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Ole Gunnar Solskjær has rejected comparisons between new signing Bruno Fernandes and another famous import from Sporting CP, insisting the 25-year-old is a completely different player to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Fernandes had been linked with United since the summer transfer window, with talks between Sporting and the Red Devils resuming this January. Despite negotiations moving at a snail’s pace, the move finally got over the line with a day to spare.

However, the ​United manager has made it clear that fans shouldn’t compare the £45m man to former club legend ​Ronaldo. 

As quoted by the ​Manchester Evening News, Solskjær said: “Cristiano, he is unique. And we hope that Bruno will come in here and have a fantastic career at Man Utd. He has already given the players a boost.

“Just by meeting him they can see what type of human being he is, his personality, but to start comparing him with Cristiano is not fair on the boy.”

The 25-year-old has consistently racked up stunning numbers in Liga NOS, and had already scored eight goals and picked up seven assists in just 17 games this season.

As a result, the Norwegian admitted that Fernandes could help add a little bit of extra quality in the final third to a side who is seriously lacking in creativity. He said: “I think he is another piece in the jigsaw. I am sure he will give us that X factor that we have been missing at times this year. It’s an important piece in the puzzle that we are trying to solve.

“We bring him in to play, and we believe in him, but we are also going to give him time to find his feet and settle down with new team-mates in a new country in a new league, but of course there is one place less for the others. He will be a very important player for our squad.”

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​Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp has revealed the Reds may turn to players from their youth setup when they begin strengthening the squad next summer.

The Merseysiders have spent a total of £15m across the last two transfer windows following their Champions League success in June. That money was used in deals for Takumi Minamino, Sepp van der Berg and Harvey Elliott, while they also signed goalkeeper Adrian on a free from West Ham.

Despite their relative inactivity, the ​Reds are charging towards a maiden ​Premier League title after blitzing through the opening 24 rounds of action, Klopp’s men picking up a record 70 points from their fixtures thus far.

At a press conference ahead of Liverpool’s clash with ​Southampton at Anfield, the German was asked whether the club are interested in making any big-money buys. He replied (as quoted by the ​Daily Mail): “It’s not easy, but is it possible? We will see, we don’t know exactly.

“We just prepare potential situations, that’s how it is. We always try to strengthen and to strengthen could mean as well that we look at our own squad. Who can make the next step? Who is ready for doing that? Who will hopefully not be injured and can hopefully make the next steps as well? 

“Like [Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain] and Naby [Keita] – some little injuries here and there cost them a little bit of rhythm, but we all know about the quality of them. Curtis [Jones] came on in the last game, looked pretty promising. 

“These are talks we have, where we try to estimate the future. We believe that we can do a lot with this existing squad, that these boys can make next steps. As long as you can make the next step, you are in the right place. 

“A squad like this, to improve it easily would be really strange. It would have to be 100% the right player, or we do it internally, or we do it internally and externally. All possible.”

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For more from Ed Alexander, follow him on Twitter

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​Mikel Arteta has admitted that he was relieved to keep Arsenal’s key players at the club during the January transfer window. 

Throughout the month, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang – who is his side’s leading scorer this season – was repeatedly linked with a Gunners departure. 

Barcelona were understood to be keen on the 30-year-old, while his strike partner Alexandre Lacazette also ​received interest from Atletico Madrid, and Arteta revealed that he was pleased the deadly duo would continue to ply their trade in north London.

​”We believed we could strengthen the team a little bit in some areas, in the financial situation we have,” the Spaniard said, via the ​Mirror. “But four weeks ago I was concerned as well about some departures and we’ve been able to manage that. There were some situations we had to deal with.

“I tried to deal with them in the best possible way, with the beliefs I had and what I thought about how those players could be needed for the squad.”

As well as retaining their top performers, Arsenal also bolstered their defensive ranks with two late signings. Centre-back ​Pablo Mari has arrived from Flamengo and an agreement was reached for the signing of Southampton’s ​Cedric Soares with hours left to spare until the deadline. 

