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EPL Transfer Deadline Day live Updated 51s ago The January transfer window has closed for clubs in the Premier League. The 7pm GMT deadline has passed, but there is still time for teams in England and around Europe to get final deals over the line. Here are the headlines from the final day of the transfer window: Share your thoughts on deadline day by emailing us at live@theathletic. com. Arguably the biggest signing of deadline day has just been announced! Atletico Madrid have confirmed the arrival of Ademola Lookman from Atalanta on a four-and-a-half-year deal. The versatile forward leaves Bergamo after three-and-a-half seasons where he scored 55 goals and registered 27 assists in 137 appearances. It was Lookman's hat-trick which led Atalanta to Europa League glory in 2024, as they beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in Dublin. This season has been a quieter one for the 28-year-old domestically, but he was brilliant for Nigeria at AFCON with three goals and four assists as he helped his country to a third-place finish. Fiorentina are closing in on the loan signing of Aston Villa defender Kosta Nedeljkovic before the transfer deadline. The right-back has spent the first half of the season on loan at RB Leipzig, but has only played six times across all competitions. The German club are happy to allow Nedeljkovic to leave, with Villa trying to finalise terms with Italian side Fiorentina. There has been interest from the Championship in the 20-year-old Serbia international in recent days, yet is not in Villa's plans, having featured just ten times since signing two years ago. Elsewhere, winger Samuel Iling-Junior remains in discussions over moving to Serie A club Pisa on loan, having spent the first half of the season at West Bromwich Albion. Additional reporting from Seb Stafford-Bloor Arsenal are in advanced talks to sign teenage forward Evan Mooney from Scottish side St Mirren. The 18-year-old made his senior debut in October 2024. He has made 15 first-team appearances this season, all as a substitute. Mooney is also a Scotland under-19 international, having made six appearances for the side. The deal being discussed is for a fee in the region of £400, 000 ($546, 302) plus bonuses. St Mirren will also have a sell-on fee. Arsenal have been looking for a striker to join their youth setup for some time and have been in the market for emerging talents to strengthen their academy and serve as potential future first-team prospects. St Mirren are tenth in the Scottish Premiership. Additional reporting: James Mc Nicholas. Real Madrid left-back Fran Garcia believed he would be joining Bournemouth on loan in January only to have the proposed move blocked by the Spanish club. Following the rejection of the transfer, Garcia, 26, did not feel ready to return to training as if nothing had happened and requested to do individual work on Saturday. The player saw Bournemouth as a great opportunity to enjoy the playing time he has lacked at Madrid. His request was declined by the club and Garcia completed the first 15 minutes, which was open to the media, with the group before training alone for the remainder of the session. Garcia had privately told people at Valdebebas training ground that there was a strong possibility he would leave for the Premier League side, where manager Andoni Iraola is a big fan of his from their time together at Rayo Vallecano. However, any chance of this happening collapsed on Friday. Despite being their fourth-choice option at left-back — behind summer signing Alvaro Carreras, the injured Ferland Mendy and midfielder Eduardo Camavinga — Madrid decided against letting him go. Garcia had spoken to coach Alvaro Arbeloa before seeking a transfer, according to sources with knowledge of the case. The Athletic contacted Arbeloa's camp, who declined to comment on personal talks. This situation has caused surprise and disappointment among those familiar with it at Valdebebas, where Fran Garcia has always been described as exemplary in terms of professionalism and team spirit. Sources familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, have expressed their empathy towards a player who is appreciated by team-mates and staff. With a contract until 2027, Fran Garcia will review his situation again in the summer, hoping to find a move to a team where he will be given more playing time. Madrid's position has been to not let anyone else leave the club beyond striker Endrick to Lyon on loan this January. The Athletic has contacted Real Madrid for comment. West Ham United are still hopeful of signing Axel Disasi on loan from Chelsea. The 27-year-old centre-back has been a long-standing target for West Ham this window, but club sources say there are number of hurdles has caused delays over a deal being