Thank you very much for joining, especially those who shared their Football Manager signings.

The live blog will be back tomorrow to keep you up to date with the swirling rumours and the occasional done deal.

“Andri Sigþórsson in 99/00 is the correct answer,” says Ben Fornarino. “He cost low six figures and banged goals for fun in the Premier League, Serie A and in Europe.

“A man who regularly displaced prime Ronaldo O Fenômeno and dragged my Vicenza from Serie B to kings of Europe in four seasons.

“IRL, peaked at youth level for Bayern then flipped to his native Iceland with a respectable goal per 90 across his career.”

Timmy emails: “Obviously my favourite FM transfer was bringing Luka Modric back to Dinamo Zagreb to captain the club to a Champions League Quarterfinal in his Age-39 season, so when the club started advertising ‘It would make sense’ and draping the city in Modric’s name, I got extremely excited.”

“I still believe we have a chance. Maybe next year.”

In an intriguing move, Lyon’s Orel Mangala is set to join Everton on loan. The Belgian moved to France on loan in January from Nottingham Forest, making it permanent over the summer. More interestingly, Lyon’s owner John Textor is currently in talks to buy Everton.

Get your Football Daily fill right here.

“Not about FM but this is on Fifa,” says Jaivir. “Started a Blackpool career mode in Fifa 18, the team was in League One that time. Signed an Italian seventeen year old gem Emmanuel Vignato on loan from Chievo Verona Loaned him again the next year when we were in the championship And finally signed him when we reached the Premier League Rejected offers from the likes of PSG to keep hold of him, and he was there at the club till the day I was sacked.

“Following him since, he hit some hard times when he moved to Bologna and has since moved down the divisions. Is surely Serie A level?”

Ask EA Sports.

Michael emails: “Me and my uni housemates had a net game going on FM12 I think, and I signed Christian Benitez (as well as Loic Remy - which I’m sure would be a great Chelsea segue considering how that move worked out for him) and he was an absolute goal machine for my Spurs side to the point where 10 years+ later I still think about him. He unfortunately died in real life in 2013. RIP Chucho ...”

“No love for Mark Kerr?” asks James Humphries. “Absolute steal from Falkirk in CM01/02, and anchored various of my midfields for what must have been about fifty years in total.”

I am sure there is plenty bit did anyone actually follow his career?

“I signed Jelle Vossen as star striker for my all-conquering Crewe team in FM13 - imagine my delight when in 2015 he signed for Burnley, made even more enjoyable as a close friend is a Burnley fan and I was able to wax lyrical about his abilities and likelihood to fire them back to the Premier League,” explains Matt Walker.

“Unfortunately his stay in Lancashire lasted 2 months and 4 league appearances before he went back to Belgium, gutted.

“He then came back into view last year in unusual fashion, when in the news for spending five days in hospital after a flesh-eating bug was found in his bloodstream!”

From Gresty Road to flesh eating bugs.

Laoi emails: “There have been so many iterations of the game, and so many great names (Cherno Samba anyone?), but Lee Jones of Liverpool was someone I tried to sign often, and later got to meet when he managed Prestatyn. That was a drubbing by Rijeka in the Europa League.”

What a dream to meet him in person.

I was awaiting a 3pm collection of transfers to be announced the world and we got nothing. As I mentioned at the very start of the day if you have any memories of players you signed on Football Manager (or similar) and liked them so much you carefully followed their real-life careers, let me know.

Taking this from Jacob Steinberg’s story on Raheem Sterling from Monday to illustrate how many players Chelsea want to get rid of.

I am sure there are others.

Everton could move for Armando Broja if the Chelsea forward’s loan move to Ipswich cannot be revived.

Maresca has six senior ­centre‑backs but Trevoh Chalobah is out of favour and offers for Axel Disasi and Benoît Badiashile will not be automatically turned away. The head coach is looking to bring in a defender capable of fitting into his passing game. Solid interest in Chalobah is yet to materialise.

Chelsea are looking to move a host of players. Bournemouth have held talks over signing the goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, on loan. Ben Chilwell, the England left-back, has no future at the club and could be offered in any move for Sancho, who earns a reported £300,000 a week. Carney Chukwuemeka could leave and there are doubts over Ângelo Gabriel, Deivid Washington, David Datro Fofana and Cesare Casadei. Tino Anjorin is poised to join Empoli.

