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Claudio Echeverri has joined Manchester City from River Plate

(AP)

The January transfer window has been slow to get going this month, but might be start to heat up as clubs try to bolster their squads for the second half of the season.

Callum Wilson is reported to be on the market as Newcastle United look to balance the books, with Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all alerted to the availability of a proven Premier League goalscorer. Kalvin Phillips is on the verge of completing his loan move to West Ham United, as the Hammers look to bolster their midfield.

Chelsea are prepared to let striker Armando Broja leave, but only for a substantial fee of £50m, with Ivan Toney a key name on both the Blues’ and Arsenal’s wishlists. Brighton striker Evan Ferguson has also been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge, although the Seagulls have put a high price on the forward, valuing the teenager as over £100m.

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Pochettino hails Palmer signing

Defender Malo Gusto is also unavailable for the game with Villa, but both he and Nkunku could return for Chelsea’s next league game with Liverpool on Wednesday.

One signing who has made an immediate impact is Cole Palmer, who arrived from Manchester City in September and has scored nine league goals at Chelsea and netted two in their League Cup semi-final 6-1 win over Middlesbrough on Tuesday.

“We are optimistic always when we sign a player. It’s true he’s doing fantastic,” Pochettino said.

“After six or seven months he’s doing a very good job. We’re so happy with his impact. He is helping the team to achieve things that we wanted.”

Ben Chilwell started the game against Middlesbrough, and came on as a substitute in Chelsea’s last league game having been out since September with a hamstring injury, but is not certain to start against Villa.

“We are assessing him to see if he can cope with another game in three days,” Pochettino said.

“It’s not a mental problem. It’s not only convincing him to trust his body, it’s to trust with us and the way we work, but he’s always very optimistic.

“We need to be careful, the player always wants to play.”

Chelsea will face Liverpool in the League Cup final and now hope to progress in the FA Cup, but they host a Villa side who came away from Stamford Bridge with a 1-0 league win back in September.

Lawrence Ostlere26 January 2024 03:55

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Blackburn reject Crystal Palace approach for midfielder Adam Wharton

Blackburn have rejected Crystal Palace’s £18.5million offer for Adam Wharton.

The offer falls well short of Rovers’ valuation of the midfielder, the PA news agency understands.

Palace’s bid was a guaranteed £15million with the Eagles now weighing up whether to return with an improved offer.

Any bid will need to include a loan back to Rovers for the rest of the season given Palace have made their initial move with just a week to go before the transfer deadline and it would leave Blackburn with little time to source a replacement.

Palace have also been linked with Genk’s Daniel Munoz with boss Roy Hodgson confirming he had watched the midfielder on video.

Wharton - an England Under-20 international - has made 29 appearances this season, scoring once, having only made his Blackburn debut at the start of last season after joining the club when he was six years old.

The 19-year-old has impressed with his maturity this term, despite Rovers’ disappointing form in the Championship.

Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side are 17th, 10 points adrift of the play-off places and host Wrexham in the FA Cup fourth round on Monday.

Lawrence Ostlere26 January 2024 03:25

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Maddison back for Spurs in boost to Postecoglou

James Maddison is “in a good place” and ready to start for Tottenham Hotspur in their home FA Cup fourth round clash with Premier League champions Manchester City on Friday, manager Ange Postecoglou said.

Maddison made an immediate impact when he joined the North Londoners from relegated Leicester City last June but the England midfielder has been out since November with an ankle injury.

“He’s trained all week and he is fine. He is available and ready to start,” Postecoglou told reporters.

“When someone is available I assume they are ready to start. Whether they do or not depends on what I see with everyone else tomorrow and I usually make those decisions game day.

“The beauty of it is he’s got through the week really well and ready to go.”

Lawrence Ostlere25 January 2024 23:44

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Dyche ‘not aware’ of need for Everton to sell players

Dyche added that he saw it as “very likely” that any incomings would be on loan.

Ben Godfrey, who has made only three appearances for Everton this season, is another player to have featured in transfer talk, and when asked about the defender, Dyche said: “Ben’s going along very well, his professional attitude is outstanding. He’s well thought of in the group.

“He hasn’t had as much game time and he’s frustrated by that quite obviously, but not frustrated with me and the situation - he’s frustrated to not play. But he’s a fantastic pro and continues pushing himself and the group, that’s what kind of guy he is.”

Dyche revealed Andre Gomes, scorer of the winner in the 1-0 replay victory against Crystal Palace at Goodison Park last week that set up Saturday’s fourth-round tie at the same venue, is a major doubt due to a calf issue, with Everton “waiting on news of how long he’ll be out”.

Seamus Coleman (hamstring) and Ashley Young are not expected to feature either and Doucoure (hamstring) is a definite absentee, while Dele Alli has undergone a groin operation.

Dyche said of Alli: “Unfortunately he has required surgery. It was a bit of a debate on whether to or not, which is why it took some time. Now he’ll be recovering from that. There’s no timescales at this time, we’re just waiting for it to develop. The early signs are good at this time.”

Lawrence Ostlere25 January 2024 21:55

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Dyche ‘not aware’ of need for Everton to sell players

Everton boss Sean Dyche says he has not been told that the club need to sell players during the current transfer window.

A number of Dyche’s squad are being linked with moves away, including key midfield pair Abdoulaye Doucoure and Andre Onana.

Everton have appealed after being hit in November with a 10-point penalty for breaching profit and sustainability rules for the assessment period up to 2021-22, and last week the Premier League announced the Toffees had confirmed a PSR breach for the period up to 2022-23.

Meanwhile, the league is still to ratify a proposed takeover of the Merseyside outfit by American investment firm 777 Partners.

Asked at a press conference ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup clash with Luton whether Everton’s financial circumstances means some players may have to move on, Dyche said: “No - certainly not what I’m aware of at this moment in time. Certainly nothing has been promoted to me with that thought.

“We want to keep all the best players here the best we can and make sure we’re trying - even though it’s tricky circumstances, that’s clear - to at least manage the group we’ve got, and then build on it where we can, if the right situation occurs where there can be some form of getting a deal done.

“But obviously, it is quite a difficult window, we’ve seen that not just for us, we’ve seen that with the amount of money spent compared to other windows, very, very low at the minute.”

25 January 2024 21:26