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Cristiano Ronaldo has a dodgy calf and so his last, last dance with Lionel Messi is postponed indefinitely.

Messi’s Inter Miami will now face Aymeric Laporte’s Al-Nassr on Thursday evening in the Riyadh Season Cup, an exhibition event created to boost tourism in Saudi Arabia and also, more importantly, give Ronaldo and Messi “the ultimate duel”. That hasn’t gone to plan.

The first Riyadh Season Cup was “contested” between Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain and a Ronaldo-led “Riyadh Season XI” in January 2023, when PSG TV told fans to “appreciate their Goatness”. Then 90 minutes of half-pace football with the twin aims of driving engagement and not getting injured reminded us that was then, and this is now.

Nine goals were scored and not one meant anything or really mattered. This was sport stripped of its significance, an artificially created spectacle geared at entertaining rather than competing. The 2024 edition won’t even have the fading traces of the Messi-Ronaldo axis to fall back on.

How can Messi playing football feel so meaningless, so hollow, so futile? For nearly 20 years, everything he did meant something. It mattered. He mattered.

Everything was a first, then a best, then a most, then a last. As time disappeared, you increasingly treasured every moment, aware this sporting sorcery was finite.

What if we never saw that again? What if we didn’t appreciate just how fortunate we were to be allowed into the time and space and spirit of someone who could make something so fundamentally insignificant appear to supersede life itself? For a period, the very notion was unfathomable and downright disrespectful.

Now? Not so much.

We’ve said our goodbyes. There was the last game for Barcelona, the last Champions League goal, the last World Cup match. We’ll always have Qatar, but if all funerals took place repeatedly at varying intervals across a five-year period, not only would the impact markedly lessen, you’d never get anything done.

And so to Saudi Arabia, home of apathetic football played by apparently unwilling mercenaries. Messi has already played once in the Gulf this week, scoring a penalty in a 4-3 defeat to Al-Hilal. In more interesting news, he’s fully shaven for the first time in years, making him appear oddly reminiscent of Messi at his best, 91 goals in a calendar year Messi, as if perhaps he actually can stop time. Spoiler alert: he can’t.

Messi is also already the face of Visit Saudi, leading their most recent advertising campaign as he tells viewers what he loves about Saudi Arabia and to “go beyond what you think”, alongside the slogan “tourism opens minds”.

Now, Ronaldo’s absence will at least lessen the impact of this Saudi advertising campaign dressed up as a football match, but did anyone really care in the first place?

What Saudi Arabian executives fail to appreciate, either in the Pro League or in football-esque exhibitions like this one, is that you can’t recreate the tension and value of professional football without both genuine competition and the meaning behind it, the human histories, the organic emotional connection. Despite the narratives and force-fed discourse and celebrity mania shoehorned into the modern sporting universe, it is still the sport itself which sustains the whole enterprise.

As David Beckham and Inter Miami have done, you can reunite a 36-year-old Messi and 37-year-old Luis Suarez, even chuck in 35-year-old Sergio Busquets and 34-year-old Jordi Alba, but all you get is a reminder of what once was, of what we’ve lost, a vessel for nostalgia and little else.

The Riyadh Season Cup is an example of the Saudis trying to stop time, to prolong this magic so they can continue exploiting it to advertise holidays in Dammam. It’s an attempt to perform cosmetic surgery on football, to overcome the great battle against ageing, a nip here and a tuck there and Messi and Ronaldo sort of look like they always did. Except you look closer, and they don’t, and now they can’t move their eyebrows, and Ronaldo’s calves aren’t as durable as they once were.

Only two demographics really wanted to watch this post-decline iteration of Messi vs Ronaldo – children who never got to see them in their primes and those who love athletes as celebrities.

But these competitions still fail to appreciate why people love football, how and why it evokes such depth of emotion, what the nostalgia is actually for. We adored Messi and Ronaldo because they made us feel like we were privy to momentary perfection.

Now their once world-stopping rivalry boils down to memories and a Visit Saudi billboard, to the Riyadh Season Cup and a Louis Vuitton advert, hollow monuments to former greatness.

And there’s a lot more to come. Both Messi and Ronaldo are still under contract by the next Riyadh Season Cup, enough time for the last, last, last dance. The money is too good for these proxy football exhibitions not to become regular. It’s only a matter of time before Newcastle get dragged in.