Both moves have raised a few eyebrows but Arteta insisted that he is happy to be working with both players.

“He’s a player that’s got big experience,” the Arsenal boss said of Cedric. “He’s played in different countries and he’s played in this league. He knows what it means – he’s got that desire and commitment. I started to follow him a few seasons ago and I really like what he can bring.”

The pair arrive on loan deals with an option to buy at the end of the season, a structure that Arteta suggested was necessitated by the Gunners current financial situation.

“These were the right conditions for us to try and improve the squad. We’ve done the business we could do, which is loans at the moment,” he stated. “Further on when those loans come to an end, we have to make decisions and see where we are.

“We need a plan and that plan has to start developing in the next few months, but it varies in relation to what we have in numbers, positions, financially – a lot of things.”

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For more from Matt O’Connor-Simpson, follow him on Twitter!

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One of the worst things about Manchester United (apart from the crippling lack of direction) is the fact that they end up getting linked with about 1,000 different signings every day.

Things were as bad as ever during the January transfer window. With United needing a new striker to replace Marcus Rashford, they were seemingly scouring the entire face of the planet for the right option – even if they ended up just finding loads of wrong ones.

Let’s take a look at each of the strikers to be linked with a switch to Old Trafford in the winter window.

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Erling Haaland

Just imagine how easy life would have been if ​United had just signed Haaland. The Norwegian was the primary target, but ​Borussia Dortmund swooped in and spoiled the party.

They didn’t miss out on much. It’s not like Haaland is scoring goals for fun in Germany or anything…

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Timo Werner

​Ah, back when transfer rumours made sense. Everyone wants RB Leipzig’s Werner, but nobody could get him.

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Moussa Dembélé

Lyon hitman Dembélé was also on the radar, but the French side were not playing ball. Next.​

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Odsonne Edouard

‘Dembélé was good at Celtic, who’s the guy who replaced him?’

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Raúl Jiménez

This might have worked if United actually had a brighter future than ​Wolves.

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​Mauro Icardi

Paris Saint-Germain have an option to sign Icardi permanently at the end of his loan spell, so links to Icardi were ambitious, to say the least.

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Paco Alcácer

Alcácer was available, but Villarreal seemingly did more to convince him and strike a deal.

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​Edinson Cavani

One of the biggest stories of the month turned into nothing, as ​Cavani ended up staying with PSG anyway. We’ll always have the memories.

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Luka Jović

With serious options drying up, Jović emerged as an potential avenue worth exploring, but ​Real Madrid said no.

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​Krzysztof Piątek

Like so many other teams, United were looking at Piątek of ​AC Milan, but that went out the window after Hertha Berlin won the race for his signature.

And then all hell broke loose.

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Islam Slimani 

No.

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Carlos Tevez

Oh wow no.

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Alfredo Morelos​

​United are a club with a rich history of strikers who like kicking fans in the crowd, so Morelos would have slotted in perfectly.

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Jean-Kévin Augustin

This one might have worked, had United not frantically thrown together a mental offer at the last minute to try and beat ​Leeds United to a transfer.

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​Vedat Muriqi

He’s massive and he scored against England that one time, which is nice.

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​Salomón Rondón

He’s massive and he scored in England a fair few times, which is nice.

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​Joshua King

He’s Norwegian! So is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer! ​Haaland 2.0!

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Willian José

​Tottenham weren’t going to get a deal done, so José’s agents turned to United, who felt as though they had something better up their sleeve. Stay tuned.

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Dries Mertens

​Mertens might have been available, but ​Napoli were only prepared to sell him for all the money in the entire world. Not ideal.

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​Teemu Pukki

The world’s favourite player for about five weeks, it’s probably best we forget that this even happened.

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​Danny Ings

​Ings has exploded back into relevancy this season, but ​Southampton couldn’t bare to part with their lord and saviour. 

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​Adolfo Gaich

San Lorenzo starlet Gaich actually looked to be the kind of signing which United would love to make, but this story came and went faster than ​Solskjaer’s positivity at Old Trafford.