finalised. Chelsea would prefer a permanent transfer, rather than loaning out the France international for the remainder of the season. The Athletic previously reported that signing a centre-back was a priority for head coach Nuno Espirito Santo. Toulouse's Charlie Cresswell and Southampton defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis were among their other defensive targets. Last week on Thursday, the Championship side rejected West Ham’s £18million bid for Harwood-Bellis. After the termination of Igor Julio's season-long loan from Brighton & Hove Albion, West Ham's recognised central defensive options are Jean-Clair Todibo — set to serve a three-match ban for his dismissal in the 3-2 defeat against Chelsea — Max Kilman and Konstantinos Mavropanos. Despite this winter's slowdown relative to last year, 2025-26 will still be the second-highest spending season in English football history. The £3. 11billion spent on new players last summer had already made sure of that. On a net basis, overall spending by Premier League clubs is ticking toward the £1. 5billion mark. If, as looks likely, more than £50m worth of deals are completed in the final couple of hours of this window, English clubs will top that net spend figure for only the second time. The 2022-23 season still stands as the most extravagant in football history, though that was driven by Chelsea, who spent nearly £750million (gross) alone that year. Now, the splurge is shared. By our reckoning, eight of this season's 20 Premier League clubs have spent more than £200m on new signings, and that's just on reported transfer fees. The overall spend, incorporating agents' fees and the Premier League's transfer levy, is yet higher still. It was always going to be a relatively quiet window for Liverpool after they invested so heavily in the squad last summer. Much of the debate has surrounded whether they would strengthen defensively with Giovanni Leoni, Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez and Jeremie Frimpong all sidelined by injury. Sporting director Richard Hughes looked at a number of short-term options, including Lutsharel Geertruida, who has been on loan at Sunderland from RB Leipzig. Head coach Arne Slot managed him at Feyenoord and admires his ability to play right-back, centre-back and in midfield. The player was open to moving to Anfield but it proved too complex to pull off. Sunderland would have needed to find a replacement, as well as agree compensation with Liverpool to end their loan agreement early. Earlier in the window the Premier League champions opted not to rival Manchester City for the signature of Marc Guehi, who had come so close to joining Liverpool last summer. They felt the overall cost of the package was prohibitive. Instead they have invested £60million in a deal for Rennes defender Jeremy Jacquet, who will stay in France for the rest of the season. He's an exciting acquisition but the lack of defensive cover between now and May remains a concern. Liverpool's defensive struggles this season could have been at least partly allayed by the addition of Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace: a centre-back worth a lot of money had he not been nearing the end of his contract. With one year left on his contract last summer, Liverpool were well placed to sign him for a cut price of around £30-35m but quibbled over the last £5m with Palace, hoping to leave it late to extract some last drops of value. Instead, the south London club held firm, and when Liverpool were seemingly ready to pay the extra money in the final days of the transfer window, Palace decided they did not have enough time to source a replacement and he stayed. Liverpool briefed that they were confident they would be firmly in the mix to sign him on a free transfer at the end of the season. Instead, come January and Manchester City stepped in after injuries to Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol and they got Guehi for £20m. That has left Liverpool now set to spend £60m on 20-year-old Jeremy Jacquet of Rennes, almost double what Guehi would have cost. It might seem bizarre to be talking about rebuilds given that Liverpool splashed around £450million ($615m) in the summer 2025 transfer window, but they might well need one, especially defensively. Ibrahima Konate's contract expires this summer with no news yet of a renewal, as does the deal of the out-of-favour Rhys Williams. The deals of influential captain Virgil van Dijk, in the latter stages of his career at 34 years old, and Joe Gomez (along with midfielder Wataru Endo, who can cover in defence) run out the following summer. All this points to a revamp in defence. Jeremy Jacquet is a fine prospect and is set to join in the summer but at 20 is not the finished article and has only played 36 times in France's top division. Giovanni Leoni, 