Transfer roundup, Jan. 9: Alexis Sanchez latest, Barcelona closes on defender

Welcome to FC Yahoo‘s daily transfer roundup, where we’ll dissect the January market, assess the credibility of gossip, and discuss the likelihood that deals come to pass. Every day, we’ll split the various links between players and clubs into four categories to sift through the BS and direct your attention to the reports that deserve it.

Here’s the transfer roundup for Tuesday, Jan. 9:

TUESDAY’S DONE DEALS

Georges-Kevin Nkoudou | Tottenham —> Burnley (loan) — Nkoudou joined Spurs on summer deadline day in 2016. At 21, and for a sensible fee, he was always going to be a bit of a project. Still, the project is taking a bit longer than perhaps Mauricio Pochettino thought. The French winger hasn’t seen much of the field in his second season in London. Now he’s off to Burnley on loan until the end of the campaign.

Moritz Bauer | Rubin Kazan —> Stoke City — Hey! Stoke did a good thing! (Probably.) It was desperate for a right back, and specifically one who can play either as a traditional fullback or a right wing back. It went to Russia to find its man. Bauer is a 25-year-old Austrian international. He’s not a big name, and we’d be lying if we said we’ve watched him play week in and week out. But at a reported $6.8 million, he’s a low-risk, medium-reward solution at a position of need.

Mark Uth | Hoffenheim —> Schalke (summer) — The 26-year-old German striker’s contract is set to expire at the end of the season. When it does, he’ll join Schalke on a four-year contract.

REPORTS

Alexis Sanchez | Arsenal —> Manchester City — Philippe Coutinho was the name that dominated headlines last week. With his move out of the way, this week belongs to Sanchez. There were a wave of reports Monday night that Man City had made progress. Now, according to Fabrizio Romano, City and Sanchez have already agreed to a contract – it’s just a matter of whether Arsenal will agree to sell Sanchez for $27 million, Man City’s price. Arsene Wenger claims there has been no approach from City for the Chilean winger, but then again, Wenger says a lot of things that are, at best, very debatable.

Yerry Mina | Palmeiras —> Barcelona — It’s a matter of when, not if. The latest report out of Spain, from Sport, says Mina, a 23-year-old Colombian center back, will arrive in Barcelona on Tuesday and could be presented as a Barca player on Wednesday. The reported fee is $13.7 million. That seems a bit low, and the timeline might be a bit aggressive, but Mina is almost certainly headed to Catalonia at some point in January.

CHATTER

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang — Yesterday, we brought you reports that Guangzhou Evergrande had agreed a deal for Aubameyang. That appears to have been nonsense, because the Chinese Super League’s rules more or less guarantee that it’s nonsense. And Guanzhou has apparently backed off.

Kepa Arrizabalaga’s Madrid move — Real Madrid appeared set to pay Arrizabalaga’s $23.8 million release clause. The player reportedly underwent a medical. According to Onda Cero, that medical might have revealed a foot problem that could prompt Madrid to wait for the summer, when it could sign the Bilbao goalkeeper for free. That approach makes a lot more sense anyway. But there have been separate reports that the talk of possible foot surgery for Arrizabalaga is not true.

Marouane Fellaini’s Manchester United future — The Sun reported that Fellaini has told Jose Mourinho he will be leaving United when his contract expires in the summer. Sky Sports reported that contract extension talks are ongoing. Both of those reports, given the sources, suggest talks are ongoing.

RUMORS

Thomas Lemar | Monaco —> Arsenal — The Mirror says a January move is possible. It’s unclear, though, how much reports of Lemar’s availability stem directly from a very vague statement from Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim that “anything can happen in January.” Don’t get your hopes up, Gunners fans.

Riyad Mahrez | Leicester City —> Arsenal — Mahrez has been erroneously linked with Liverpool over the past few days. Now there is a link to Arsenal, from French outlet Le Buteur.

Kevin Strootman | Roma —> Liverpool — Italian outlet Premium Sport claims Liverpool is interested in the 27-year-old Dutch central midfielder.

Lucas Moura | PSG —> Manchester United — This isn’t the first link between player and club, but Calciomercato says Moura has decided he wants to head to Old Trafford. However, that report is accompanied by a bunch of far-fetched rumors, and talk of deals that almost certainly aren’t happening, so take it with a large grain of salt.

Leon Bailey | Bayer Leverkusen —> Premier League — Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are all reportedly in on the 20-year-old Jamaican winger, who has thus far had a breakout season in the Bundesliga.

Nico Gaitan | Atletico Madrid —> Premier League — Per Marca in Spain, four Premier League clubs – Watford, West Ham, Southampton and Everton – are all interested in the Argentinean playmaker, who could be nearing an Atletico exit. He’s never really lived up to his billing since signing from Benfica.

Samir Nasri | Antalyaspor —> Tigres — Samir Nasri to Liga MX?!? To reignite the Nasri-to-Andre-Pierre Gignac French connection?!? Sign us up! According to both Marca and TodoMercado, Tigres are in talks with Nasri’s Turkish club.

JANUARY’S TOP DONE DEALS

Moritz Bauer | Rubin Kazan —> Stoke City ($6.8 million)
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou | Tottenham —> Burnley (loan)
Kevin Mirallas | Everton —> Olympiacos (loan)
Philippe Coutinho | Liverpool —> Barcelona ($192.5 million)
Cenk Tosun | Besiktas —> Everton ($36.5 million)
Wesley Sneijder | Nice —> Al-Gharafa (undisclosed)
Ross Barkley | Everton —> Chelsea ($20.3 million)
Marko Pjaca | Juventus —> Schalke (loan)
Konstantinos Mavropanos | PAS Giannina —> Arsenal ($2.4 million)
Terence Kongolo | Monaco —> Huddersfield Town (loan)
Virgil van Dijk | Southampton —> Liverpool ($101.4 million)
Diego Costa | Chelsea —> Atletico Madrid (€71.5 million)
Adrien Silva | Sporting CP —> Leicester City ($29.8 million)

Previous rumor roundups: Jan. 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 8

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Henry Bushnell covers global soccer, and occasionally other ball games, for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Question? Comment? Email him at henrydbushnell@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @HenryBushnell.