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Odion Ighalo

​Ding ding ding, we have a winner!

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For more from Tom Gott, follow him on Twitter!

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The transfer window is done! The transfer window is done! 

Last month saw Liverpool bring in Takumi Minamino and Tottenham sign Gedson Fernandes and Steven Bergwijn, while Christian Eriksen has left for Inter and Bruno Fernandes has finally sealed a move to Old Trafford. So did Odion Ighalo. Huh. 

Consider this your one-stop shop for all the comings and goings. 

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Arsenal

IN

Pablo Mari (Flamengo) ​Loan

Cedric (Southampton) Loan

Eddie Nketiah (Leeds) Recalled From Loan

OUT

Emile Smith Rowe (Huddersfield) Loan

Tyreece John-Jules (Lincoln) Loan

Konstantinos Mavropanos (Nurnberg) Loan

James Olayinka (Northampton) Loan

Ben Sheaf (Doncaster) Loan

Deyan Iliev (Jagiellonia Bialystok) Loan

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Aston Villa

IN

Mbwana Samatta (Genk) ​£10m

Louie Barry (Barcelona) Undisclosed

Danny Drinkwater (Chelsea) ​Loan

Pepe Reina (Milan) ​Loan

Borja Baston (Swansea) Free

OUT

Jonathan Kodjia (Al Gharafa) £2.5m

Andre Green (Charlton) Loan

Lovre Kalinic (Toulouse) Loan

Easah Suliman (Vitoria) Loan

Scott Hogan (Birmingham) Loan

James Chester (Stoke) Loan

Rushian Hepburn-Murphy (Derby) Loan

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Bournemouth

IN

Sam Surridge (Swansea) Loan Ended

Kyle Taylor (Forest Green) Loan Ended

OUT

Emerson Hyndman (Atlanta United) Undisclosed

Asmir Begovic (Milan) Loan

Mikael Ndjoli (Kilmarnock) Loan

Brad Smith (Cardiff) Loan

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Brighton

IN

Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield) £5m

Tariq Lamptey (Chelsea) Undisclosed

Beram Kayal (Charlton) Loan Ended

Jurgen Locadia (Hoffenheim) Loan Ended

Jan Mlakar (Queens Park Rangers) Loan Ended

Alexis Mac Allister (Boca Juniors) Loan

OUT

Anders Dreyer (Midtjylland) Undisclosed

James Tilley (Grimsby) Undisclosed

Gaetan Bong (Nottingham Forest) Undisclosed

Tudor Baluta (ADO Den Haag) Loan

Tom McGill (Crawley) Loan

Billy Arce (LDU Quito) Loan

Max Sanders (Wimbledon) Loan

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Burnley

IN

Josh Brownhill (Bristol City) £9m

Henri Ogunby (Manchester City) Undisclosed

OUT

Nahki Wells (Bristol City) £5m

Danny Drinkwater (Chelsea) Loan Ended

Ryan Cooney (Morecambe) Loan

Christian N’Guessan (Oldham) Loan

Adam Phillips (Morecambe) Loan

Scott Wilson (Blyth Spartans) Loan

Will Harris (Warrington Town) Loan

Anthony Glennon (Grimsby) Loan

Josh Benson (Grimsby) Loan

Tunde Bayode (Curzon Ashton) Loan

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Chelsea

IN

Nathan (Atletico Mineiro) Loan Ended

Lewis Baker (Fortuna Dusseldorf) Loan Ended

OUT

Michael Hector (Fulham) Undisclosed

Tariq Lamptey (Brighton) Undisclosed

Victor Moses (Inter) ​Loan

Danny Drinkwater (Aston Villa) ​Loan

Marc Guehi (Swansea) Loan

Conor Gallagher (Swansea) Loan

Jamal Blackman (Bristol Rovers) Loan

