Regular updates with all the transfer news as they happen through this transfer window..
Latest updates: Friday 27th January

From Manchester City: Defender NEDUM ONUOHA to Queens Park Rangers on a four-and-a-half-year deal.

From Nancy: Midfielder SAMBA DIAKITE to Queens Park Rangers on an initial loan deal. The plan is to sign the Mali international permanently in the summer for €4 million.

From Werder Bremen: Defender ANDREAS WOLF to AS Monaco for an undisclosed fee. The former Nuremberg captain only spent six months with Werder Bremen. He has signed a three year contract with Monaco.

From FC Porto: Midfielder FREDY GUARIN to Juventus for a fee of €11 million. The Colombia international helped the Portuguese club to win an impressive treble last season, including the UEFA Europa League. He moved to Portugal in 2008 from the French club Saint-Étienne.

From Everton: Midfielder DINIYAR BILYALETDINOV to Spartak Moscow for a fee of £5 million. The Russia international moved from Lokomotiv Moscow to Everton in 2009 but has struggled to make an impact in England.

From Birmingham City: Left winger JEAN BEAUSEJOUR to Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee.

From Sporting Clube de Portugal: Midfielder JOÃO CARLOS TEIXEIRA to Liverpool for a fee of £850 000. The 19 year old playmaker was impressive playing in the NextGen series and predicted to have a great future.

From AZ Alkmaar: Midfielder PONTUS WERNBLOOM to CSKA Moscow on a four-and-a-half-year deal.

From GAIS: Midfielder MERVAN CELIK to Rangers on a free transfer.

From PSV Eindhoven: Midfielder RABIU IBRAHIM to Celtic on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

From Genoa: Striker DANIJEL ALEKSIC to St Etienne on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

From Lecce: Midfielder DJAMEL MESBAH to AC Milan for an undisclosed fee.

From Leeds United: Midfielder JONATHAN HOWSON to Norwich City. The 23 year old, who is also Leeds’ captain, was sold now so that he wouldn’t go for free at the end of season when his contract expired.

From Freiburg: Striker PAPISS CISSE to Newcastle United for a fee of £10 million. The Senegal international has signed a five-and-a-half-year contract.

From FC Köln: Striker SEBASTIEN FREIS to Freiburg to replace the departing Papiss Cisse.

From Genk: Winger DANIEL PUDIL to Granada on a five-and-a-half-year deal. The Czech international will spend the rest of the season on loan to Serie A side Cesena before making his move to the Spanish club.

From Waitakere United: Striker TIM PAYNE to Blackburn Rovers on a two-and-a-half-year contract. The young New Zealander has impressed at a trial with the Premiership club and was offered a contract when he turned eighteen last week.

From Manchester City: Defender BEN MEE to Burnley on a three-and-a-half-year contract. The 22 year old already joined Burnley on loan at the start of the season.

From Luton Town: The three brothers RIO, COLE and JAY DASILVA have been signed by Chelsea’s youth academy. Rio and Cole are 12 year old twins while Jay is 13 years old.

From Sanfrecce Hiroshima: Striker TADANARI LEE to Southampton after finally having secured a work permit. The Japan international was the match winner when Japan beat Australia 1-0 in the 2011 Asian Cup final.

From Juventus: Midfielder IAGO FALQUE has signed a permanent deal with Tottenham Hotspur. The 21 year old Spaniard joined Spurs in August on a loan deal. He spent his early years in both the Real Madrid and Barcelona academies. He has featured several times in the Europa League for Spurs this season. Falque will now join Championship leaders Southampton on loan for the remainder of the season.

From Portsmouth: Left back HERMANN HREIDARSSON to Coventry City on a free transfer. The 37 year old’s contract was due to expire in the summer. Because of a recent lack of playtime he has now agreed to join a struggling Coventry on a short-term contract until the end of the season. The Iceland international, who has experienced relegation from the Premier League a record five times, is expected to retire after this season.

From Derby County: Centre back DEAN LEACOCK to Leyton Orient on a six month contract.

