The transfer market has reached its last hours, and the final days can always come with surprises or twists. It was a January full of new signings for Chelsea, who this past weekend completed the Malo Gusto deal with Lyon. After Christopher Nkunku, the right-back will be the second player to join Chelsea for the 2023-2024 season after a €30 million deal. The player has been in London, completed his medical tests and will finish the current season with OL before returning to England.
Meanwhile, Tottenham had reached an agreement with Sporting for defender Pedro Porro after a long negotiation. The agreement reached was for a €45 million fee as the Portuguese club have always wanted, but it has not gotten over the finish line just yet. He did not train with Sporting on Monday, and there is a meeting to try and get it resolved. Porro was to sign a five-and-a-half-year contract, but let’s see if they can finalize it before the deadline. Also, Arsenal are in a fight with Brighton over Moises Caicedo. The first offer was actually from Chelsea about 10 days ago for £55 million, but it was turned down. The same happened to Arsenal with a £60 million guaranteed opening offer. Caicedo wants the move but Brighton are very clear and strong in their position. The Gunners upped their offer to £70 million on Sunday night, but it was also rejected.
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Newcastle have completed the Anthony Gordon deal for £40 million plus £5 million add-ons from Everton and one of the next priorities is to renew Bruno Guimaraes’ contract. Talks will take place from February onwards. Bournemouth, on the other hand, tried to tempt Nicolò Zaniolo with a very important offer. Club representatives flew to London on Friday but the player rejected Bournemouth’s offer despite an agreement reached between the club with AS Roma, who had accepted the €30 million bid plus add-ons to sell Zaniolo. And now? There is a risk that the Italian talent will stay at Roma because AC Milan wanted him, and he wanted AC Milan, but they only offered a loan deal with a €22 million buy option, not enough to convince Roma.
The market is still calm in Spain, but keep an eye on Paris Saint-Germain in France. Milan Skriniar has accepted the offer and signed a pre-contract in order to join the club on a free transfer in June, but PSG will try to convince Inter with a low-value offer for a transfer as early as the end of January. Surprises are around the corner.