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Crystal Palace

IN

Scott Banks (Dundee United) Undisclosed

Cenk Tosun (Everton) ​Loan

OUT

Victor Camarasa (Real Betis) Loan Ended

Sam Woods (Hamilton) Loan

Jason Lokilo (Doncaster) Loan

Connor Wickham (Sheffield Wednesday) Loan

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Everton

IN

Jarrad Branthwaite (Carlisle) £800,000

OUT

Kieran Dowell (Wigan) Loan

Callum Connolly (Fleetwood) Loan

Cenk Tosun (Crystal Palace) Loan

Antony Evans (Paderborn) Loan

Morgan Feeney (Tranmere) Loan

Lewis Gibson (Fleetwood) Loan

Jonas Lossl (Huddersfield) Loan

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Leicester

IN

Ryan Bennett (Wolves) Loan

OUT

Raul Uche (Real Valladolid) Undisclosed

Lukas Husek (Sparta Prague) Undisclosed

George Thomas (ADO Den Haag) Loan

Andy King (Huddersfield) Loan

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Blackpool) Loan

Admiral Muskwe (Swindon) Loan

Kelland Watts (Mansfield) Loan

Mitchell Clark (Port Vale) Loan

Filip Benkovic (Bristol City) Loan

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Liverpool

IN

Takumi Minamino (Red Bull Salzburg) ​£7.25m

Joe Hardy (Brentford) Undisclosed

OUT

Allan (Atletico Mineiro) ​£3.2m

Herbie Kane (Hull City) Loan

Rhian Brewster (Swansea) ​Loan

Nat Phillips (Stuttgart) ​Loan

Isaac Christie-Davies (Cercle Brugge) Loan

Daniel Atherton (Marine) Loan

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Manchester City

IN

Mix Diskerud (Ulsan Hyundai) Loan Ended

OUT

Ian Poveda (Leeds) £1m

Henri Ogunby (Burnley) Undisclosed

Lukas Nmecha (Middlesbrough) Loan

Patrick Roberts (Middlesbrough) Loan

Daniel Grimshaw (Hemel Hempstead) Loan

Angelino (RB Leipzig) ​Loan

Matt Smith (Charlton) Loan

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Manchester United​

IN

Bruno Fernandes (Sporting CP) ​Undisc​losed

Nathan Bishop (Southend) Undisclosed

Odion Ighalo (Shanghai Shenhua) Loan

OUT

Ashley Young (Inter) ​£1.5

Ethan Hamilton (Bolton) Loan

Cameron Borthwick-Jackson (Oldham) Loan

George Tanner (Salford) Loan

Alex Fojticek (Stalybridge Celtic) Loan

Max Taylor (Stalybridge Celtic) Loan

Marcos Rojo (Estudiantes) ​Loan

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Newcastle

IN

Nabil Bentaleb (Schalke) Loan

Valentino Lazaro (Inter) Loan

Danny Rose (Tottenham) Loan 

OUT

Rolando Aarons (Motherwell) Loan

Ki Sung-yueng (Released)

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Norwich​

IN

Sam McCallum (Coventry) £3.5m

Lukas Rupp (Hoffenheim) Undisclosed

Melvin Sitti (Sochaux-Montbeliard) Undisclosed

Ondrej Duda (Hertha Berlin) Loan

OUT

Dennis Srbeny (Paderborn) Undisclosed

Philip Heise (Nurnberg) Loan

Rocky Bushiri (Sint-Truiden) Loan

Carlton Morris (MK Dons) Loan

Billy Johnson (Braintree Town) Loan

Louis Thompson (MK Dons) Loan

James Husband (Blackpool) Loan

Akin Famewo (St Mirren) Loan

Louis Lomas (Tampa Bay Rowdies) Loan

Simon Power (King’s Lynn) Loan

Timi Odusina (Hartlepool) Loan

Melvin Sitti (Sochaux-Montbeliard) Loan

Sam McCallum (Coventry) Loan

Isak Thorvaldsson (Fleetwood) Loan

Anthony Spyrou (Released)