From Esperance Sportive de Tunis: Defender SYAM BEN YOUSSEF to Leyton Orient on a six month contract.

From Gillingham: Midfielder LUKE ROONEY to Swindon Town for an undisclosed fee.

From Real Madrid: Striker JOSE ANGEL POZO to Manchester City for €200.000. He will sign a five year deal on his 16th birthday, on March 15th. The deal could be worth as much as £5 million. There will also be clauses in the deal which allows him to move back to Real for set amounts.

From Scunthorpe United: Centre back MICHAEL NELSON to Kilmarnock on a two-and-a-half-year contract. The 31 year old has previously been an influental defender for Bury, Hartlepool and Norwich. Kilmarnock currently sits in 6th place in the Scottish Premier League.

From Viking FK: Midfielder BIRKIR BJARNASON to Standard Liège on a five year deal. The Iceland international making his move from the Norwegian Tippeligaen to the Belgian Pro League.

From Columbus Crew: Winger ROBBIE ROGERS to Leeds United. The 24 year old USA international is expected to have his work permit coming through after a succesful trial period with the English Championship club.

From Bolton Wanderers: Centre-half GARY CAHILL to Chelsea for a fee of £7 million. The 26 year old’s medical will go through today as he is signing a five year deal.

From Manchester United: Midfielder DARRON GIBSON to Everton for an undisclosed fee. The Ireland international has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal.

From Barcelona: Left back MAXWELL to Paris St Germain for a fee of €3.5 million. The 30 year old Brazilian has signed a three year deal.

From Bury: Winger MICHAEL JONES to Sheffield Wednesday. The 24 year old has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal.

From Coventry City: Striker LUKAS JUTKIEWICZ to Middlesbrough on a four-and-a-half-year deal.

From Chelsea: Striker NICOLAS ANELKA to Shanghai Shenhua on a two year contract. The 32 year old former France international has joined in the club’s bid to win the Chinese league.

Scott Parker is a midfielder who plays for English side Tottenham Hotspur and England. Parker was a graduate from The Football Association’s School of Excellence at Lilleshall before joining Charlton Athletic’s youth academy. He reached Charlton’s first team and established himself while they were a Premiership side. In the middle of the 2003/04 season Parker was, at age 23, sold to Chelsea for £10 million. That season he got his first senior England cap and was also named Young Player of the Year in English football. The following season he was struggling for a place in a strong Chelsea midfield with the likes of Makélelé, Lampard, Robben and Tiago. That season he also only got one more England cap.

In July 2005 Parker transferred to Newcastle United for a fee of £6.5 million. He quickly established himself in the team and looked likely to win a place in the England squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup but unfortunately became sick with glandular fever just a couple of months prior. The following season he was made captain for Newcastle and again he delivered consistently strong performances in the Premier League. He also won his third cap for England. At the end of the season Parker signed for West Ham for £7 million.

Parker played four years for West Ham. The first was marred by several injuries but the next three seasons had him voted Hammer of the Year by the supporters. After the 2010/11 season he was voted the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year in England. West Ham were still relegated to the Championship and on 31 August he signed for Tottenham, for a fee of £5.5 million. Parker has started the season at Tottenham in fine form and has in 2011 also finally established himself as a regular in the England team. He put on a Man of the Match performance when England beat World Champions Spain in a friendly at Wembley on November 12th.

Gervinho is a winger who plays for English side Arsenal and Côte d’Ivoire. Gervais Yao Kouassi came through the ASEC Mimosas youth academy like a string of other Ivorian talents have done. That’s also where he was given the nickname Gervinho. He turned professional at 15 with Toumodi FC before leaving the Ivory Coast for Belgium two years later. Gervinho spent three seasons with the Belgian club Beveren, the last two as part of the senior team. In 2007 he joined the French Ligue 1 side Le Mans. In November that year he also made his debut in the Côte d’Ivoire senior national team, aged 20.
In July 2009 Gervinho transferred to Lille on a three year contract. They finished the 2009/10 season in 4th place before having a great 2010/11 season winning both the league and the French Cup. Gervinho made a big contribution by scoring 18 goals and caught the attention of several European clubs. On 12 July 2011 he signed for Arsenal, for a fee of £10.7 million. He received a red card in his Premier League debut but has since then rapidly settled in as a key player for the club.