The future is now, and it’s depressing, and it’s taking place at the Kingdom Stadium, Saudi Arabia.

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Liverpool 4-1 Chelsea (Jota 23′, Bradley 39′, Szoboszlai 65′, Diaz 79′ | Nkunku 71′)

ANFIELD — Meteorologists scratching their heads looking for the next storm name need look no further.

Storm Jurgen is a ferocious sight. Given extra oomph by last week’s announcement that shocked the world, Liverpool really are willing to blow the rest of the competition away in pursuit of the perfect end to the German’s breathless spell in England.

A 200th Premier League win for Jurgen Klopp – only Pep Guardiola has reached the mark in fewer games – was brought about by a truly ferocious display that Chelsea, even in their much-improved guise, had no answer to. Few could offer any resistance to the Klopp cyclone.

Darwin Nunez had five shots, two against the woodwork, inside 18 minutes, even before Diogo Jota opened the scoring, with young Conor Bradley’s relentless rise keeping the toothy Klopp supergrin set in place all match.

Nunez could even miss a penalty and not burst the Anfield bubble. The Klopp juggernaut’s last ride is one for the thrill seekers, for sure.

For a man who insists that the rest of this season is not about him, he sure mentions his imminent departure a lot, with a large portion of his programme notes dedicated to the subject.

But even without the gentle reminders from the man himself, there is going to be no escaping the impending doom north of the Wirral.

Every match has to be played the Klopp way, something to remember him by as, if the manager is going to give every last drop of energy to winning Liverpool their second Premier League title, then the least his players can do is follow suit.

The man at the centre of everything was coming from a familiar part of the pitch for a Liverpool tempo dictator, but with Trent Alexander-Arnold watching on, worriedly, from the bench, Bradley showed Chelsea what happens when you give academy graduates their chance to shine.

Firstly, he set up Jota for the Portuguese’s fourth goal in as many games, only to create a moment he and his family will never forget, arrowing a superb strike into the net six minutes before the break.

Nunez’s woes in front of goal won’t go away, however, as he, after being handed the duties by Alexis Mac Allister, arrowed against the only post he hadn’t hit yet from the spot on the stroke of half-time.

Chelsea improved marginally after the break, with another struggling forward, Mykhailo Mudryk, missing a golden chance to get his side back into it.

It mattered little, as Liverpool in this mood were always going to score again, Dominik Szoboszlai heading in the third to keep Anfield bristling, from another pinpoint Bradley cross – the Northern Irish youngster’s fifth goal contribution in his last two Liverpool appearances.

Player of the match: Conor Bradley

• Trent who? Inpenetrable defensively and a threat every time he ventures forward. A star in the making.

Christopher Nkunku’s neat finish was in vain as Luis Diaz put the icing on the cake late on to keep Liverpool out in front at the Premier League summit.

Manchester City may well do what they always do at this time of year and go on 20-game unbeaten runs in second gear, but Liverpool’s title tilt is only going to be played one way.

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Premier League football fans will be desperate for a flurry of activity on deadline day after one of the quietest January transfer windows in recent memory.

Done deals have been thin on the ground so far in 2024 but transfer news, gossip and rumours are swirling with the window nearly ready to be slammed shut.

Below we take a look at when the transfer window closes and the Premier League deals that could still get done:

When the January transfer window closes

The transfer window closes for Premier League clubs at 11pm on Thursday 1 February.

This date and time was agreed after talks with the EFL and other major leagues in Europe who also close their winter window on the first day of February.

Deadline day deals to look out for

We are not expecting a major splurge on deadline day, with many Premier League clubs scared off by the recent charges handed out to Everton, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest for alleged breaches of profit and sustainability regulations.

However, a number of clubs will be looking to wheel and deal late into the night in a bid to secure one or two key signings who could push their side on in the second half of the season.

Below is the state of play at every Premier League club, listed in alphabetical order. Read our list of done deals here for all the business completed already.

Arsenal: Restricted by PSR. Declan Rice signed for a club-record £105m in summer, a contributing factor towards their struggles to afford Ivan Toney this window. Arsenal fans won’t be holding their breath on someone walking through the door capable of swinging the title race in their favour. Linked with Amadou Onana and Victor Osimhen as well but an active summer is much more likely.

Aston Villa: Also restricted by PSR. “If we want to sign someone, we have to let one leave,” Villa boss Unai Emery said. Striker Jhon Duran linked with a move away amid reports club want Middlesbrough’s Morgan Rogers.

