During Tuesday's pre-match press conference, Di Francesco said: 'As things stand at the moment, he will (start). Obviously I'm going to have to assess things and see what frame of mind he's in. I'll speak to him about it.

'I have to make sure everyone is ready for it - including the players whose names are in the papers.

'As things stand, all the players who are here are available for this hugely important match we have to play in 36 hours' time.'

Barcelona confirm that Javier Mascherano is leaving the Spanish giants after a trophy-laden seven-and-a-half year spell at the Nou Camp.

SIMON JONES: Bristol City are taking St Etienne striker Lois Diony on loan for the rest of the season.

The 25-year-old will join ahead of a prospective permanent deal in the summer. He only joined St Etienne in July for £9m from Dijon but has failed to score this season.

SIMON JONES: Manchester City are considering signing long-time target Aymeric Laporte in January.

The left-sided centre-back has a £57million buy out clause and turned down a move to City after recovering from injury in 2016.

City have been expected to bid for Jonny Evans at West Bromwich Albion but have yet to make a substantial offer for the 29-year-old who will cost around £25m.

City have yet to make contact with Athletic but are pushing ahead with their attempts to sign midfielder Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk this month.

Aston Villa defender Ritchie De Laet has joined Royal Antwerp on loan for the rest of the season.

As the January Transfer Window reaches a frantic finish, with several high profile names being linked with Premier League clubs, bookmaker bwin has analysed over 2,500 winter signings from the last 10 seasons to identify who to target and who to avoid this window for your club.

The research found that; 

Malcom is the perfect replacement for Alexis Sanchez according to the stats. For top six clubs in need of more goals, a young strikers with French connections works best for all 

The French top flight is the most reliable source of talent, with 43.8% of signings resulting in more goals for the buying club in the second half of the season

If not Malcom, then a French or Italian player works best. Over 50% of signings who are French or Italian have helped contribute to more goals for the buying club. Look out for the likes of Andrea Belotti as another potential target for Arsenal

THE FULL GRAPHIC CAN BE FOUND HERE

SIMON JONES: Bournemouth, West Ham, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United are among the clubs who will watch Dundee defender Jack Hendry against Hibernian on Wednesday night.

Rangers and Celtic, who have already posted interest in the stylish 22-year-old, are also due to attend.

Celtic have had a £500,000 bid rejected for Hendry who only joined Dundee last summer after a spell with Wigan Athletic.

Good news for Everton! Seamus Coleman is set to play a competitive game for the first time tonight since breaking his leg.

The 29-year-old Everton defender suffered a double leg break playing for the Republic of Ireland last March and has been sidelined since. He is part of the Under 23s squad who face Portsmouth in the Premier League Cup at Goodison.

Burnley have signed winger Aaron Lennon from Everton for £1.5million.

The 30-year-old becomes the Clarets' first permanent signing of the January transfer window after ending his stint at Goodison Park.

Lennon told Burnley's website: 'Burnley was the club I wanted to come to and I can't wait to get started. I'm looking forward to playing here.'

Lennon moved down the pecking order when Toffees boss Sam Allardyce secured Theo Walcott on a £20m deal.

Sean Dyche has been keen on signing Lennon since December and it appears he has his man.
Everton also offered the wide-man to Newcastle and West Ham.

Lennon joined the Toffees in 2015 from Tottenham, scoring seven goals in 63 appearances during his time at the Merseyside club.

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SIMON JONES: Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata has been invited to attend the World Economic Forum alongside global leaders such as Donald Trump and Kofi Annan to discuss the success of his charity Common Goal.

Just six months after launching the initiative with entrepreneur Jurgen Griesback, which sees football figures donate one percent of their salary to help projects around the world, Mata has been asked to talk about their progress and ideas for going forward at the forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday.

Common Goal, which now boasts 36 players from 18 nationalities on its roster, raised around £439,000 from its launch in August to December which will be invested in projects for underprivileged areas and aims to generate £2.2million in 2018.

Mata will host a Facebook Live event on Common Goal with Griesbeck and take part in a FaceToFace Davos Conversation Series alongside BAFTA winning screenwriter and Comic relief founder Richard Curtis.

The 29-year-old Spain international will train with his United teammates in the morning before catching a flight to Switzerland to discuss Common Goal and getting a flight back for training on Thursday morning.

The World Economic Forum's 48th annual meeting is focused on the theme 'Creating a shared future in a fractured world' and started today running until Friday. Trump is speaking today as is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while Bill Gates, Sir Elton John and actress Cate Blanchett will also be attending.

Mata said: 'To represent Common Goal in such a forum with the world's leaders is an honour and a great opportunity to explain the evolution of the movement. It's great that people are starting to understand football as a force for scalable social change and that this has a voice at the World Economic Forum. I'm very excited to connect with many people and organisations that share our commitment to improving the state of the world.'