19, is another excellent young player but only has half a season's worth of experience for Parma in Italy and has missed much of this season with a serious injury which will need a steady recovery. Van Dijk is a league-leading player but has lost a touch of pace, while their only peak-age centre-back in Gomez has often struggled with injury. Konate will need replacing, presumably at considerable expense, if he leaves this summer too. All that makes their failed Marc Guehi pursuit an even more questionable call. .. Jeremy Jacquet is set to become the second most expensive centre-back in Liverpool's history. The £60million deal represents a big investment in a young French defender who has just 31 senior appearances for Rennes under his belt. The only centre-back Liverpool have ever paid a bigger fee for is captain Virgil van Dijk. However, their willingness to meet the Ligue 1 club's hefty demands underlines just how highly they rate Jacquet, who flew into the UK to undergo his medical this morning. Liverpool believe he has all the qualities required to flourish in the Premier League. They view it a shrewd long-term investment, a decision backed up by the data analysis and the character references about his work ethic and commitment to fulfilling his potential. They had to move smartly to beat Chelsea to Jacquet's signature. Getting him on board immediately to ease their defensive headache wasn't an option for Liverpool with Rennes adamant they would only sanction a sale for the summer. With Ibrahima Konate's current deal expiring this summer, Joe Gomez out of contract next year and Van Dijk turning 35 in July, Liverpool have to look to the future in terms of their centre-back department and are delighted to have landed one of Europe's most exciting defensive talents in Jacquet. . .. but sadly, that one will not happen, at least today. Arsenal are ‘actively looking’ for a midfielder as their depth there is slightly weaker given Mikel Merino's injury. Tonali is proficient both as a No 6, where Martin Zubimendi plays, and as a defensively capable No 8. Tonali would arguably be a starter for the Premier League title frontrunners when fully fit and up to speed with Arsenal's style of play, ahead of captain Martin Odegaard, and a real challenger to Zubimendi. Newcastle will be more willing to sell in the summer, when Arsenal will be able to commit to a more serious financial outlay too. Potentially one to revisit in a few months, then. .. It has been a quiet deadline day so far for Tottenham Hotspur, even with George Abbott’s imminent loan move to League One’s Mansfield Town. But there may yet be a twist in the tail. The Athletic has learned that Tottenham Hotspur are now leading the race to sign James Wilson, Hearts’ 18-year-old striker. Hearts head coach Derek Mc Innes has confirmed that Arsenal inquired about Wilson on Sunday, raising the possibility of the north London rivals going head-to-head for his signature. Wilson has already been capped by the Scotland international team, and if he were to join Spurs then it would be further improve their youth ranks. Mason Melia, the 18-year-old Irish forward, joined from St Pat’s Athletic this window, and last week Spurs completed the signing of Elisha Sowunmi, also 18, from West Ham United. “He is such a good kid, he trains well, ” Mc Innes told Sky Sports. “Would we see the benefit of a loan? Potentially yes. For him to go and get some minutes. This one was a wee bit left-field, what came yesterday from Arsenal, from their development squad. “Those conversations with Arsenal were yesterday and we have heard nothing back from Arsenal today. So I don’t know where that would be. ” Additional reporting: Jordan Campbell Nottingham Forest might have pulled off a bit of a coup. A few years ago, Luca Netz was rated among the finest full-back prospects in Germany and while he has not developed as expected, that’s been as much to do with a lack of stability at Borussia Monchengladbach as it has his own evolution. They have had a succession of different coaches — Daniel Farke, Gerardo Seoane and Eugen Polanski just in the last three years — and their recruitment has been very haphazard, too. ‘Gladbach has not been a particularly fertile environment, so perhaps being challenged at a higher level will bring out the player — broadly talented, good in attacking situations — that he has promised to be for so long. Manchester United striker Gabriele Biancheri is close to joining Rotherham United on loan until the end of the season. The 19-year-old has made 21 appearances for United's under-21s this season, scoring eight goals. The Wales under-21 international, who is also eligible to represent Italy and Canada, will join fellow United academy talent Dan Gore at the League One club. Biancheri is one of several United youngsters set to head out on loan on