The January transfer window has closed for clubs in England. Follow the latest on all of the late completed deals below.
Today’s headlines:
Spurs seal Tel loan including buy option
Man City complete Nico Gonzalez signing
Chelsea expect to sign Amougou
Villa set to pip Tottenham to Disasi deal
Crystal Palace confirm Chilwell loan
Latte Lath set for big-money Atlanta move
Also in the news:
Felix | O’Reilly | Chukwuemeka | Ferguson | Asensio | Morata
✉️ Get in touch: livebloguk@theathletic.com
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Mathys Tel’s loan deal taking him to Tottenham Hotspur will include a purchase option of €55million (£45.7m; $56.9m) and a six-year contract for the 19-year-old.
Spurs have agreed a deal with Bayern Munich and Tel has completed a medical ahead of the move. He will sign a contract with his new side shortly.
The Athletic reported earlier on deadline day that Tottenham were close to agreeing a deal with Bayern for Tel, who had previously attracted interest from Manchester United and Chelsea.
The Frenchman has scored 16 goals in 83 games for Bayern since joining from Rennes in 2022.
Last week, Tel had indicated he wished to remain at Bayern and reassess his future in the summer despite Tottenham agreeing a deal with the German club.
I mentioned at half-time, with Chelsea trailing 1-0 to West Ham at Stamford Bridge, that Enzo Maresca’s side needed to improve significantly if they wanted to avoid more dropped points.
And that wasn’t quite true, as the hosts didn’t really improve in the second half. But crucially, they found a way to take all three points.
After Jarrod Bowen’s first-half opener, Pedro Neto equalised in the 64th minute with West Ham unable to clear their lines. The visitors then conceded an unfortunate own goal.
Cole Palmer attacked the byline and looked to fizz a cross into the penalty area, but it caught Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s outstretched leg and looped into the top corner.
The 2-1 win for Chelsea — who are still very much active on deadline day — has moved them above Manchester City and into fourth in the Premier League.
Nottingham Forest midfielder Ben Perry has joined Northampton Town on loan.
The 20-year-old will spend the rest of the season at the League One club. Perry has been a regular in the Forest B team this season, making ten appearances in the Premier League Two. He has also captained the side.
Perry first joined the Forest academy at the age of nine and the club are hopeful the move will aid his development. “Ben has been exceptional over the last 12 months and this new challenge in senior football will build upon the exposure to men’s football he has had,” said Craig Mulholland, Forest’s head of football development and talent management.
Northampton currently sit in 20th place, just outside the relegation zone in League One.
This is one our correspondent Jacob Tanswell reported yesterday, and now it has been confirmed.
Aston Villa attacker Kadan Young has joined Royal Antwerp on loan for the rest of the season.
Young has made two senior appearances this season in the Carabao Cup, and now he will get a shot at securing regular football.
Young has represented England’s youth teams and made his first team debut in the Carabao Cup tie against Wycombe Wanderers in September, having come through the ranks at the club since joining at under-13 level.
“January is not the greatest (window) to work in, it’s full of panic and short-term requirements,” says Mark Gottlieb, managing director of talent at General Sports Worldwide, an agency with approximately 70 footballers contracted to them.
Agents earn approximately five per cent of a player’s guaranteed earnings, with a greater cut available via commercial deals or when working directly with clubs.
Gottlieb says: “I want a club to call me and say, ‘We’re interested in your client’. Every club has to work out if a player could be available before they would even engage in any discussions formally between clubs.
“If we get that right as a starting point, we would then be able to go into a negotiation with full commitment because we know it’s the right club and the player has effectively given us the nod to say, ‘Yes, I would be interested’.
“We will fall out with clubs on a deal, but we won’t fall out with them long-term. We’ll shake hands and we’ll go again another time.”
Are the negative perceptions of agents in football fair?
“They think we earn too much money and take money out of the game, that we are parasites. The truth is, we’re not,” Gottlieb says. “There are some seriously good agents out there doing it the right way, who have integrity and build trust with their clients. I believe we’re part of that group.”
Fulham are in talks over re-signing Willian on a free transfer.
A deal is not yet finalised for the 36-year-old winger, who is without a club having mutually terminated his contract with Greek side Olympiacos in December.
Willian left Fulham at the end of last season having scored 10 goals in 67 appearances over two campaigns for Marco Silva’s side.
Willian is currently at Stamford Bridge to watch his former club Chelsea take on West Ham United. The Brazilian made 339 appearances for Chelsea before moves to Arsenal and then Corinthians.
It's hard to put a measure on it but, if I'm being really boring, I'll say that the teams that win the January transfer window are the teams that don't need to do any business., so Liverpool and Arsenal.
Liverpool, in particular, didn't do a huge amount of business in the summer as well and this clarifies that they've had a really good season so far.