Chelsea midfielder Kenedy was undergoing a medical on Tyneside on Tuesday morning as he closed in on a loan move to Newcastle.

The 21-year-old Brazilian headed for the north-east on Monday night after being given the green light to do so by manager Antonio Conte.

Should the deal go through as expected, opposite number Rafael Benitez will get his hands on a player he courted during the summer as he looks to add pace and invention to the fight for Premier League safety.

The former Fluminense player is a wide man by trade and has been used in recent weeks by Conte as a wing-back, but has also played centrally.

He has made five senior appearances for Chelsea this season, all of them in the domestic cup competitions.

His capture would represent a significant breakthrough for Benitez, who had hoped to have his transfer business completed by January 20.

Owner Mike Ashley has sanctioned investment this month with the club having slipped to within a point of the drop zone.

Benitez is understood to be targeting a proven striker in particular with his side having scored just 22 goals in 24 league outings to date.

SAMI MOKBEL: Arsene Wenger has ruled out Danny Welbeck leaving Arsenal this month.

Besiktas are interested in the England international and reports suggest representatives from the Turkish club have flown to London in an effort to land the forward.

But Wenger is adamant Welbeck is going nowhere.

'I want Danny to stay here,' said Wenger.

But having signed Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Manchester United with Alexis Sanchez gone in the other direction, Wenger isn't ruling out further ins and outs.

Juventus general manager Beppe Marotta admits their pursuit of Liverpool midfielder Emre Can may not be as straightforward as they hoped.

The Germany midfielder's current contract expires in the summer and he is eligible to sign a pre-contract deal with an overseas club. But despite the Serie A side having coveted the 24-year-old for several months no such agreement has been struck.

Just over a week ago Can revealed his agent was still talking to Liverpool about their offer of an extension and it seems likely he will now wait until the end of the season to make a final decision.

'The interest is clear. We want to try and bring him to us, but we cannot do it because he currently has a contract with Liverpool,' Marotta told Italian broadcaster Premium Sport.

'He could renew it and, moreover, there are other teams interested in him.

'We want to try and bring him to Turin. I am stating this with full awareness that he might not arrive, but we need to have important objectives.'

Southend have hired former Charlton and Huddersfield boss Chris Powell to replace Phil Brown as manager.

The Shrimpers, who sit one place and a point above the League One drop zone, have agreed a two-and-a-half-year deal with the former England international.

Powell spent six years of his playing career at Roots Hall, making 290 appearances.

The 48-year-old's last job was as assistant manager to Steve McClaren at Derby.

SIMON JONES: West Ham manager David Moyes is facing up to an injury crisis with Marko Arnautovic the latest to join a lengthening casualty list.

The in-form striker picked up a hamstring injury against Bournemouth and is expected to miss the next two weeks. The news is compounded by the fact midfielder Manuel Lanzini will be out for four to six weeks also with the hamstring injury he picked up in the same game.

Moyes is already having to contend with Michail Antonio's absence plus the fact Andy Carroll will be out for eight weeks after undergoing surgery for a stress fracture in his foot.
Moyes has been eager to add to his squad while the club has so far knocked back offers for Andre Ayew and Diafra Sakho.

The team cause has hardly been helped by the agent of Javier Hernandez confirming he would like a move away from the London Stadium after growing frustrated with his lack of starting opportunities.

While all eyes are on Arsenal and the potential signing of Aubameyang, there could be a big name leaving the Premier League this month. 

It is understood Liverpool are considering parting ways with Daniel Sturridge, and Italian giants Inter Milan are the favourites to sign him. 

According to Betway, he is 4/6 to swap Liverpool for Milan. 

Betway's Alan Alger, said: 'Daniel Sturridge to Inter Milan is looking very possible at latest odds of 4/6. The same move was as big as 10/1 on Friday, but there's been plenty of activity over the weekend and into this week.

'Sevilla are the other club in the mix. A first show of 7/4 for Sturridge to move to the Spanish side was readily snapped up and we're now just 6/4 for the striker to swap Merseyside for sunny Andalucia.

'Bets on Thomas Lemar arriving at Anfield have cooled off in recent days and the Frenchman is out to 4/1 from 5/2 to sign for the Reds, though Sturridge's exit could fuel further support for a replacement. Leicester's Riyad Mahrez is also on Klopp's list of possible recruits at 4/1.'

SIMON JONES: Nottingham Forest goalkeeping coach Jim Stewart has left the club.

The 63-year-old former Scotland international joined Forest last May after spending ten years with Glasgow Rangers.

Stewart was brought in by Mark Warburton who left his role as Forest manager on New Year's Eve.

GLEN WILLIAMS: Frank Lampard is in talks with Oxford to become their new manager after the League One side sacked Pep Clotet on Monday.

The Chelsea legend was considered for the job at Kassam Stadium last summer but he instead opted to focus on completing his coaching badges.