deadline day, following Ethan Wheatley's confirmed loan to Bradford City. James Scanlon and Jacob Devaney are also expected to secure temporary moves today, joining Swindon Town and St Mirren respectively. A common complaint about this window has been its general air of calmness: with just a few hours remaining until the deadline at 7pm, Premier League clubs have only signed 24 players for fees, scarcely more than one per club. Does that translate to a lower spend overall? The evidence is mixed. On the one hand, spending is down on a year ago. England's top 20 clubs have spent £88million (21 per cent) less on a gross basis and £152m (54 per cent) less on a net basis than in 2025. That's a clear drop in activity. Yet, in the context of history, this is still the fourth (gross) and sixth (net) highest spending winter in Premier League history. That reflects a general trend in transfer fees: they are only headed upwards. Sandro Tonali was offered to Arsenal by his agent — but there were no talks with Newcastle United and nothing will develop before Monday's transfer deadline. The Italy international's representative reached out to Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta over the 25-year-old midfielder, a player admired by Arsenal for a long period of time. Part of Berta's role is to explore such situations when they present themselves and he did so like he would any other. However, with Newcastle unwilling to do any business at this stage of the window and the theoretical asking price being far beyond Arsenal's financial capabilities the situation will not progress any further. Any discussions did not extend to club-to-club dialogue of any kind with Tonali set to remain at St James' Park. Mikel Arteta says Arsenal are “actively looking” at options following the foot injury to Mikel Merino that is set to sideline the Spain international for a considerable period. “We are on it, ” Arteta told a press conference on Monday. “It’s just the fact you want to make the right call with the right player because we really want to improve the team if we can. If not, we don’t do it. ” Aston Villa full-back Lino Sousa is in talks to join Rotherham United on loan for the remainder of the season. Sousa, who signed from Arsenal in 2024, has had loan spells away at Plymouth Argyle and Bristol Rovers, but the first six months of this season have been curtailed by injury. Having returned to fitness, the 21-year-old requires regular first-team game-time, and has received interest from clubs in League One. However, Rotherham are the most advanced in talks to sign Sousa, who has played for several of England's youth teams. Rotherham sit 20th in League One, out of the relegation zone on goal difference. The collapse of the Jean-Philippe Mateta move is not the end of the world for Milan. In its initial conception, Milan wanted Mateta for next season — the thinking being that they wouldn’t be scrambling around all summer for a striker. Niclas Fullkrug is a loan with an option. Santi Gimenez’s future was in doubt even before his surgery. The jury is still out on Christopher Nkunku who, until recently, has been an expensive flop. Mateta was theoretically a solution to the dilemma that the striker situation at the club has posed, and may continue to pose going into next summer. The focus in the off-season could have been turned to other positions. Bringing in Mateta now would perhaps have given Milan that little bit extra in the title race. The aforementioned Gimenez is out. Nkunku has been inconsistent. Christian Pulisic and Rafa Leao have both faced time on the sidelines. But Mateta was not essential. Milan, after all, are well-placed for a return to the Champions League. A striker will remain on their to-do list for the summer. As mentioned earlier, if Antoine Semenyo provided an example of how to leave a football club, Norwich City striker Josh Sargent's potential exit has been far less harmonious. Sargent, who had been voted Norwich City’s player of the season for 2024-25, was rowing with the club’s hierarchy over a transfer to MLS and had texted their head coach, telling him he would not play. That coach, Philippe Clement, had publicly insisted Sargent was not for sale, but the striker was desperate to move back to North America with Canada’s Toronto FC. Generally, players can also be guilty of poor timing. His instinct may have been impeccable in front of goal, but Jermain Defoe’s decision to ask to leave West Ham United in 2003 was a personal disaster. Defoe put in a transfer request shortly after the club had been relegated from the top flight. West Ham insisted that he stay and Defoe had to endure some frosty receptions when turning out for home games at Upton Park in the early stages of their 2003-04 Championship season, before a winter-window transfer to Tottenham Hotspur a few months later.