Nottingham Forest are really scratching around for another striker in the final few days. Santiago Gimenez has said no; Omar Marmoush is another rumoured target, according to the Telegraph. Will they end up with anyone? Do they really need another striker?

There were rumours circulating that Juventus had some interest in Jadon Sancho. Will Federico Chiesa on his way to Liverpool, could this speed up a move for the Manchester United winger?

My sort of deal: Leicester have sold Zach Booth to Dutch side Excelsior Rotterdam.

“Regarding John Clinton’s remembrance of Tom McNulty - he scored the league winning goal for Dundalk against Cork City at Turner’s Cross in April 1991,” writes Jono Collins. “It was essentially a league decider between the two teams. I was at the match as a ten-year-old with my friend Seamus (supporting Cork City) and I can still see McNulty running through on City’s goal (the ball bobbling horrendously on threadbare pitch) and coolly scoring the winner. It took Dominic West’s character in The Wire to disassociate the surname McNulty from the shattering of childhood dreams!”

RB Leipzig’s Mohamed Simakan has emerged as a potential alternative for Newcastle if they fail to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace. The French defender is also wanted by Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr, who have opened talks with Leipzig over a potential move. They want about €50m for the 24-year-old, who has previously been tracked by Arsenal and Barcelona. Palace have rejected multiple bids from Newcastle for Guehi.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Amine Adli is understood to have attracted interest from Juventus and clubs in the Premier League. The Italian side are believed to have made signing Jadon Sancho from Manchester United their priority for the end of the transfer window but could turn to Adli if they can’t complete a move for the England forward. The Morocco international scored 42 games last season, scoring 10 goals and providing 12 assists as Leverkusen won the double in Germany. Adli has held talks over extending his contract, which expires in 2026.

News from Spain where Athletic Bilbao have re-signed Unai Nunez.

The centre-back has spent the past two seasons on loan at Celta Vigo, who made the deal permanent this summer, from Athletic Bilbao but he is now back at San Mames on loan. Get it? Sure you do.

Keith has landed in my inbox to say: “My FM19 career was the last time I was able to properly dedicate myself to an alternative history, one in which Boro would be entering the Champions’ League about now (24/25), powered by the unstoppable midfield duo of Sam Field and Kasey Palmer, who I’m happy to see still lighting up the Championship (Palmer’s goal last weekend was a beauty).

“... On a tangent from the question, FM has given me a very real and unfair dislike of certain players down the years, usually because they won’t stop scoring against me. Breel Embolo and Britt Assombalonga are probably both lovely guys, but... also an apology to Scunthorpe, my FM bogey team, who I shouldn’t wish any ill will on in real life but sometimes can’t stop myself.”

“Liverpool fan here,” begins David. “I like Chiesa as a player - and certainly enjoyed the pre-injury Euro 2020(1) version of him, but I question the role he’ll play at Liverpool.

“Presumably he’ll be playing on the right - so an alternative to Salah. As Elliot is not getting minutes in the middle, I’d prefer him to be the Salah alternative, and even Ben Doak for cup teams.

“I can see a situation where Chiesa gets minutes this season, his value increases by 50% and he is sold back to Serie A - in which case, good business all round ... but from a footballing POV, I’m unsure.

“(As I am also about another goalkeeper who’s purchase seems to question Allison’s status from next year, and Kelleher’s position from here on in. Odd)"

I interviewed Alisson last week. He talked like a man who has an eye on a move to Saudi.

Hello again! Thanks Yara. Let’s hope for an afternoon of fun, frolics and football transfers.

Will is back and is ready to take you through the rest of today’s transfer news. Thanks for joining me.

Martina Piemonte has left Everton to join Lazio on a permanent transfer.

The Italian scored four goals in 24 appearances last season and leaves after one season at the club.

Yacine Adli has joined Fiorentina on an initial loan deal from AC Milan. The deal for the midfielder is a reported €2m (£1.7m) loan for the season with a €10m (£8.4m) option to buy.

How does Federico Chiesa compare to the rest of Liverpool’s frontline?

The Italian mainly plays on the right wing but has been displaced on the left and as a second striker before.