And the same for Arsenal. The temptation for them would have been to pull a lever somewhere but they haven't. They're starting to churn and the hints of a title race are there.
Clubs that don't feel the need to panic buy in January are probably the winners.
(Jon was speaking on the DealSheet Live, which you can rewatch in full below)
So, Chelsea midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka has completed his loan move to Borussia Dortmund.
The 21-year-old will look to show what he’s got in the Bundesliga, having been short on similar chances under Enzo Maresca this season.
Here’s the BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl, via our German football correspondent Seb Stafford-Bloor:
💬 “Carney is an extremely talented box-to-box player who caused a sensation in the Premier League at a young age. His dynamics, his pull to the goal as well as his assertiveness paired with great footballing class, make him an exciting player who has gone through all the junior national teams of England since the U17 for nothing.
“This development has recently stalled a bit in London. Despite the lack of rhythm, we see a great opportunity in this constellation and hope that Carney will regain its old strength with us.”
Kehl has certainly made it sound romantic, I’ll give him that.
Chelsea are very much the team to keep an eye in what remains of deadline day, as they look to complete one incoming signing and one departure.
But their fans can be forgiven for being a bit preoccupied at the moment. The half-time whistle has just sounded in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge and West Ham, managed by former Chelsea manager Graham Potter, are in front.
Jarrod Bowen capitalised on a terrible error in judgement from Levi Colwill and finished superbly to make it 1-0 in the 42nd minute.
Chelsea went into the game in awful form having only won of their last seven in the league. They’ll need to improve significantly in the second half if they want to avoid another disappointing result.
Burnley head coach Scott Parker has worked in different structures at Fulham, Bournemouth and Club Brugge. Parker says he is data-driven but it wouldn’t be the defining factor in picking a target.
💬 “Even players you’re in close contact with or clubs you’re negotiating with, things can change on an hourly basis.
“It’s crucial you speak to the player, because of the personality and the psych side of things. A 30-minute conversation gives you a good understanding of the type of person coming in, and references are key.”
“I’m very comfortable having real, honest, up-front conversations with players not figuring as much and where it’s best for both sides that we part. The harder ones are when a player’s not had a lot of game time, but you still need him. That’s where the human side also comes into it.”
Everton’s Harrison Armstrong has joined Championship side Derby County on loan until the end of the season.
The highly-rated midfielder, 18, has also signed a new, three-and-a-half-year contract at Goodison, rewarding his progress after a breakthrough season.
The Athletic reported last month that Armstrong had attracted interest from EFL sides, and a temporary move has now been granted so he can gain more exposure to senior football.
It follows the news Everton are set to confirm the signing of former Southampton midfielder Carlos Alcaraz on loan from Brazilian side Flamengo, with an obligation to buy should certain conditions be met.
Armstrong, 18, is considered one of the club’s top prospects and made his debut against Tottenham Hotspur, aged just 17, in August. Former Everton manager Sean Dyche told Everton TV earlier this season:
💬 “He’s got a very important future at this club. But it’s early yet.”
Last month, Armstrong earned plaudits after setting up Beto’s opener with a precise through-ball in the FA Cup third-round tie against Peterborough United.
He will now hope to make an impression in the Championship with Derby.
Emmanuel Dennis is travelling to Blackburn to complete a medical ahead of a potential loan move from Nottingham Forest.
The striker has been surplus to requirements at the City Ground for some time and was not included in the club’s 25-man Premier League squad in the first half of the campaign.
There had been interest from his former club Watford, as well as others. But it’s Rovers — having already completed the signing of former Forest man Yuri Ribeiro on a short-term deal — who look set to sign the Nigerian forward.
The 27-year-old was regarded as a statement signing when he joined from Watford for £10million in the summer of 2022, shortly after Forest had secured promotion from the Championship.
But Dennis only made 19 Premier League appearances — including six starts and two goals — for Forest, before being loaned out to Basaksehir and then Watford last season.
Additional reporting: Adam Leventhal
Aston Villa have agreed a deal to sign Chelsea defender Axel Disasi on loan for the rest of the season.
The fee for the straight loan is approximately in the same range as a deal agreed by Tottenham Hotspur, that was £5million.
Spurs had been in discussions with Chelsea for Disasi earlier on deadline day but the centre-back is now expected to move to Villa Park.
Disasi had previously attracted interest from Villa but we reported yesterday the west Midlands club were considering other centre-back options, after failing to agree a deal for the France international with Chelsea.
Villa have been looking at signing a new player in that position after Diego Carlos’ departure to Fenerbahce.
Disasi, 26, has featured six times in the Premier League for Chelsea this season, adding 11 more appearances in cup competitions.
Additional reporting: Jacob Tanswell