Here we go again.
31 January was a red letter day in the history of the not-so-historic transfer window. Now, some seven months removed from a day which saw Chelsea secure Fernando Torres and David Luiz for a combined fee in the region of £75 million and Liverpool plop down a cool £35m on Andy Carroll, the footballing world is once again on the cusp of meltdown. We, too, have been caught up in the frenzy. Not surprisingly.
Tuesday saw an uncanny amount of movement. With that being said, I personally don't even want to think about what today is going to consist of. Luka Modric (pictured above center in leisure suit) is coming. Wait, no he's not. Meireles is signed and sealed for £25m and a Danny Sturridge. What the hell. Seriously, who knows what will happen? One thing we can always count on, however, is the traditional Harry Redknapp Sky interview from the passenger seat of a random auto. Warms the heart.
Anyway. We're going to be here - for the most part - through the close of the window (11pm GMT). If it happens, we should have it. If we don't, leave a comment and we'll throw it up. If we don't throw it up, chances are I passed out. Apologies. Take a look at our handy legend below to keep you abreast of what's going down. Any confirmed deals will be moved to the top of the post. That's about it, I guess. On with the show.
Legend
no * = unsubstantiated
** = somewhat substantial shit from any source, Twitter or otherwise
*** = signing expected or announced by a media source not named the Mirror, Sun, or Daily Mail
italic = confirmed by club
Confirmed deals
Out
7:48pm: Patrick van Anholt to Wigan Athletic, season-long loan (link)
8:34pm: Gael Kakuta to Bolton Wanderers, six-month loan (link)
10:55pm: Yossi Benayoun to Arsenal, season-long loan (link)
In
11:12pm: Raul Meireles to Chelsea from Arsenal, permanent transfer (link)
The feed
7:05am: Perhaps the most ridiculous rumor of the window is the first we'll discuss this morning. A Bola continues the small-scale saga that is Alvaro Perreira by telling us that Porto have lowered their asking price. Good news, right? Wrong. Fucking wrong. Apparently the club is seeking €15m and a player by the name of Romelu Lukaku. Yes, you indeed read that right. Absolutely absurd.
7:13am: This is most certainly not news. What it is, however, is entertaining. A commenter on our sister site, We Ain't Got Not History, took the time to go through and compare Meireles, Modric and Mountinho via their stats on FIFA 11. Check it out below. What do we learn? Well, nothing really. But, if we look at the stats, we see that Luka is a fair bit better than the other two, but that Meireles looks the better option when compared to Moutinho. So there you go. Thanks to FootyFromAfar for the goodness.
Vision – Moutinho 85, Modric 92, Miereles 84
Long Pass – Moutinho 83, Modric 87, Miereles 82
Short Pass – Moutinho 86, Modric 89, Miereles 85
Ball Control – Moutinho 85, Modric 90, Miereles 84
Finishing – Moutinho 76, Modric 77, Miereles 75
Stamina – Moutinho 79, Modric 87, Miereles 79
Sprint Speed – Moutinho 79, Modric 80, Miereles 75
Positioning – Moutinho 82, Modric 86, Miereles 82
Long Shots – Moutinho 85, Modric 76, Miereles 82
Crossing – Moutinho 82, Modric 79, Miereles 77
7:20am: Sky Sports is reporting that Chelsea old boy Shaun Wright-Phillips is on the cusp of swapping the heights of Manchester City for Queens Park Rangers. Funny one that. Shaun has been linked with Bolton for much of the summer. I would have thought that represented a much better move for him. What do I know, though?
7:37am: This is an interesting one. Via Twitter account Football Belgium: "De Bruyne move to Chelsea not happening this summer. General manager Degraen declined bid. De Bruyne not too happy with Genk at the moment." I think most of us, including some pretty reputable sources, thought this one was pretty much a done deal with De Bruyne being loaned back to Genk for the season. If this guy has any credibility, though, I guess we all are going to have to revisit this one at a later date.
**7:43am: More on De Bruyne. According to HLN, we have had a bid of around €7m, plus add-ons, rejected by Genk. Top Belgian football Twitter man John Chapman has backed this up.
