This is the latest football transfer news and speculation from around Europe. Check back for updates as the news breaks.
Liverpool
Liverpool have moved to address their defensive injury problems by signing centre-back Steven Caulker on loan from Queens Park Rangers, the Premier League club announced on Tuesday.
“Liverpool Football Club have completed the signing of Steven Caulker on loan from Queens Park Rangers until the end of the season,” Liverpool announced on their website.
Caulker could make his debut in Wednesday’s home game against league leaders Arsenal. The 24-year-old centre-back, capped once by England, was expected to train with Liverpool for the first time on Tuesday.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp moved to bring Caulker in after hamstring injuries to Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren left him short in central defence.
However, Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho have recovered from cramp and knee problems respectively, so Caulker may be on the bench against Arsenal.
Formerly with Tottenham Hotspur, Caulker had been on loan at Southampton and appeared in the south coast club’s crushing 6-1 defeat at Liverpool’s hands in last month’s League Cup quarter-final.
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli has signed a new contract to keep him at the club until 2021.
Alli has made a huge impact since completing his £5million move from MK Dons last summer, scoring five goals in 18 Barclays Premier League appearances.
The 19-year-old has also broken into the senior England set-up and scored his first international goal in the 2-0 victory over France in November.
“We’re delighted to announce that @Dele_Alli has signed a new contract with the club which will run until 2021,” Tottenham posted on their official Twitter account.
Stoke City
Stoke have announced teenage midfielder Ollie Shenton has signed a new four-and-a-half-year deal with them.
Shenton, 18, was named the Potters’ academy player of the year last season, a campaign in which he got the two first-team run-outs he has to his name so far.
The first of those was a substitute appearance in the Capital One Cup in August 2014.
He subsequently became Stoke’s youngest Barclays Premier League player when he came off the bench in the 4-1 defeat to Manchester City in February - a game that was just two days after his mother’s funeral.
Announcing the news in a statement on their official website on Tuesday, Stoke said Shenton, now on a contract through to the summer of 2020, is “poised to gain further experience of first-team football this season with a spell out on loan”.
And club chief executive Tony Scholes said: “Anyone with any connection to Stoke City will know how highly we regard Ollie.
“Ollie has already been on our books for more than a decade and was playing for our Under-18s on a regular basis as a 15-year-old.
“He’s still learning his trade but he’s a player with huge potential and we’re delighted he has signed a long-term contract.”
Newcastle United
The Premier League club are closing in on January target Jonjo Shelvey after having a bid accepted by Swansea.
Press Association Sport understands the two clubs have reached agreement on a deal worth in the region of £12million, and the Magpies will now attempt to complete a swoop for the 23-year-old midfielder which head coach Steve McClaren hopes will add Barclays Premier League experience to his squad.
The news comes less than 24 hours after Senegal international midfielder Henri Saivet joined the club on a five and a half-year from Bordeaux for an undisclosed fee.
Shelvey’s situation has been monitored from Tyneside for some time with former boss Alan Pardew an admirer during his spell at St James’ Park.
However, they have chosen to make their move at a point when the England international is out of favour at the Liberty Stadium, where he has started only two games since November 21, the last of them Sunday’s 3-2 FA Cup third round defeat at League Two Oxford.
After that game, the former Charlton and Liverpool player became involved in a row with a disgruntled fan as he left the pitch.
Schalke
The Bundesliga club dismissed media reports on Tuesday that their talented 20-year-old attacking midfielder Leroy Sane has a buy-out clause in his contract that could allow him to move this year against their will.
Sane, whose contract runs to 2017, has been this season’s Bundesliga revelation, scoring four goals and setting up another four as his form carried him all the way to the German national team and his first senior cap last year.
He needed 31 Bundesliga matches -- including 17 this season -- to achieve this, and Schalke have repeatedly said they are not planning to release the player, who had spent six years playing for their youth teams.
“There is no buy-out clause in force for Sane, neither for this winter nor for the summer,” Schalke sports director Horst Heldt said on Twitter after media reports of a potential buy-out clause and a possible departure this year.
Germany’s best-selling Bild newspaper also reported this week he had a buy-out clause of 37 million euros ($40 million), meaning a team could offer that amount and sign the player despite his contract with Schalke.
German media have reported interest from top clubs, both in Spain and in the Premier League, for the hugely creative and quick player but Schalke have denied receiving any specific offers.
The Ruhr valley club, in sixth place this season, are under mounting pressure from their fans to hold on to the gifted player after they allowed another youth product -- Germany international and World Cup winner Julian Draxler -- to move to VfL Wolfsburg this season.
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