Transfer Deadline Day Live: Arsenal Signs Nacho Monreal in Last-Ditch Effort to Shore Up Defense

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Jan 31, 2013

David VillaCheck here throughout the day, as we’ll be updating all the deadline-day action.

7:30 p.m.: Well it looks like there are no more deals in the pipeline, so we’ll leave it at that. Balotelli, Beckham, Samba, Graham and Monreal look to be the big signings of the day.

Check back with us early next week, as we’ll have analysis and opinion on some of the January transfer window moves, it’s winners and its losers.

6:45 p.m.: Earlier this week, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says showing restraint in the January transfer window fills players already at the club with confidence and belief.

A few days later, he went shopping for a new left back and landed a good one. Spanish international Nacho Monreal is on his way to the Premier League from Malaga. The 26-year-old will likely go straight into the Arsenal lineup, as regular starter Kieran Gibbs will miss three weeks with a thigh injury, and backup Andre Santos has shown himself to be a defensive liability in recent weeks.

6:15 p.m.: Highly rated goalkeeper Jack Butland has left Birmingham City for Stoke City in a £3.5 million ($5.5 million), but he’ll still play for Birmingham. Here’s how: Stoke will loan the 19-year-old stopper back to his former club where he will stay for the rest of the season.

Butland will then join the Potters in the summer. The real question is whether incumbant No. 1 Asmir Begovic will be there too. There are rumors that both Manchester United and City are looking to sign him in the offseason.

6:10 p.m.: Jermaine Jenas is heading to QPR from Tottenham to help old boss Harry Redknapp’s fight against relegation.

The 29-year-old couldn’t break into Tottenham’s team this season, so he spent a bit of time on loan at Nottingham Forest. It’s likely that Redknapp will give him every chance to cement a regular place in the QPR midfield.

6:05 p.m.: Everton has signed right fullback John Stones from Barnsley for an undisclosed transfer fee.

Stones, 18, was the rock in defense for the Championship club. The highly rated rookie will make the jump to the Premier League during his formative years.

5:30 p.m.: The deadline is fast approaching, so we should have news about late deals soon.

Meanwhile, Barcelona allowed one of its attacking players to leave. No, it’s not Villa. It’s young forward Isaac Cuenca, who will join Ajax on loan for the rest of the season. He’s only recently recovered from a serious knee injury, and he’s more likely to get regular games at the Dutch club than with a potentially all-conquering Barcelona team.

3:30 p.m.: Peter Odemwingie’s might get himself in trouble (if he hasn’t already). The West Brom striker has made it clear he wants to join QPR before the deadline, but the club doesn’t want to sell him.

Nevertheless, Odemwingie drove himself to QPR’s stadium and gave an interview with Sky Sports where he says how excited he is to start a “new chapter.” Watch it below.

Meanwhile, Sky Sports reports West Brom issued a statement saying Odemwingie has not received permission to speak to QPR, as the clubs have not agreed on a transfer fee.

“Albion have moved to clarify developments regarding Peter Odemwingie after the striker was filmed a short while ago arriving at Loftus Road.

“The club can confirm they have held further discussions with QPR today but those talks have so far proven fruitless and no agreement has been reached.

“Albion would also like to make clear that Peter has not been given permission to speak to QPR about a potential move.”

This saga is getting very strange, indeed.

3:10 p.m.: Fulham is going Dutch again … sort of. The Cottagers have landed defender Stanislav Manolev on loan from PSV Eindhoven. The Bulgarian international will grace Premier League fields for the rest of the season.

2 p.m.: Argentine champion Velez Sarsfield has signed Fernando Gago on loan from Valencia. The holding midfielder will play in his home country through June.

Gago, 26, has played for Boca Juniors, Real Madrid, AS Roma, Valencia and Argentina during his career. That pedigree will serve him well as Velez looks to win Argentine and Copa Libertadores titles in the coming months.

2 p.m.: Mohamed Sissoko for the Africa Cup of Nations as a PSG player. When he returns to club duty, he will do so as a Fiorentina player.

The Malian midfielder has joined the high-flying Italian club on loan until the end of the season. Fiorentina will have the option to buy the former Liverpool man in the summer.

1:40 p.m.: Major League Soccer is exporting talent on deadline day.

Sky Sports reports Brek Shea has been granted a work permit, clearing the way for him to sign with Stoke City. The 23-year-old reportedly cost around  £2.5 million ($4 million), which represents a good bit of business for both FC Dallas and Major League Soccer.

Also, Andy Najar has joined Anderlecht. The Belgian club paid D.C. United and MLS around $3 million, according to the Washington Post. Najar came through the D.C. United youth system and won the MLS Rookie of the Year Award in 2010.