Here is how he compares to his future teammates:

Games (starts) in 2023-24 – Chiesa: 33 (25), Salah: 32 (28), Núñez: 36 (22), Díaz: 37 (32), Jota: 21 (14), Gakpo: 35 (17)

Goals in 2023-24 – Chiesa: 9, Salah: 18, Núñez: 11, Díaz: 8, Jota: 10, Gakpo: 8

Assists in 2023-24 – Chiesa: 2, Salah: 10, Núñez: 8, Díaz: 5, Jota: 3, Gakpo: 5

Progressive carries in 2023-24 – Chiesa: 111, Salah: 98, Núñez: 58, Díaz: 137, Jota: 54, Gakpo: 43

Shot-creating actions in 2023-24 – Chiesa: 117, Salah: 139, Núñez: 79, Díaz: 163, Jota: 48, Gakpo: 73

Federico Chiesa was seen arriving Turin airport ahead of his transfer to Liverpool.

He reportedly told Sky Italy journalists:

I’m ready to start this new adventure, I wanted to say goodbye to the Juventus fans.

Thank you for your affection and for these years, I will carry you in my heart and thanks to Juventus.

Is it sad to leave Juve like this? It’s sad but I’m really happy for this new adventure.

I’m really happy and my family and I can’t wait.

An email on “son of his father” AKA Federico Chiesa has come in from Kev.

I’m excited about Chiesa, but I see him as an impact player (much like the diddy dynamo that was Shaqiri). I was at Anfield for the Euro 96 game between Italy and Czech Republic, where his dad missed a sitter in front of The Kop. Hopefully, he brings his shooting boots with him.

Certainly an interesting one. Arne Slot probably needs a defender to come in but Chiesa is an exciting player that I think a lot of Liverpool fans can get behind. It will be interesting to see if he really turns out to be “low risk, high reward”.

Victor Osimhen is ready to turn down a move to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli and will wait for Chelsea to make their move before deciding on his future.

The Nigerian striker had seemed destined to join Al-Ahli after Napoli reportedly reached an agreement but the i newspaper reports that after his agent Roberto Calenda took to social media to say his client has “much more to offer in Europe”, Osimhen will wait and see if another offer for him comes in.

All eyes have been on Kylian Mbappé after the Frenchman made his big move from Paris Saint-Germain to Real Madrid. Given the nature of the high-profile transfer saga which rumbled on for years, there have already been questions about Mbappé from the media and the fans given he has yet to find the net in two LaLiga games. However the Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti, is not worried about his start.

His last goal was on 14 August. It has only been two weeks since, that is no reason to worry. Neither we are not worried as a club, nor him.

He is very happy here, delighted, sure he wants to score in the next game. So does Vinícius, who has yet to score this season and I don’t see him worried either.

Mbappé is progressing really well, I see him doing better every day, excited, motivated, training well. He is very humble. I think his adaptation is going really well.

Thanks Will and hello all! The hours are ticking by before the transfer window slams shut, as they like to say. A reminder that you can follow every transfer in Europe’s top leagues with our transfer interactives.

I am off to conjure up some lunch. Yara El-Shaboury will be here for the next hour or so.

“Good Evening from Perth, Western Australia Will,” says Chris Fenton. “Surely this has to be the most historical transfer that has ever taken place in football. Has Sir “Big Jim” Ratcliffe finally cleared out the Elephant stables as part of a major cost review Old Trafford? Are we to expect confirmation from Blackburn that they’ve signed Lucius Paullus to shore up their defence?”

It’s certainly a deal to keep an eye on …

And an exclusive from Matt Hughes on the perilous state of PGMOL finances.

Some transfer news from our man Ed Aarons.

“Slightly adjacent,” starts John Clinton, “based on our local knowledge of the League of Ireland at the time (early 90s), we flogged Roy Keane (as manager of Man Utd in Sensible World of Soccer) to fund a big money move for Basil Boli, and replaced Keane with low-cost alternative, Dundalk FC CDM hard-man and Scot, Tom McNulty. Our next result was a 1-0 win over Arsenal with McNulty sent off after 80 mins - seemed the Sensi algorithm knew every bit as much about Irish domestic football as we did!”

This is even before AI, too.

“I also used to work for Sports Interactive, I worked on Champ Man 01/02 - I’ll never forget it because we turned the TV over from the ever constant Sky Sports News to Sky News on September 11,” says Andrew Jolly.

“Part of my gig was playtesting the Brazilian Leagues. I took on Gremio cos Ronaldinho was still there. Anyway - they also had a guy called Claudio Pitbull who was an absolute beast. He was so good that I picked him for the Brazilian WC side when we did a multiplayer WC. He was terrible.

“I just googled him for the first time in a quarter of a century - this is no joke his face. The man the myth the legend the pitbull.”

