#transfers

#transfers

Newcastle United and Aston Villa have submitted an offer to sign the Real Madrid defender Dean Huijsen. The talented young defender recently joined Real Madrid from Bournemouth, and the Spanish club has no intention of sanctioning his departure. They will not enter into negotiations with the English clubs, and it remains to be seen whether Newcastle or Aston Villa move on to other targets.

Following words with decisive action is often a lot harder, however, in such a short and pressurised period of time, as witnessed by the fact that four clubs either sacked or lost their managers, which does not exactly speak of good planning. Finding realistic needle-moving signings is especially hard when clubs do not want to sell at this stage of a campaign, while you are eternally at the mercy of those with bigger teeth and sharper claws further up the food chain.

The Women's Super League's transfer window shuts on Tuesday - and what better way to mark the deadline than putting your knowledge to the test? Can you name the 10 players that WSL clubs have spent the most money on? Only two of them were signed in this window. You have four minutes - good luck! After more quizzes? Go to our dedicated Football Quizzes and Sports Quizzes pages and sign up for notifications to get the latest quizzes sent straight to your device.

Sky reporter Kerry Hau has posted an update on X and says he is set for talks with Barca over what happens next. "Robert Lewandowski has turned down several lucrative offers from Saudi Arabia and will see out the season with FC Barcelona. In the coming weeks, there will be talks with Barça about his future after the summer. The 37-year-old's contract expires on 30 June."

Liverpool's transfer deadline day has been dominated by the news that the club have sealed an agreement to signed 60 million defender Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes in the summer. That appears to cross off an area of need for the club, given the fact that Ibrahima Konate is into the final months of his Anfield contract, while Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk will turn 35 this summer.

Jacquet has been on the radar of several Premier League clubs after an impressive rise in Stade Rennais colours, but Liverpool's groundwork has proven decisive. The Reds are understood to have opened dialogue more than three weeks ago before ramping up negotiations in recent days, pushing to pre-agree terms and move swiftly towards completion. That decisive approach has now paid off, with Jacquet's medical scheduled to take place on Monday.

When it comes to transfer windows it's not all about the numbers - the letters are important too! Can you complete our A-Z of transfers quiz? We want to know the world's most expensive footballer for each letter of the alphabet. Which player, whose surname begins with A, cost one club more than 81m in 2022? It's time to tackle our quiz. Good luck!

Less than 36 hours earlier, during his prematch news conference, Howe had admitted to trying to sign Ekitike on more than one occasion, with Newcastle's interest in the Frenchman dating back to January 2022 when he was still a relative unknown at Ligue 1 side Stade de Reims. "He has got a bit of everything," Howe explained. "He has great movement, can score with both feet, he's good in the air and dribbles with the ball really well. He is a big talent."

With a bit of distance, Deco talks about Vitor Roque without trying to rewrite history. "From a quality standpoint, I don't think we made a mistake," Barcelona's sporting director said, pointing out that the club's idea was clear from the start: find a long-term successor to Robert Lewandowski before the clock became a problem. The issue wasn't the player's profile so much as a total mismatch in timing, according to Deco.

I really like Carlos Baleba at Brighton and think he could replace Casemiro at Manchester United, Stam told TEAMtalk. I like Frenkie de Jong a lot too, but it looks as though he'll be staying at Barcelona. Manchester United need to be looking for a replacement that has good legs and the engine to run up and down the field. They also need to be very good with the ball too. Baleba can do that.

The manager wants me to come in and play my game, take the ball up the pitch, excite people, be me, and I'm excited as I have the opportunity to play in the Championship.