Shea and Najar were groomed in the U.S. soccer system, became internationals with the U.S. and Honduras, respectively, and have now fetched multi-million dollar transfer fees.

12:30 p.m.: There’s been a lull in the transfer news for the last few hours. Our only guess is that this is when those last-minute deals are being hashed out. Expect a flurry of activity in the hours to come because … that’s how it always is.

We do have some more news on Beckham’s move to PSG. He is playing with the capital club for less than six months, but he hopes to be associated with it on a long-term basis.

He also told assembled journalists that PSG won’t pay him. Instead, he will donate his salary to charity, according to the BBC.

“One of the reasons I wanted to come to Paris was we decided on something quite unique,” Beckham said. “I won’t receive any salary. My salary will go to a local children’s charity. That’s one of the things we’re excited and proud to do. It’s something exciting and I’m not sure it’s been done before.”

9:15 a.m.: Danny Graham has completed a £5 million ($7.9 million) transfer to Sunderland from Swansea City. The striker lost his place in the Swansea lineup, so he’s moving on.

Graham arrives at Sunderland with some baggage. He was a boyhood fan of Newcastle — Sunderland’s bitter local rival — and fans of his new team reminded him of that on Tuesday. They booed him during Sunderland’s scoreless draw against Swansea. Maybe Graham will call Rafa Benitez for coping tips.

9 a.m.: Norwich City has been searching for a striker for some time now. It seems the Canaries got a man, Luciano Becchio from Leeds. The Argentine has scored 20 goals in all competitions this season, but it remains to be seen how he’ll fare in the Premier League spotlight.

Norwich got a man but not its man. That would be Celtic striker Gary Hooper. The Scottish club has turned down two bids from Norwich for the Englishman.

Steve Morison is headed to Leeds as part of the deal. He’s been a regular substitute at Norwich, but he should be a starter at Leeds.

8 a.m.: Fulham will have the services of midfielder Urby Emanuelson  for the rest of the season. The Dutchman joined the Cottagers on loan from AC Milan.

Emanuelson fell out of favor at the Italian club in recent months, and he’ll be hoping to benefit from a change of scenery. He’s familiar with Fulham manager Martin Jol, who coached him at Ajax in 2009-10.

7:55 a.m.: Last  February, Christopher Samba bolted from the sinking ship that was Blackburn Rovers for Russia’s Anzhi Makhachkala. Well the towering defender is back in England for another relegation fight.

He’s finalizing a £12.5 million ($19.8 million) move to Queens Park Rangers (QPR), where he’ll join Harry Redknapp’s band of brothers in what should be a wild next few months.

His presence should shore up a defense which lost Anton Ferdinand and Ryan Nelsen in recent days.

7:40 a.m.: David Beckham looks like he’s on his way to Paris Saint-Germain. The former L.A. Galaxy star and England captain has been without a club since leaving Los Angeles at the end of 2012.

He’s been training with Arsenal in recent days, but his future lies in France, according to the BBC. He’s reportedly in Paris finalizing a free transfer.

Beckham flirted with PSG following the 2011 MLS season, but he chose to play one more season with the Galaxy before heading back to Europe. He’ll join a team which is competing for domestic and European glory this season and beyond.

7:30 a.m.: One move we knew about for the last couple of days is official. Mario Balotelli is an AC Milan player, having completed a £19 million ($30 million) transfer from Manchester City.

The Italian international returns to his homeland to play for his boyhood club. He scored 30 goals in 80 games for City, but his two-and-a-half years at the club were full of antics — both on and off the field.

6 a.m. ET: David Villa has lit up Spanish and international soccer with goals for the better part of the last decade. “El Guaje” (“The Kid”) could be taking his talents to the Premier League.

Villa has let it be known that he wants to leave FC Barcelona. The club says it will keep him until the end of the season, but that won’t stop the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City from launching deadline-day transfer bids. In normal times, Villa would cost around £15 million ($23.7 million), but suitors are hoping to land him for around half of that fee during silly season.

Villa, Spain’s all-time leading scorer, is just one of the high-profile players that could switch teams Thursday. The transfer window closes, leaving clubs in Europe’s biggest leagues just a few more hours to buy or sell players in an effort to boost their fortunes this season.

We’ll be following all the transfer action right here.

Join us at 7 a.m. for all the deadline-day deals as they happen.

Past transfer rumors: Jan. 21 >> |Jan. 16 >> | Jan. 15 >> | Jan. 14 >> | Jan. 10 >> | Jan. 9 >>

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

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