Bournemouth: All quiet on the south coast. Club are not expcted to sell Dominic Solanke, and despite their recent Liverpool defeat, the recent rise up the table under Andoni Iraola makes any transfer in unlikely.

Brentford: Shrewd dealers since their Championship days, Brentford have no need to sell Toney this window. Already signed Sergio Reguilon on loan and 18-year-old Turkey U21 international Yunus Emery Konak this month.

A shock return for Said Benrahma was being reported, although it now looks as though the West Ham playmaker is on his way to Lyon.

The Bees are clearly keen to spend more but their £25m move for 18-year-old Antonio Nusa from Club Brugge appears to have stalled. This is definitely one to watch on deadline day.

Brighton: After signing Valentin Barco, 19, from Boca Juniors for £8m – the next player they’ll slap a £100m pricetag on in a few years – Brighton could yet move for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Leicester before the deadline. They will then anticipate summer interest in Evan Ferguson.

Burnley: Hope striker David Datro Fofana can be their saviour up front after joining on loan from Chelsea. Clarets also linked with 21-year-old centre-back Maxime Esteve at Montpellier.

Chelsea: Restricted by PSR and facing investigation over possible breaches. Explains a January of zero incomings and willingness to sell Conor Gallagher and Armando Broja in the final days of this window. Cannot afford Toney or Ferguson but striker search could yet land them on Karim Benzema.

Crystal Palace: Among the clubs that had wanted Kalvin Phillips before he joined West Ham. No PSR concerns but current struggles speak of a club in crisis after fans made their feelings about the regime clear at Arsenal. Signing of Genk full-back Daniel Munoz and proposed move for Blackburn midfielder Adam Wharton could quell fan unrest.

Everton: No surprise Everton have had a quiet window. Likely to continue after the club were charged for a second time by the Premier League as they contest their first sanction. The Toffees want £60m for Amadou Onana and £100m for Jarrad Branthwaite, deals that could free up spending money, but are not keen to sell this month. Reportedly interested in Lyon’s Irish centre-back Jake O’Brien.

Fulham: There appear to be PSR limitations as head coach Marco Silva accepted it is “probably going to be a quiet month”. Links with Broja refuse to go away though. Chelsea want £50m but i understands Fulham value him nearer £30m. A loan deal could be the compromise.

Liverpool: Rumours of Liverpool’s interest in Atalanta midfielder Teun Koopmeiners continue to bubble away, but otherwise players of the quality Jurgen Klopp’s title-chasers are after come at a premium in January. The centre-back search is likely to heat up in the summer when they start life without Klopp, particularly after Virgil van Dijk hinted his future may also be away from Anfield.

Luton Town: The summer’s lowest spenders were never likely to go big in the mid-season window despite their survival hopes hanging in the balance. They will hope extending Andros Townsend’s deal pays off, while they will eagerly await the possible punishments Everton and Forest could face. Signed Sint-Truidense right-back Daiki Hashioka this week.

Man City: A quiet January after signing Matheus Nunes, Jeremy Doku, Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol for a combined £216m in the summer. Phillips has left on loan and Claudio Echeverri will join from River Plate in the summer, but don’t expect a big name arriving to shore up their treble aspirations.

Man Utd: The striker search continues, but anything happening this window appears unlikely. Ajax’s Brian Brobbey and Bologna’s Joshua Zirkzee have been mentioned, but with Marcus Rashford on PSG’s summer radar, Anthony Martial set to leave and Mason Greenwood expected to be sold, that could be when the Sir Jim Ratcliffe era truly starts to take shape. Links with Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise are probably a summer pursuit, too.

Newcastle: Restricted by PSR – and how. Had wanted Phillips from City but ongoing efforts to comply with regulations have resulted in Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimaraes, Sven Botman, Callum Wilson, Alexander Isak and Miguel Almiron being linked with transfers away but i understands their business is done for this window.

Nottingham Forest: Charged by the Premier League in January over alleged PSR breaches, not a single incoming so far but among the clubs said to be interested in Krasnodar striker Jhon Cordoba. Orel Mangala is tipped to leave in a £30m deal that could free up funds for the likes of Dortmund winger Gio Reyna, Sporting striker Rodrigo Ribeiro or Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah.

