Transfer news LIVE: Arsenal eye reinforcements as Newcastle want Gordon and Chelsea target Onana

Pep Guardiola said he had to let Mikel Arteta leave Manchester City to manage Arsenal because he could not stand in the way of his friend and former assistant’s dreams.

The former allies meet in the FA Cup on Friday with Arteta five points ahead of Guardiola in the Premier League and with the older man calling the London club the best team in the country.

And Guardiola said that he knew Arsenal had a place in Arteta’s heart when he did not celebrate the goals City scored against the club he supported.

Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers insists all his players know where they stand ahead of the transfer deadline.

The window closes on Tuesday with Ayoze Perez, Caglar Soyuncu and Jannik Vestergaard linked with moves away.

The Foxes have signed Victor Kristiansen from FC Copenhagen for £17m this window with Rodgers still hunting new recruits.

Wolves are closing in on a deal to sign Flamengo’s Joao Gomes.

The club has agreed terms with the Brazilian midfielder over a move to Molineux, but Flamengo upped the asking price - after an initial £14m agreement - due to interest from French club Lyon who offered marginally more to sign the 21-year-old.

Lyon officials failed to persuade Gomes to move to Ligue 1 as he remained steadfast in his desire to move to the Premier League so OL are moving onto other targets.

Wolves stood their ground over the initial agreed terms and there is a confidence that they will get their man before the transfer window closes but the deal is not yet complete.

Newcastle United star Joelinton has been fined less than a week’s wages after admitting drink driving.

The 26-year-old Premier League midfielder was stopped by police who spotted his 2022-plate Mercedes G wagon on Ponteland Road, Newcastle, at around 1.20am on January 12.

The Brazilian failed a breath test which showed he had 43mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath when the legal limit is 35mg.

District Judge Paul Currer fined him £29,000 and banned him from driving for 12 months, which will be reduced to nine months if he completes a rehabilitation course.

Tottenham are close to completing a £35million deal for Sporting Lisbon defender Pedro Porro.

Spurs boss Antonio Conte wants to strengthen his wing back options but Spurs have already seen one offer of £32m turned down.

Further talks are taking place with Sporting holding out for the £40m release clause whilst Spurs have offered add-ons to get closer to his buy-out price.

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers insists all his players know where they stand ahead of the transfer deadline. Ayoze Perez, Caglar Soyuncu and Jannik Vestergaard have all been linked with moves away.

“There will be adjustments in the squad but everyone is clear from the summer what their situation is,” said the Leicester boss.

“If a senior player has to miss out (in the 25 man Premier League squad) he will have known that will have been the case or known he needed to get football elsewhere.

“We have to do what’s best for the club and the squad. We don’t need to move any out, the club are working very hard to get the right type of player we need in.

“We can get a player in, there’s no problem with that, but you have to get the right type of player in.”

New Blackpool head coach Mick McCarthy admits he did wonder whether football had “retired” him after being out of work for more than 14 months.

The 63-year-old, whose last job ended at Cardiff in October 2021, was appointed by the Seasiders last week to replace Michael Appleton with the club second-bottom in the Championship table and seeking to avoid relegation.

But McCarthy, who has managed at five other clubs as well as two spells with the Republic of Ireland, feared his time had come to an end.

Former Everton player and coach Duncan Ferguson has been appointed as head coach of Forest Green Rover.

The League One club announced the 51-year-old Scot had taken the reins in succession to Ian Burchnall, whose departure was confirmed earlier this week.

Ferguson was a fans’ favourite as a player at Goodison Park across two spells, first between 1994 and 1998 and then between 2000 and 2006. He was an FA Cup winner with the Toffees in 1995.

He served as interim Everton boss in 2019 and again in 2022, and was linked with a possible permanent role following Frank Lampard’s sacking, but this represents his first head coach position.

Wout Weghorst has become the man who keeps distinguished company. There were three of them at the end, applauding the Manchester United fans: the de facto captain Bruno Fernandes, the World Cup winner Lisandro Martinez and Weghorst, his long frame in the coat of a man who had been substituted.

He was joined on the scoresheet by Fernandes and Marcus Rashford, the form player in the Premier League. A month ago, he had been the Dutch answer to Lionel Messi, cancelling out the two-goal lead he had earned Argentina in a World Cup quarter-final, matching him by scoring a penalty in the subsequent shootout.

And in between, his previous goal had come with a motley crew of Premier League rejects, in a team with Arthur Masuaku, Cenk Tosun and Gedson Fernandes, with Dele Alli an unused substitute. For some, Weghorst had been out of sight and out of mind when on loan at Besiktas. Not for Erik ten Hag, however.

The first striker he signed for United was borrowed from a Championship club, in Burnley. The first goal he scored for them came in a cup semi-final and was greeted with clenched fists. “I just turned to the goal hoping for a rebound and it came exactly like this,” Weghorst reflected. “It was nice.”

The Athletic are reporting that Leeds striker Joe Gelhardt is closing in on a loan move to Sunderland

Sunderland expect to finalise a the move move before next week’s deadline having successfully agreed a deal with Leeds over the past 48 hours.

Numerous Championship clubs made enquiries for Gelhardt and the 20-year-old was strongly considering returning to Wigan Athletic - the club who sold him to Leeds in 2020 as part of the fire sale organised by the club’s then administrators Begbies Traynor.

Sunderland are hopeful that Gelhardt will undergo a medical tomorrow and that the paperwork will be sign in time for him to make a debut away at Millwall.

The deal with Sunderland includes no permanent option with Leeds continuing to see the England youth international as part of their longer-term future.