7:56am: Quite a bit of news out of the Telegraph. Jason Burt - unreliable as ever - reckons that Spurs may well be open to selling Luka Modric. Of course they may be open to. He goes on to suggest Pereira has been told by Porto that he can leave if a bid of €20 million is received, and that we have made a tentative inquiry for Gary Cahill, a deal dependent on the sale of Alex. The club is open to offers for, aside from Alex apparently, Yossi, Flo and Salomon.
8:03am: HARRY IN A CAR. I told you. I fucking told you. Big moves. What's on his mind? Players, obviously. Gary Cahill and the like. As for Luka? Harry tells Sky Sports Modric is going nowhere. How confident is he in that statement? "A million percent." Well, well.
8:07am: This is quite weird. El Mundo Deportivo claims Real Madrid would be willing to offload Kaka for as little as €11m. That's quite ridiculous. Remember, the man who loves his Jesus cost Madrid a cool €65m. I'm never been a massive fan of Kaka, but at that kind of price, we should probably have a look. Hell, everyone should to be honest.
8:11am: Another odd one. Apparently we've been linked with 17-year-old Everton prodigy Ross Barkley in a few of today's papers. If it sounds like rubbish ...
8:30am: We've hit a bit of a lull. Considering a nap. Thoughts?
8:41am: Twitter is rampant with tweets on Ribery. Can't see it happening people.
8:57am: I think I read this somewhere yesterday, but whatever. Pereira's agent, Alejandro Savich, tells Maisfutebol: "I know that the clubs are talking. This is a positive sign. What I know from Chelsea is that they are trying. One can only hope." Check it out on Sky Sports.
9:01am: Jeremy Wilson of the Telegraph says on his Twitter account that we've made an improved offer for De Bruyne.
9:10am: Schweinsteiger? Think I'll have a stretch after hearing that one.
9:23am: This is pretty good. Actually, one of the better clearly batshit rumors I've seen this summer. Random dude on Twitter says Chelsea have offered Bolton Hilario + £3m for Kevin Davies. Hilarious.
9:50am: Nothing doing at the moment. Well, there are some deluded Liverpool supporters on Twitter that keep saying they expect Sturridge and a some cash to come their way today in exchange for Meireles. Yeah, sure.
10:06am: A little under 13 hours remaining in this transfer window. No new news here at the moment, so I'm off for a short nap. See you in a few. Hopefully we'll have some updates for you by then.
3pm: I have awoken. Let's see what's gone down shall we?
3:05pm: Joey Cole has completed his loan move to Lille. Good for him. That deal does not give Liverpool first refusal on Eden Hazard, according to the French club. Good for us. Bayern Munich, meanwhile, have categorically rubbished the Ribery rumors. Not that any of us believed that garbage anyway, right?
3:08pm: Sky sources say talks with Porto for Pereira have broken down. Mind you this also happened with David Luiz, though we had a tad more time to get back in the saddle in January.
3:12pm: Speaking of Pereira, someone has been having some fun with the wingback's Wikipedia page. In the last hour, Pereira's been a Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Benfica, Porto, and Barcelona player. In demand.
3:15pm: Among the weirdness, BBC Sport hopelessly mixed up Ryan Bertrand with Ryan McGivern of Manchester City. So, no, Bertrand is not joining Bristol City on loan. We can forgive this.
3:16pm: Bayern Munich on the Ribery rubbish: "There has been no offer and it is a complete non-starter."
3:18pm: Lille general manager Frederic Paquet: "There's no link between the loan for Joe Cole & Eden Hazard (going to Liverpool in future)"
3:23pm: So, basically, nothing happened regarding the Chels over my five-hour slumber. Alright then.
3:30pm: Freddie Boswell via Twitter a minute ago: "All quiet Chelsea wise."
3:31pm: This is all slightly worrying. I'm not suggesting we aren't a good side in our current format, we are. But that doesn't change the fact that we are certainly in need of a creative midfielder. All too often we are far too slow in the middle of the park. And then there's the lack of proper service. There are several options available, actually tons. Hopefully the club, in typical Chelsea style, is simply keeping things close to the chest.
3:52pm: B92.net is reporting that Mateja Kezman, formerly of the Chels, is in Belarus today to ink a deal with BATE Borisov. In fact, just saw a photo of the man in his new shirt. I reckon that's official then.
