Day: January 30, 2018

Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has completed a loan switch to West Brom leaving former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez purple-faced.

The England attacker has been out of favour at Anfield after falling down the pecking order. His chances of playing for the Reds have not been helped by injuries, poor form and the form of Roberto Firmino.

He has been attracting the attention of some of Europe’s top sides including Sevilla and AC Milan. But he has decided to remain in the EPL.

West Brom were delighted to have sealed the move after they paid Liverpool’s 2 million pound loan fee and had him pass his medical. Alan Pardew would be hoping he can stay fit and fire them to safety this season.

Newcastle were the bookies’ favourites to sign the attacker but were not quick enough to conclude the deal allowing West Brom to steal a march on them. This is the latest episode in the Magpies bid to remain in the Premier League this season, and Rafael Benitez may resign his position if they fail to add a new attacker this month.

Sturridge last started a game for Liverpool in their 1-1 draw against Chelsea last year, but he could make his debut for West Brom at the weekend.

With the transfer market just one day away from closing, Chelsea are yet to sign a target man.

The Blues have spent the whole of this month trying to sign a new target man to help reduce the goalscoring burden on Alvaro Morata, but they have still not gotten a deal over the line.

The likes of Burnley’s Ashley Barnes, Stoke City’s Peter Crouch and Edin Dzeko of AS Roma have been their targets. They have spent the last couple of weeks trying to sign the latter but they seem to have given up on his pursuit.

The Blues have now turned their attention to Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud but Arsenal want to complete the move for Pierre Emerick Aubameyang first before allowing the French man leave. Dortmund in turn also wants to sign a replacement for Aubameyang before completing the switch.

Giroud had been targeted by Dortmund, but the French man has told the Germans he is not interested in moving away from London, clearing the way for Chelsea to sign him.

Reports this morning are now claiming that Antonio Conte would return for Tottenham’s Fernando Llorente should he fails to land Giroud.

Llorente was close to joining Chelsea last summer, but Tottenham hijacked the deal and signed him for 12 million pounds. He has since netted just 2 goals for them this season.

Swansea City have turned their attention to Liverpool winger Lazar Markovic after failing to land Nicolas Gaitan from Atletico Madrid.

Swansea were looking to add Argentina’s Gaitan to their team this month, however, the Argentine is unwilling to move to a side struggling with relegation and they have decided to turn their attention to Markovic.

Markovic has been declared surplus to requirements since Jurgen Klopp became the manager of Liverpool and the closest the Serbian came to playing this season was being named a substitute in their 1-0 loss to Leicester City in the Carabao Cup earlier in the season.

He seems to have impressed Carlos Carvahal during his loan spell at Hull City in the second half of last season. He starred for Marcos Silva’s side as they ultimately failed to escape relegation from the Premier League.

Swansea are hoping to sign him permanently, but in the event that they cannot agree on a fee, the Swans are open to a loan switch with the option of making it permanent at the end of the season.

German side Wolfsburg are also interested in taking Markovic on this month.