Sheff Utd: Ben Brereton Diaz signing on loan from Villarreal was Sheffield United’s first arrival of the window before goalkeeper Ivo Grbic and defender Sam Curtis joined as well. That could be that as the Blades target one of the league’s greatest ever escapes.

Tottenham: Steady on, Spurs! Timo Werner on loan from RB Leipzig and Radu Dragusin for £26.7m from Genoa. Offloading a number of players on loan, including Eric Dier, has helped too, and they may be open to more departures. Notably, the £26.7m spent of Dragusin could be the league’s most-expensive signing this month, a year on from Chelsea paying £106.8m for Enzo Fernandez. Nusa had been linked but he could move to Brentford instead, where there is more chances of game time. Gallagher from Chelsea is another being tipped to move to north London.

West Ham: Signed Phillips on loan and West Ham appear to be trying for more. Linked with Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran, Al Ittihad’s Jota and Nordsjaelland’s Ibrahim Osman, the Hammers could yet sell Benrahma as well.

Wolves: Another club restricted by PSR – hence Julen Lopetegui’s summer exit – Wolves are another Premier League club with a blank next to incomings. Again, another club linked with Chelsea’s Broja.

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It is reasonable to assume that at the start of this month only Football Manager addicts, Wyscout watchers and hipsters with more than a passing interest in Club Brugge would have known much about Antonio Nusa.

But by the end of it, the 18-year-old has become one of the most talked about footballers in Europe with electrifying highlight reels, a transfer hijack involving two Premier League clubs and a failed medical providing flashes of excitement in an otherwise dreary January transfer window.

Nusa’s name began to populate gossip columns when he was strongly linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur, before Brentford gazumped their local rivals by offering him a quicker route into their first-team. Perhaps assurances were given that he would be a pivotal player in a post-Ivan Toney rebuild in west London.

The Bees agreed to pay Club Brugge £25.6m up front for the Norway international with additional clauses potentially taking that figure up to £31.5m. It looked like a significant coup considering Europe’s biggest and wealthiest clubs have tracked Nusa’s progress ever since he broke through at Norwegian club Stabaek in 2021.

However, just when it was assumed that all was progressing as expected, reports emerged on Monday night detailing issues with Nusa’s medical, specifically regarding his knee.

Ola Sand, the doctor of the Norwegian national team, has moved to play down concerns over the issue, although acknowledged that he hasn’t seen Nusa since the October international break.

“Antonio is a young guy,” he said, via Belgian outlet HLN. “They occasionally have growth-related pain in the knees that then disappear. We have had no problems with it.”

From being the subject of a Premier League tug-of-war, Nusa now looks more likely to see out the campaign in Brugges with his long-term future now up in the air.

It would be a shame if this saga derailed a burgeoning career that has been on a rapid upward trajectory for a talented teenager who has generated plenty of excitement.

Gaute Nilsen oversees youth development at Stabaek and played an important role in Nusa’s development from the age of 14 until his departure to Club Brugge at 16 in 2021.

He recalls the time that a then 14-year-old Nusa caught the attention of one of Jose Mourinho’s Treble-winning titans at Inter Milan.

“We were in a tournament in Italy and playing against Inter and their coach Christian Chivu, who played as a left-back for Mourinho,” he tells i.

“We played a draw, a very good result for Stabaek, and after when the players were sitting in the dressing room there was a knock on the door. He came in and said that we played very well, especially the No 10 who was Antonio Nusa. Then he went to him and shook his hand and said ‘you had a really good game’. He could see his potential.”

Nilsen recommended Nusa to Stabaek’s first-team management not long after and unwittingly became his personal chauffer while Norway was under strict Covid restrictions, picking him up from his family home in east Oslo and driving a 40-minute journey to the training ground on the other side of the city every day.

“I thought it was just for two weeks!” Nilsen laughs. “When he was 15 I told the first-team coach Jan Jonsson that I had a player who had to train with the first-team. He said ‘ok we can give him two weeks to let him have some reference about what the level is’.

“He trained for two weeks and was doing so well and adapted to the level so easily that the first-team coach said ‘I want to him to stay in the first-team’.”

Nusa’s impact in senior football was immediate. He made his first-team debut as a substitute against Rosenborg in May 2021 just six weeks after his 16th birthday and after three cameo appearances he was trusted to start.

“He came on against Bodo/Glimt away [in his third match] and scored a fantastic goal,” Nilsen recalls. “And in the game after he started against Viking away and he scored two goals and had one assist. Then interest in him from many clubs exploded.”