Heroic.

Some enjoyment for your eyes, courtesy of Ben McAleer. Wilson Odobert has recently moved from Burnley to Spurs, so it is transfer adjacent, at least.

The word on the street is that Liverpool are closing on Federico Chiesa. The Italian has looked set to leave Juventus for most of the summer and Arne Slot is winning the race for his signature.

The forward would be an impressive addition to a frontline packed full of quality. It’s been a quiet summer at Anfield but this should get the fans interested.

We are expecting Kepa Arrizabalaga to complete his loan move from Chelsea to Bournemouth today. The Spaniard spent last season out on loan at Real Madrid and was not even close to being part of Enzo Maresca’s plans at Stamford Bridge, so his departure makes sense.

Arrizabalaga worked alongside Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola at Athletic Bilbao, so hopefully the Basque connection is strong and the goalkeeper can reach his potential.

“Oh Will,” begins Hugo Campbell. “I could talk about my FM Derby team forever - the 07-08 squad that got relegated from the Premier League with a record low points total.

“Beefed the midfield out with Belgian maestro Walter Baseggio and Polish grafter Maciej Iwanski (both in for sub £1m) who bossed it for years, Rob Earnshaw scored a min of 20 goals a season and brought in a young Axel Witsel who played at the wing back then. We got to the Uefa Cup final within four years, where we got smashed by Inter, but in my head I decided we had a bus parade anyway because we’d made the city so proud of us.”

Derby will never forget.

Wolves are closing in on a deal to sign Sam Johnstone from Palace, according to Sky Sports.

The goalkeeper, who is currently backup to Dean Henderson at Selhurst Park, will cost Wolves £10m.

“I had a summer job 10+ years ago at Football Manager,” emails Sam. “Each meeting room is named after an FM hero and their shirts adorn the walls. Not only that, they would invite them to play in their annual intra-company tournament. Apparently Tonton Zola Moukoko lacked pace, even when playing against some wheezing developers in niche third kits ...”

Poor Tonton.

“In recent versions of FM I tend to pick Parma for no real reason other than liking their kit,” says Naz. “Because of this I had a particular interest in Romania and Hungary at the Euros due to Dennis Man and Botond Balogh, the latter of which would regularly develop into a World Class Centre Back, as FM themselves put it.

“From earlier editions, I was a big fan of Bojan Djordjic, David Healy, and Ronnie Wallwork. No prizes for guessing which team I grew up supporting!”

Fun fact: I went to school with the person who stabbed Wallwork.

Dundee have signed Leicester midfielder Sammy Braybrooke on loan.

I was told a few years back that Braybrooke was the best midfielder in his age group in the country a few years back. Will be interesting to see how he does.

“There’s only one player who goes down in the annuls of CM history and that is Tonton Zola Moukoko,” says Jit. “The guy was an absolute beast on the game and took my Crystal Palace team to multiple European cups and domestic deal sweeps.
The guy was Messi and Ronaldo rolled into one, a player that even won Sweden the World Cup.
”In reality though Derby county signed him, probably based on his Champ Man ability and he faded into obscurity. Followed him ever since and even have a Palace shirt with is name on the back.”

That is commitment.

Cast your eyes over this.

Daniel Stephens pens: “Back in the days of mastering my defence first strategy, you could pick up two fellas early in 2003/4 of Championship Manager

“Colombian Jose Julian de la Cuesta was a mainstay as I headed to Champions League glory, 14 years of service for around €600,000 was the best buy of the entire game for me, either LB or DCL he was a constant MOTM winner.

“Real life? Six seasons in different levels with Cadiz, then an ACL-engineered downward spiral.

“There was also a guy from Montpellier called Julio Colombo, hard to prise him away for a couple of mill, but a solid CB for a decade.

“Real life? A solid career at Montpellier followed by an arrest for drug-trafficking...”

Both memorable, at least.

Did you know that Oasis are reuniting? Burnley sure do.

“Lukas Ambros has been my go-to signing in the last few iterations of FM Touch (yes, I play Touch on the Switch, sue me!) to help lift my beloved 1. FC Nürnberg back to 1. Bundesliga,” emails Sebastian Thümmel. “He’s only 20 years old now in real life, but in Football Manager, he would always develop beautifully and eventually move on, netting me an eight-digit sum.