Mario Balotelli is a striker who plays for English side Manchester City and Italy.
His parents were immigrants from Ghana but they gave him up for adoption at the age of three. His Italian surname is from his adopted family and he gained his Italian citizenship when he turned 18 years old. Througout his career in Italy he has been subjected to racial abuse from fans of other teams.
In Balotelli’s early years he came through a local team in Lombardy called Lumezzane. He made his senior debut for them aged 15 and then travelled to Barcelona on a trial. That was unsuccessful and he soon returned to northern Italy. Internazionale signed the motivated teenager on loan from Lumezzane, which Inter made permanent just before he turned 17. Later that year, in December 2007, Balotelli made his Serie A debut. He soon scored for Internazionale both in Coppa Italia and in Serie A and the season ended with them winning the Serie A title. Manager Roberto Mancini was still sacked because of their early departure from the Champions League that season. Mancini was replaced by Jose Mourinho. The following season also had the young Balotelli scoring in the Champions League and with Internazionale again winning the Serie A. Balotelli was hovever having a mounting amount of disciplinary problems. Mourinho accused him for not putting effor into his training and these problems continued into the next season. Several controversial incidents led to some fans and team mates also turning against Balotelli.

In August 2010 his former coach Roberto Mancini signed Balotelli to Manchester City for a fee of £24 million. His first season in England was troubled by an injury and some lack of control of his temperament. He received two red cards during the season but also scored some important goals. Manchester City finished the season by winning the FA Cup final and Balotelli was named man of the match. He has followed this up by starting the 2011/12 season in fine form, scoring and assisting several goals.

The dust has barely settled around Luka Modric at Tottenham before they have a new problem in Rafael Van der Vaart. The Dutchman was last season’s top scorer for Spurs, with a lot of their games planned around his movement and style of play. His abilities as a finisher have never been in doubt. The price Spurs might have paid last season was less play-time for their strikers and, in the end, an acute lack of goals from them (Defoe, Pavlyuchenko and Crouch).
Van der Vaart’s influence has sometimes shown to be a bit of a double-edged sword. When things haven’t gone his way he has not held back his frustrations, earning himself bookings and being sent off – indeed he has even substituted himself off and walked straight to the changing rooms. When manager Harry Redknapp has substituted a visibly tired VDV, it has sometimes almost translated to disgust from the Dutchman. His nibbling injury problems, notably with a weak hamstring, has often been a problem. The injury problems was the reason Redknapp decided to omit Van der Vaart from Tottenham’s squad for the group stages of the Europa League. Van der Vaart spoke out in the media against that decision.

When Tottenham beat Arsenal last Sunday VDV was substituted in the 63rd minute. In the 1st half he had put his team ahead with a brilliant goal but displayed his short-comings in tracking back and helping the team to defend. To facilitate both Jermain Defoe and newly arrived loanee Emmanuel Adebayor as strikers, Redknapp had deployed VDV on the right side of the midfield. Van der Vaart has expressed before how he doesn’t prefer to play in that position. After the match Van der Vaart again decided to come out in the media and criticised Redknapp for playing him in that position and for substituting him.

Harry Redknapp has responded to the media by saying,
“Yes, it does seem to be a problem. Rafa can’t run back and chase the full-back. Against the better teams it is a problem.
“Rafa’s best position is in the middle, playing just behind the front man. The only problem is that Jermain Defoe plays there too and Jermain is playing very, very well at the moment.
“So, I guess I have got a decision to make, haven’t I? I suppose it’s now between Rafa and Jermain over who plays in the team.
“Rafa is a terrific footballer. He has great skill. But if you’re in the team and asked to do a job, really, you should just do it.”

Tottenham supporters are left to wonder why this discussion goes through the media, and where is the relationship between manager and player heading next time Van der Vaart is unhappy with a Redknapp decision.