Explosive is a fitting adjective to describe a teenage prodigy who quickens the pace of a game when he has the ball at his feet. In the era of the inside forward, Nusa is a precious commodity: a winger who can beat his full-back through both speed and skill, tearing past them by the touchline or dribbling around them on the inside. An unpredictable, potent mix of pace and poise.

Nilsen quickly realised that Stabaek had a potential superstar on their hands. He had the same feeling at his previous club Bryne when he came across a gangly kid called Erling Haaland. Nilsen was Bryne’s manager and gave Haaland his senior debut when he was only 15.

Player development is not linear and talented youngsters develop at different times, as England’s top two goalscorers prove. Wayne Rooney was an overnight sensation while Harry Kane was a late bloomer. Still, it is notable that Nilsen was more confident in Nusa’s potential than he was of Haaland given what the City striker has gone on to achieve.

“I’ve been a professional trainer for 30 years and trained a lot of talent but I have not seen as big a talent when he was 14 or 15 than Antonio,” he says.

“I told a Norwegian newspaper that before and they said to me ‘but you also trained Erling Haaland?’ and then he won the Treble with City! Erling has developed a lot but when they were both 14 or 15 years old I think Antonio was a bigger talent. But they have different roles on the field, Erling is a goalscorer, Antonio is more a dribbler.”

Similarly to Haaland, who has been an international teammate since August last year, Nusa’s career path has been carefully curated.

That he was willing to spurn interest from Spurs and Chelsea in order to join Brentford instead indicates that he was willing to take more incremental steps to the top, rather than going straight to the top of the ladder and risk sliding back down a giant snake.

“His father Alfie and his agent have chosen the right path for Erling all the time,” Nilsen says. “He went from Bryne in the second level to Molde which is a top team in Norway, then to Salzburg the best club in Austria but not the biggest football country and then he had offers from England and Spain but chose Dortmund, a big club but not one of the top five in Europe and then to City. So he has been building his career very well with the right level for his age and experience and I think Antonio is doing the same.

“It is important that the next club after Club Brugge has confidence in you as a player and play the football that you fit into and also that you get the experience of playing a lot. I know Antonio is very clever and also has his agent and people around him who are aware of everything.

“There are a lot of Danish players and a manager [at Brentford] and [Norway international] Kristoffer Ajer. I think it will be a nice place for him to go to.”

If as seems likely, Nusa’s move to England is denied, he will need warm words and sage advice now more than ever. Hopefully, in time this denial of dreams will prove to be little more than a speedbump on his route to the top of the mountain.

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Aston Villa 1-3 Newcastle (Watkins 71′ | Schar 32′, 36′, Moreno 52′ OG)

VILLA PARK — It certainly wasn’t for want of trying. Fabian Schar had attempted 73 shots on goal in the 18 months since his previous Premier League strike before two goals flew in from two efforts in the space of four first-half minutes to stun Aston Villa.

Newcastle United’s unlikely goal-scorer keeping Eddie Howe’s side in with an unlikely shot at top four and successive seasons qualifying for the Champions League, leaving Aston Villa manager Unai Emery with a job on his hands to calm twitchy form that could soon see them vacate fourth.

They were fine two goals, too, the centre-back scoring with strikes worthy of any seasoned forward. And it’s probably just as well after Alexander Isak limped off in the first half leaving Newcastle with no fit strikers and little time – nor resources – remaining to do business in the transfer window.

Schar’s first was a volley direct from Kieran Trippier’s corner, although how he was afforded so much freedom to score in such a way on the edge of Villa’s six-yard box did not reflect well on the home side’s defending.

Trippier swung in the delivery and it was allowed to drop almost to the turf before Schar’s boot swept it into the right of Emiliano Martinez’s goal.

Ezri Konsa appeared to be the player responsible for letting Schar go, but there were a few heated words shared between Villa’s players while Newcastle celebrated.

It was a deserved lead for Newcastle, so poor on their travels this season but playing so well at Villa Park before they took the lead. And they added to it on 36 minutes.

Another Trippier corner, this one was actually cleared by Villa but from the edge of the penalty area Anthony Gordon struck another fine volley that was deflected onto the underside of the crossbar. Martinez, who had leapt to make a save, was on the floor and poacher Schar had stayed onside and knocked the rebound past him.