“His real-life career hasn’t picked up. So far, at least. After stints at two Bundesliga youth squads, he has recently moved to Gornik Zabrze in Poland. I had actually dreamed of him transferring to Nuremberg to replace Can Uzun, but alas, nobody seems to be sharing my dream. Not yet, at least. He (and I) still have time.”

Niall B gets in touch to say: “I (an Irishman) became a fan of Wycombe Wanderers through Fifa. My friend and I played as random teams one day and ended up playing a fixture I’m not aware has ever graced real life (but was exceptionally entertaining), namely, Wycombe vs Al-Ahli (before the money, sadly, or the teams would have been a lot less evenly matched).

“We had a blast and so we replayed this fixture over and over... and over.

“We are Chairboys to this day (it being far more practical geographically than supporting a Saudi team), almost a decade later, and even have our names printed on a brick at the stadium. We’ve been to quite a few matches now and I hope to take my 1 year old to his first match soon.

“Ps shout out to Tomás Collender who is our Dublin branch’s Chairboy Chairman!”

Getting your money from computer games.

It is all change in the Manchester United midfield as Manuel Ugarte is in the UK to undergo a medical after the club agreed a deal with PSG. Meanwhile, Scott McTominay is on his way out and looks set to join Napoli.

Ed Partridge gets in touch: “Not necessarily following someone’s career, but the amount of times I’ve been to see Ipswich play, convinced a member of the opposition has played for us, only to realise I had signed them on Football Manager …”

“A few years ago I picked it up again and had fun getting Middlesbrough to the Champions League, partly driven by a core of youth team players including the keeper Connor Ripley and attacker Harry Chapman,” says Andy Moorhouse. “Fast forward to last Saturday and my disappointment of watching from the away end as Barnet took the lead against Southend from a long shot right in front of us was at least partly eased by hearing the scorer was Harry Chapman. A quick Google check confirmed it was the same guy. Obviously never hit the heights he did under me but glad he is still playing professionally.”

Never meet your heroes.

“In my football manager 2006/2007 you could sign Greg Halford for around £500k,” says Joe. “He was a Right Back and a striker. The game saw him as a defender so when he was played as a striker he was never marked for corners or free kicks so he scored an unbelievable amount of goals.

“I think he had 17/20 for pace, 18/20 for strength, 15/20 for shooting and was 6’3!”

A cunning plan.

Leicester City boss Steve Cooper is looking to add more players to his squad after breezing past Tranmere in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

One key target is the Genk winger Bilal El Khannouss, who has been linked with a move to the East Midlands. Asked about the situation with El Khannouss, Cooper said: “I’ve stayed away from everything outside of a matchday. I’m due to go and speak to the recruitment guys and see if there are any updates with players leaving or coming in so let’s see.

“As soon as the league started, I’ve been very clear about what I feel would be helpful but also very committed to working with the guys every day and they are (working hard), so too the coaching staff. There is a real togetherness. Any manager would say come the window they want to be in the strongest position possible and we are no different.

“If we are able to get where I would like us to be then brilliant, if not then the commitment and work doesn’t change, we give everything we’ve got to the players who are doing brilliant and hope to grow the team day by day.”

“It’s always, always Sharbel Touma, twice capped for Sweden, journeyman left winger in reality,” emails Graeme Neill. “For my Liverpool 99/00 team, someone I picked up for £325,000 and became a player whose goals and assists over the course of his career were akin to Messi and Ronaldo combined (and then some).
I always wondered how he was getting on every few years or so and would check out where he was. SPOILER: he was not doing as well as he did under my management.”

Did get two caps for Sweden, at least.

“Showing my age a little, but I remember signing Julius Aghahowa on Championship manager 01/02 and he turned into a world beater,” says Daniel McCreadie. “Following his real life career didn’t capture my interest for too long unfortunately.”

He had a fun if not world class career. His spell at Wigan does not live long in the memory.

Nolberto Solano has been sacked by Blyth Spartans. He managed six games in charge and failed to win a single one.

- Chiesa to Liverpool?
- Calvert-Lewin to Chelsea?
- Johnstone to Wolves?

Get all the hottest transfer goss, courtesy of the Rumour Mill.

I wonder … have you ever signed someone on Football Manager (or similar games) and followed their real-life careers on account of their performance for your team? Get in touch.

We shall start with a look back through yesterday’s Guardian transfer news …

Still plenty of fun to be had at Chelsea.

Arsenal bring in Mikel Merino.

Brighton keep on spending.

Manchester United close to Ugarte deal.

Palace to sign Nketiah.