**3:57pm: Some new quotage from De Bruyne - at least we think it's new. "I'm disappointed in the attitude of Genk," he told Het Nieuwsblad via Soccernet. "I do not want any controversy, but I'm disappointed in the attitude of Genk. Chelsea was a very nice offer, the club wanted me to stay for one year in Genk. I hope it still goes on, because this is a dream for me. I wanted to give everything for one year in Genk and with a good feeling to say goodbye to the club and the supporters."
4:07pm: Here's some interesting news. Duncan Castles of the Times reports via Twitter than Malouda has refused a move away from the club. Castles says that quotes are to come. Well.
**4:10pm: Now we have the quotage. "I've always been clear in my choices. It's going to be very difficult to take me out of my club. I've heard about Italy + Lyon – you've got to keep rumours alive but things will get calmer tonight unless I sign for an Albanian club. I've still got 2 years left on my Chelsea contract. My objective is to extend by 1 year until the 2014 World Cup. That hasn't changed and it won't change tonight." So, Flo is going nowhere. That's decent news in my mind. He can still offer plenty provided he's open to being a spot starter now.
4:14pm: Then again, if Flo was to be a pivotal piece of the puzzle in us securing Modric, I'll be fairly angry. That idea is all a bit shady, though, isn't it? And, really, Malouda deserves better than Spurs to be honest.
4:30pm: More from Sky Sports on Pereira. Apparently they have had word from the player's agent, who told them that Porto and Chelsea are still very far apart on evaluation. Talks are still ongoing, but it doesn't look that promising.
4:32pm: Movement continues on the former player front. Fabio Borini has joined Roma from from Parma on a year-long loan for €1.5m with a view to a permanent €6.5m deal.
4:38pm: Odds on Sturridge to Liverpool have been slashed over the past hour or so. Of course we shouldn't read too much into this, but nevertheless, it pisses me off.
4:45pm: We have it on good authority that Modric has gone AWOL at Spurs Lodge. See visual evidence of the Croatian making a break for it below.
4:50pm: A new one, rather intriguing. A fair few sources, including Sky Italia, are reporting that Chelsea have inquired about Cesena midfielder and AC Milan target Marco Parolo. Parolo is a 26-year-old Itailan, who scored six goals last season. Good little player this guy.
5pm: Duncan Castles reports that we have upped our bid for Pereira. Jesus.
5:12pm: Hearing murmurs suggesting Renato Augusto has flown to London for a medical with a mystery club, likely Arsenal. Chelsea might want to chauffeur him into Cobham while he's in the area.
5:25pm: The respected Guillem Balague says via Twitter that Manchester City rejected enquiries from Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Malaga and Chelsea for winger Adam Johnson.
5:42pm: Former Blue Wayne Bridge rejected a move to Celtic earlier in the day. I presume that had something to do with his absurd wages and refusing to lower them. What a clown.
5:45pm: Still nothing concrete out of the Chelsea camp. I know some of you are on the cusp of a mild freakout or even a full-on meltdown. So, with the assistance of the serene screencap below, I urge you to calm down. All is well.
5:53pm: Ian Dennis of Radio 5 Live has heard Yossi is off to Arsenal.
**6:03pm: New developments in the club's push to bring Pereira to London. The latest piece from Maisfutebol has the player's agent, Alejandro Savich, being quoted as saying that the deal is basically off. "Unfortunately, the operation fell apart. By now you do not believe that. Porto missed the word because, last year, promised to sell Alvaro Pereira is a superior proposal came up to 20 million euros. Chelsea passed this value." He goes on: "Chelsea is already interested for many days, began with a value and was always trying to approach FC Porto than intended. Porto, meanwhile, never relented. When a party does not want to negotiate, there is not much to do." Secondary targets then, AVB?
6:18pm: Sky Sports' lead-out to commercial "If you're popping out, don't." I personally never pop out - unless she asks me to.
6:38pm: Now this is more like deadline day for me. Jesus Navas has been linked with a move to the Chels. Yes, Jesus fucking Navas. The Spanish winger was apparently spotted at Heathrow. Of course, the fact that he's battled homesickness for much of his career means little. Actually, he has slowly put that behind him, but let's be real: This is nonsense.
**6:45pm: Sky Sports reveal that Yossi is now in talks with Arsenal over a transfer.
6:47pm: Food. Now.
6:50pm: Patrick van Aanholt reveals via Twitter that he will indeed be heading out on loan. Where? That's yet to be announced.