Gordon was another bright spark in a sparkling Newcastle show. One moment dancing around a few Villa players inside the penalty area before seeing a low shot blocked by Martinez. The next, cutting inside and having another effort deflected over.

It was his driving dribble through the middle to the edge of Villa’s area that launched Newcastle’s third goal, soon after the break.

Gordon played Miguel Almiron, who had come on for Isak, down the left, and his low cross found Jacob Murphy at the back post. Murphy mucked up his shot but it was turned in by Alex Moreno anyway – the Villa player not only scoring an own goal but colliding painfully with the post due to his efforts to get back.

Player of the match: Fabian Schar

• two excellent, unexpected goals from the defender won what should have been a tougher game for Newcastle. 

Villa Park had seemed strangely tense and nervous even before the first goal, the loud Newcastle travelling contingent chanting teasingly about libraries and silence, and the Villa fans being not very good (they used some spicier descriptions).

The tension was unusual because Newcastle had been on a run of four straight Premier League defeats and had won only once away from home in the league all season, making the nature of the victory even more surprising.

Villa did manage to pull one back via a swift, direct move with 20 minutes remaining. Leon Bailey ran onto a ball over the top and whipped the ball across and Ollie Watkins did well to turn it past Martin Dubravka.

An unlikely comeback hung momentarily in the balance when Watkins scored again 90 seconds later before VAR confirmed what most people were thinking: that the goal was offside.

Still, with defenders scoring doubles and Newcastle winning comfortably away from home, unlikelier things had happened that evening.

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Nott’m Forest 1-2 Arsenal (Awoniyi 89′ | Jesus 65′, Saka 72′)

CITY GROUND — There were times, until Gabriel Jesus punctured Nottingham Forest’s resistance midway through the second-half, when Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta must have felt tempted to utilise the mobile trailer parked outside the City Ground offering passers-by free blood pressure checks.

A further goal from Bukayo Saka made sure of the victory his side required to move within two points of Premier League leaders Liverpool and cement their grip on second place.

But the result could not disguise Arsenal’s need for a commanding centre-forward as they made much harder work of prising Forest apart than should really have been the case given that they spent much of the night playing keep ball around their opponents’ box.

It was telling that, for all of Arsenal’s elaborate work and intricate exchanges, that the breakthroughs they engineered came via a throw-in and a mistake by the hosts, who saw substitute Taiwo Awoniyi give them hope of snatching a draw with a late consolation on his return from injury.

Nuno Espirito Santo is adept at making things difficult for Arsenal, having lost only one of his matches against them whilst in charge of Wolverhampton Wanderers. He has proven equally accomplished when it comes to unlocking Chris Wood’s potential, with the often maligned New Zealander scoring six goals in his first seven appearances since the Portuguese’s appointment.

Wood’s opportunities proved limited though and he was withdrawn at the break with Awoniyi introduced. The Nigerian’s presence changed the fixture’s dynamic, with his mobility ensuring Nuno’s men posed a greater threat on the break. Awoniyi’s physical power also allowed him to deny David Raya a clean sheet as Nuno’s men chased the equaliser which would have eased their relegation fears.

The early part of the contest followed a predictable pattern. Arsenal passed and probed. Forest chased and hustled, refusing to be teased out of position despite the best efforts of their opponents.

The hosts produced several moments of invention, with most coming courtesy of Morgan Gibbs-White’s pristine white boots. But for the most part, Forest were content to frustrate and contain. It was a ploy which worked well until Jesus and Saka struck, with Emile Smith Rowe limited to a couple of half chances after being challenged by Arteta to exert greater influence over games.

One passage of play just before the interval highlighted the trap Arsenal had been set. Martin Odegaard burst forward, piercing a hole in Forest’s lines, before feeding Jesus. A couple of clever touches later, the ball found its way towards Ben White.

Rather than shoot, the defender chose to consider the options which surrounded him instead. As White pondered, Forest recovered and the window to test Matt Turner was gone. Despite returning a possession percentage of more than 80 percent during the first-half, Arsenal mustered just one effort – a header from Jesus – on target.

Player of the match: Gabriel Jesus

• Scored one and claimed an assist to ensure Arsenal’s possession eventually paid dividends

Saka was responsible for their second, when Turner did well to palm away a low shot which seemed destined for the bottom corner of his net.