Lampard has occasionally been asked to help out with the Blues' Under-18s this season but, according to The Sun, could now be poised to fill the vacant manager's job with the U's.

Assistant head coach Derek Fazackerley has been placed in temporary charge of the Oxford first team following Clotet's dismissal.

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LAURIE WHITWELL: West Bromwich Albion have lined up a deal to sign centre-back Ali Gabr on loan from Egyptian side Zamalek.

Alan Pardew has moved with Jonny Evans’ future uncertain, although it is believed Gabr will join even if the Northern Ireland international stays.

Zamalek president Mortada Mansour has revealed West Brom will pay a £438,000 loan fee to cover the next six months and there is an option to buy the 29-year-old for £1.1million in the summer.

The agreement does not confirm Evans is leaving the Hawthorns but presents West Brom with a replacement in the event Manchester City or Arsenal meet the club’s £25m asking price.

‘Zamalek will receive €500,000,’ Mansour said. ‘The first offer was for €200,000.’ 

Gabr would link up with his international teammate Ahmed Hegazi, who has been a big success since joining last summer.

The pair form the centre of defence for Egypt and entered West Brom’s radar after Tony Pulis attended the 2017 African Cup of Nations.

Hegazi was similarly brought in on loan before West Brom triggered the clause to sign him permanently for £4.5m this window.

David Ngog, the former Liverpool striker, has just signed for Scottish side Ross County. 

OLIVER TODD: Javier Hernandez is looking to leave West Ham this month, his agent has confirmed.

Hernandez, 29, wants game-time ahead of this summer’s World Cup and would consider a loan — although that depends on West Ham’s willingness to let him go.

David Moyes wants to keep his striking options strong and is reluctant to let Hernandez leave after injury blows to Marko Arnautovic and Manuel Lanzini.

But the Mexico striker’s agent says he has been instructed to find his client a new club, having seen him start just 12 Premier League games since a £16million summer move from Bayer Leverkusen.

‘There are a number of clubs interested in his services, he's a player everyone knows and is incredibly professional,’ agent Eduardo Hernandez told Mexico’s FOX Sports.
‘Our primary focus is a club in which [Hernandez] can play the most games possible. That’s the most important.

‘Javier has asked personally for it. He's commented, stated and demanded that we look for a club that really needs a player with his characteristics because what he wants is to play and play and play.’

Moyes has stated Hernandez is unlikely to leave this month and West Ham are suffering something of an injury crisis a week before the window closes.

Arnautovic and Lanzini could be the latest to face time out, after picking up hamstring injuries in the draw with Bournemouth on Saturday.

West Ham are already with Andy Carroll, Diafra Sakho and Michail Antonio, with their injuries leaving Moyes’ attacking options depleted.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is weighing up a move for Athletic Bilbao centre back Aymeric Laporte.

Guardiola is a long-time admirer of Laporte and could finally land the French-born defender in January.

The Sun suggest City are willing to match Bilbao's £60million release clause in order to prise Laporte away from Spain.

Laporte, 23, has gone from strength to strength since breaking into Bilbao's first team in 2012.

If City are to conclude a deal then they may have to beat off interest from Chelsea, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United who have all been linked with Laporte in recent months.

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OLIVER TODD: Bristol City will look to sign a striker without a goal all season to boost their bid for promotion to the Premier League.

The Robins want to loan French forward Lois Diony from Saint-Etienne, with the prospect of a £4million summer move to follow.

Diony, 25, has played 936 minutes in Ligue 1 this season but has not scored since his £7m switch from Dijon last summer.

Bournemouth showed interest in Diony six months ago but baulked at his transfer fee, even after he grabbed 11 Ligue 1 goals and eight assists at Dijon.

Bristol City boss Lee Johnson has stated his intention to add to his firepower this month and Diony fits the bill if a loan can be agreed.

The Robins are fifth in the Championship, five points off the automatic promotion places, and face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Arsenal are in talks to sign Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the January transfer window.

The Gunners tied up a deal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan on Monday, with Alexis Sanchez going the other way to Manchester United, and the Gabon striker could be next.

Despite confirmation that a deal is possible, Wenger was quick to temper expectations, insisting that it is not done yet.

'You never know how close you are, it is one of the possible movements, but we have other things in mind, we have plenty of opportunities in different positions. So the final decision is not made.

'Confident or not confident, I don't know. We are not close to a deal for Aubameyang with Dortmund or anybody else.'

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But another one begins...

Manchester United finally announced the mega-money signing of Alexis Sanchez yesterday, but now attention turns to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's potential move to Arsenal. 

Arsene Wenger has just spoken about the Dortmund striker, so we'll have those for you in a moment. 

But be sure to stick with us throughout the day - and I'll do my best to update you with all the latest transfers ins, outs and rumours.