***6:52pm: Finally, some pretty concrete stuff. Van Aanholt is joining Wigan on a season-long loan according to the Twitter account Footballers Live. Seeing as PVA said that this deal would be announced on Footballers Live via his official Twitter account a few minutes earlier, we can pretty much say this is a go. A good move for him provided he sees steady first-team football. Could be a difficult prospect unless Maynor Figueroa is moved out. Still, I reckon van Aanholt will thrive under Roberto Martinez, of whom I'm a fan despite him rooting the then-on loan Scott Sinclair to the bench a few seasons ago.
7:02pm: Sky says Yossi's potential move to Arsenal would be on a season-long loan? That makes exactly zero sense. I'm not interested in that, at all.
7:20pm: Sky are reporting that the proposed move of Mikel Arteta to Arsenal is off. This means that Arsene and company are concentrating on securing the services of a Benayoun. I trust our suits don't want any part of a loan move. Sell the Israeli or keep him.
***7:32: Sky are now reporting that Gael Kakuta will be joining Bolton on a season-long loan. I like the look of that deal.
7:46pm: Sorry, stepped out for a moment for some lunch.
7:48pm: Our first confirmation of the day. Via the club's official website: "Patrick van Aanholt has today joined Wigan Athletic on a season-long loan deal."
7:55pm: Anyone worried about a loan for Daniel Sturridge can probably calm down. Simon Bird of the Mirror says the club has turned down any and all loan approaches for the striker. He did, however, mention that a massive bid could pry him away from Chelsea. Interesting.
7:57pm: Sky's on-site reporter at the Britannia says the club have inquired about taking Adam Johnson on loan from Manchester City. That would be quite the coup. Jamie is somewhere cutting herself after reading this.
8pm: Jim White is in the house on Sky Sports News. Get right trick.
8:01pm: Here's an awkward photo of Joe Cole in his new Lille shirt. Looking good boy!
8:07pm: "Helicopters! Lights! Action!" Jim White is a god.
8:09pm: Rob Dorsett confirms on Sky that Stoke did indeed approach Manchester City about a loan for Adam Johnson. Neither City nor Johnson were interested. Could the player be available, though? Would be a competent piece of business for us at the right price I reckon.
8:15pm: Arsenal still favorites to secure Yossi on a season-long loan. Still don't get it.
8:18pm: Got a quote from Pereira apparently. Fresh off Rory Smith's Twitter account via Martin Charquero: "The chance to go to Chelsea fell apart. I will stay at Porto and I am very thankful to the club." I guess we can finally scratch this one off the list.
8:23pm: Checking out the Wigan Athletic website, came across some quality quotes from Martinez on van Aanholt. Peep it: "Patrick is a player with enormous potential. Technically he is very gifted, very comfortable in possession and physically, he uses his intensity to defend very effectively. He can play left back or left wing back position and without a doubt he's got a phenomenal career ahead of him and I hope he can settle in Wigan really quickly and start enjoying his football as a Latics player. We rate Patrick really highly and his professionalism and his personal attributes will be a huge asset to us this season." Promising stuff. I hope.
8:34pm: Confirmation from Chelsea that Kakuta has joined Bolton on loan: "Gael Kakuta has tonight joined Bolton Wanderers on loan until January 1." So only til the new year, eh? Wonder if there is an option for Bolton to extend the loan should he excel?
8:40pm: Bolton manager Owen Coyle offers his thoughts on Kakuta via the club's official website: "I'm delighted that Chelsea have enabled us to take Gael on loan and I'd like to thank Andre and the club for that. He is someone whose progress we have tracked since he first broke into the Chelsea first team a couple of years ago. He is skilful, quick, exciting to watch and I'm really looking forward to working with him."
8:56pm: Sky have gone off the deep end. There are now talking up Kaka to Spurs. Ian Dowie follows right up with an even better comment: "Is he the goal-poaching type they need?" Wait, what?
**9pm: Yossi gives us this via his official Twitter account: "staying in London...will sign soon ... i will twitt when it happens" Arsenal then. I very much want to see terms of this deal.
9:03pm: Saif Rubie tells Chris Kamara that Manchester City have offered £100 million and Mario Balotelli for Lionel Messi. This is the shit Sky Sports lives for.