As Forest became increasingly anxious, Jesus struck the near post after combining well with Martin Odegaard. Arsenal’s momentum eventually told when Turner allowed Jesus’ low drive to sneak between his legs straight from Oleksandr Zinchenko’s throw-in before another lapse, this time by Gonzalo Montiel, allowed them to build the move which ended with Saka producing the angled finish which appeared to have ended Forest’s hopes until Awoniyi converted at the death.

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In the end, it looks like caution has won out.

As the chances of Miguel Almiron moving to Saudi Arabia for £30m evaporated at the start of this week, so too did Newcastle United’s hopes of brokering deals for any one of the 10 or so midfield targets they identified during January.

There were good players on that list – one or two “game-changers” according to sources who spoke to i – but never really the conviction that Newcastle would be in the market for any of them.

Even as far back as 1 January the noises were that it would be a quiet window, with sources telling i after the Liverpool defeat a deal for Kalvin Phillips was looking like a distant prospect.

The Almiron saga sums up Newcastle’s month. There was interest from Saudi Pro League side Al Shabab but the problem was that Almiron, settled in the north-East with his young family, wasn’t ever sold on the transfer and didn’t want the upheaval of a mid-season move. With Eddie Howe reassuring him that he remained central to his plans for the rest of the season, the die was cast long before Monday night’s Saudi transfer deadline expired without a deal being agreed.

There is always time for a late transfer to turn things on their head – this is the club that went from Andy Carroll being “unsellable” to a £35m move to Liverpool being agreed in 24 hours in 2011 – and a sale would give them the chance to invest and re-energise their squad. But no-one at Newcastle seems to think that is the direction of travel with less than 48 hours of the transfer window remaining.

There was a way for Newcastle to trade this month but it would have involved a lot of risk. Had they cashed in on Callum Wilson or Kieran Trippier – who had a credible but skinny bid from Bayern Munich to consider – or even listened to offers for Joelinton or Joe Willock there were upgrades in other areas of the pitch available to Newcastle.

But Howe baulked at the prospect of losing some of those players and had enough support from the board for that stance. It’s questionable whether this curiously flat January market was the time to extract value anyway, but one club who had contact with Newcastle this month described them as not fully convincing that they were committed buyers or sellers.

Their approach to Phillips, a midfielder Howe desperately wanted to add, was typical. The player was open to a move but Manchester City’s loan demands were considered too steep and Newcastle – in common with most of the Premier League – had one eye on their Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) limit.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford £6m for five months of Phillips, it was that they didn’t think the impact on their PSR bottom line was worth it.

“We had to step away from that one for financial reasons,” Howe admitted on Friday.

It is understood that Newcastle’s hierarchy also thought the imminent return of Elliot Anderson and Willock – plus their long-term faith in Lewis Miley, who signed a new “long-term” deal on Monday – made a deal less than attractive.

Eventually, they will need to be bolder or stagnate. Hard decisions have been side-stepped this month but they cannot be put off forever and much of Newcastle’s planning now has to focus on how they confront the challenges of trying to grow in the PSR era while also keeping the dressing room happy.

For Howe, keeping ambitious paymasters happy will become an increasing factor next season. He is acutely aware the understanding he has encountered this year doesn’t last forever.

It is a big summer with sizeable recruitment calls coming down the tracks for Newcastle. To name a few: Bruno Guimaraes’ future, Joelinton’s new contract, how to upgrade on Almiron and freshening up the forward line. Throw in the lingering uncertainty around Dan Ashworth, which will continue until Manchester United make a director of football call, and it feels like a big few months ahead on Tyneside if Newcastle are to challenge for Champions League qualification again next season.

The future will surely entail some contentious calls for Howe and some discomfort for Newcastle fans, but then January’s caution is simply not a viable option in the future.

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Tottenham Hotspur are once more linked with a late swoop for England midfielder Conor Gallagher, this time in January.

Gallagher has been one of Chelsea’s best players this season, largely overshadowing the £215m midfield pair of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, but has been for sale in the last three transfer windows.

Gallagher, who has been at Cobham since he was eight, only has 18 months left on his contract and there appears to be no sign of agreement with the club on an extension.

Alongside this, any money raised through Gallagher’s sale would count as “pure profit” in Financial Fair Play (FFP) terms on Chelsea’s books, which could be important given i predicts they need to sell £100m worth of players to comply with Premier League regulations next season.