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Sheffield United

IN

Sander Berge (Genk) ​£22m

Jack Robinson (Nottingham Forest) £1m

Jack Rodwell (Unattached) Free

Richairo Zivkovic (Changchun Yatai) Loan

Panos Retsos (Bayer Leverkusen) Loan

Jake Wright (Bolton) Loan Ended

OUT

Richard Stearman (Huddersfield) Free

Tyler Smith (Rochdale) Loan

Harry Sheppeard (Steelphalt Academy) Loan

Ben Heneghan (Blackpool) Loan

Callum Robinson (West Brom) Loan

David Parkhouse (Stevenage) Loan

Kean Bryan (Bolton) Loan

Marcus Dewhurst (Carlisle) Loan

Mark Duffy (ADO Den Haag) Loan

Ravel Morrison (Middlesbrough) Loan

Jake Wright (Released)

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Southampton

IN

Kyle Walker-Peters (Tottenham) ​Loan

OUT

Harry Hamblin (Macclesfield) Free

Christoph Klarer (St Polten) Loan

Kayne Ramsay (Shrewsbury) Loan

Cedric (Arsenal) ​Loan

Maya Yoshida (Sampdoria) Loan

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Tottenham

IN

Steven Bergwijn (PSV) ​£27m

Giovani Lo Celso (Real Betis) ​£27m

Gedson Fernandes (Benfica) ​Loan With Option to Buy

OUT

Christian Eriksen (Inter) ​£17m

Paris Maghoma (Brentford) Undisclosed

Tashan Oakley-Boothe (Stoke) Undisclosed

Jack Clarke (Queens Park Rangers) Loan

Armando Shashoua (Atletico Baleares) Loan

Brandon Austin (Viborg) Loan

Kyle Walker-Peters (Southampton) Loan

Cameron Carter-Vickers (Luton) Loan

Danny Rose (Newcastle) ​Loan

Anthony Georgiou (Bolton) Loan

Kazaiah Sterling (Leyton Orient) Loan

Shilow Tracey (Macclesfield) Loan

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Watford

IN

Ignacio Pussetto (Udinese) £7m

Joao Pedro (Fluminense) Undisclosed

Jorge Segura (Atlas) Loan Ended

Filip Stuparevic (FK Pribram) Loan Ended

Adalberto Penaranda (KAS Eupen) Loan Ended

OUT

Marvin Zeegelaar (Udinese) Undisclosed

Dimitri Foulquier (Granada) Loan

Pontus Dahlberg (Emmen) Loan

Sebastian Prodl (Released)

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West Ham

IN

Jarrod Bowen (Hull City) £22m

Darren Randolph (Middlesbrough) ​Undisclosed

Tomas Soucek (Slavia Prague) ​Loan With Option to Buy

OUT

Joe Powell (Burton) Undisclosed

Martin Samuelsen (Hull City) Loan

Nathan Holland (Oxford) Loan

Conor Coventry (Lincoln) Loan

Roberto (Alaves) Loan

Dan Kemp (Stevenage) Loan

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Wolves

IN

Daniel Podence (Olympiacos) ​£17m

Leonardo Campana (Barcelona S.C) Undisclosed

Nigel Lonwijk (PSV) Undisclosed

Luke Matheson (Rochdale) Undisclosed

Enzo Loiodice (Dijon) Loan

Renat Dadashov (Pacos Ferreira) Loan Ended

OUT

Ivan Cavaleiro (Fulham) Undisclosed

Sylvain Deslandes (Arges Pitesti) Undisclosed

Patrick Cutrone (Fiorentina) Loan With Obligation to Buy

Elliot Watt (Carlisle) Loan

Rafa Mir (Huesca) Loan

Connor Ronan (Blackpool) Loan

Harry Burgoyne (Shrewsbury) Loan

Jordan Graham (GIllingham) Loan

Ryan Giles (Coventry) Loan

Ryan Bennett (Leicester) Loan

Jesus Vallejo (Granada) ​Sub-Loan

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For more from Robbie Copeland, follow him on Twitter!

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