9:11pm: Another classic Harry interview from an auto. Denies Kaka was ever an option and says a deal for Gary Cahill fell through over a difference in evaluation. Even more classic? The fact that he tells reporters that business is done just as he receives a call from chairman Daniel Levy. Once Levy learns that Harry's giving one of his patented interviews, he hangs up. You can't make this shit up.
9:13pm: Harry also tells Sky that he thinks Chelsea came in yesterday with a £40m offer for Modric, which was rejected out of hand quite obviously. Key word here being think. The guy doesn't have a clue, does he?
9:34pm: This whole ordeal is starting to bore me. Goal are reporting that we had a bid rejected for Parolo, though their piece doesn't really have any new information compared to the earlier link. They do say that we offered the club Kakuta, but his wages were problem. They do not specify whether that was for a loan or permanent deal, but I would assume it would have been a loan.
9:42pm: Doesn't look like De Bruyne will be joining in this window. This according to Belgian football expert John Chapman on Twitter: "Kevin De Bruyne, his people and Genk management have sat down and sorted things out. He stays at Genk, problems resolved." We'll be revisiting this one in January.
9:54pm: Not an inkling of talk about us right now.
10pm: One hour to go and nothing new on the incoming front. Looks like we're set at least until January. Would have liked to have seen the club land a creative midfielder, but regardless it has been an ultra successful summer mercato for us. We must remember that.
10:08pm: ChelseaTV is far from an official source, but they are apparently speaking of Yossi as if he's already out the door. Alright then.
10:16pm: Not transfer news, but interesting nonetheless. Ricky Carvalho, bonafide Chelsea legend, has quit the Portugal national team out of nowhere. The Real Madrid player abruptly walked out of training today with no explanation. "Having earned 75 caps and been deeply dedicated in defending the national side's reputation, I have never before felt so disrespected and wounded in my dignity," Carvalho said later. "Among my peers I am just another athlete, but like others I deserve consideration and respect." Whoa.
10:22pm: I'm off to work. Will return in a few minutes once I get to the cubicle. I'm going to go out on a limb and saying nothing will happen. Watch this space.
***10:40pm: Well, as soon as I take off, everything jumps off. I saw confirmation of Yossi to Arsenal and the transfer request from Meireles right as I was walking out the door. About to follow up.
10:42pm: So Meireles hands in a transfer request at the eleventh hour. Or that is what Liverpool want us to think. Also, how about the coincidence of that popping up right after the Yossi deal is confirmed by Sky Sports? Weirdness.
10:47pm: Talks on Twitter of a £15m deal for Meireles. I can't see us getting it done in time unless there have been backroom deals being gone on that we were privy to. Not out of the realm of possibility.
10:48pm: Yossi via his Twitter almost 20 minutes ago: "I sign with arsenal,very happy and excited about it,but now my head is only in the game against grecce on friday,thanks for the support." I will not be adding this to the confirmed deals list until we have confirmation from Chelsea or Arsenal.
10:50pm: Again, I refuse to believe Sturridge is part of any deal for Meireles. A straight cash deal between £12-15m for me. I would also reckon that this transfer has been in the washing machine for some time now. All we can do now is wait.
10:52pm: Sam Matterface says on Twitter that a fee has been agreed between the clubs for Meireles and that Chelsea are confident of completing the deal.
10:53pm: Trusted Chelsea man Dan Leven (Blues Chronicle on Twitter) says that the BBC are reporting that our final (rejected) bid for Modric was £30m + Alex. That's much more reasonable than the 40m quoted, at least for me.
10:55pm: Yossi confirmed via the club's official website: "Yossi Benayoun has tonight joined Arsenal on loan until the end of the season."
**10:58pm: Many pundits on the Twitter (Dominic Fifield, Rory Smith) say the Meireles deal is for £12m. Not bad business if that goes through.
11pm: That's it my friends. The summer window has officially closed.
11:02pm: A query on Meireles. Why would Liverpool announced the transfer request? The simple answer is to deflect criticism onto the player after he moves. Expect some concrete movement on this one in the next hour or so.
11:06pm: Like I said earlier, I'm currently at my full-time gig, but will be checking in sporadically over the next hours to add spot news and confirmations as they come. We will of course also be making posts for any big deals that come through. Stay tuned.
11:09pm: SHIT. Raul Meireles is officially a Chelsea player according to the club website.