There are reportedly two obstacles in the way of Gallagher’s Spurs move – the player is happy at Chelsea and Tottenham would first need to sell Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

But Spurs are still expected to push for Gallagher’s signature and Chelsea are reportedly happy to let him go for the right price.

How would Conor Gallagher fit in at Spurs?

In a nutshell, well. One of the key tenets of Ange Postecoglou’s attacking brand of football is winning the ball high up the pitch, and there are few better at that than Gallagher.

Gallagher has won the third-most tackles in the midfield third and won possession more times in the final third than any other player in the Premier League this season.

In fact, Gallagher is sixth in the league for tackles and interceptions behind, one behind Spurs right-back Pedro Porro. Destiny Udogie and Yves Bissouma are 12th and 13th respectively.

This shows Gallagher fits Postecoglou’s proactive style off the ball – in fact Gallagher largely has a similar statistical profile to Bissouma.

Gallagher is also in the top 20 for touches in both the final and middle thirds of the pitch in the league, as well as among the top 30 players for total distance carrying the ball this season. He has completed the 23rd-most passes in the Premier League and has a take-on success percentage of 66.7 per cent, nearly seven per cent higher than Spurs’ most effective dribbler – Bissouma. Essentially, he has been doing a lot very well.

How could Spurs line up with Conor Gallagher?

Spurs’ current best midfield pair is Rodrigo Bentancur and Bissouma, but due to injury, these two have not started a game together this season. Both Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr, who had played in all but two of Spurs’ games in the first half of this season, are currently at Afcon, although Sarr’s Senegal were knocked out last night.

Injury crises across the pitch have left Spurs short on quality and quantity at points this season and Gallagher would provide both a week-in, week-out starting option and much-needed squad depth.

Gallagher would provide a rotation option for the fit-again James Maddison in attacking midfield, although they are very different players. Maddison is at his best on the ball, Gallagher off it.

Although Bentancur would probably be his most natural partner in central midfield, Gallagher is versatile enough to work well with both Bissouma and Sarr, giving Tottenham one of the Premier League’s strongest midfield units if he signed. Gallagher is at his best in more advanced midfield positions as he struggles when receiving the ball facing goal, so working alongside someone more deep-lying, like Bentancur, would be ideal.

There are two obvious ways in which Tottenham could use Gallagher. The first is in a pairing with Bentancur, allowing the attacking axis of Kulusevski-Maddison-Son-Richarlison to continue undisturbed when all are available.

The second is in the No 10 position, pushing Maddison out to the left and allowing Heung-min Son to play as a lone striker. This could also function as a midfield three, alongside Bentancur and Bissouma, with Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski on either wing.

It is also possible that Gallagher would not instantly break into what is an established Spurs starting XI when all players are available. While it’s not a role he would relish, he has all the requisite qualities to be an effective super-sub in this Postecoglou side.

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Paris Saint-Germain are considering rekindling their interest in Marcus Rashford this summer, testing the struggling striker’s commitment to Manchester United.

United currently have no plans to sell the academy graduate despite Rashford’s recent indiscipline that saw him declare himself too ill to train last Friday after having left a Belfast nightclub only a few hours earlier, while sources close to the player are adamant he is not looking elsewhere.

The Ligue 1 champions failed in an attempt to lure the 26-year-old to the French capital last summer before Rashford signed a lucrative new deal, but while they not making a purchase “top of the agenda”, according to club sources, another insider based in the city insists PSG are tempted to return with a fresh offer at the end of the season.

A waitress told The Sun that Rashford went on a 12-hour tequila drinking spree while in Belfast, before then missing training on Friday morning, having only just arrived back in Manchester.

The latest misdemeanour comes just three months after Rashford was out until the early hours after the 3-0 defeat by Manchester City in October despite United having training that morning. Erik ten Hag, at the time, labelled Rashford’s conduct “unacceptable”.

Rashford, along with his agent and brother, Dwaine Maynard, attended a meeting at United’s Carrington training base on Monday, together with Sir Dave Brailsford, who is conducting an audit of the club as Ineo’s 25 per cent stake is ratified, and current football director John Murtough.

Brailsford accompanied Murtough to the dressing room following United’s 4-2 FA Cup win at League Two side Newport County on Sunday, with insiders telling i that the crux of the discussion was to reiterate the standards Ineos plan to put in place when they take charge of football operations.

After overseeing a major structural overhaul of the club, Ineos’ next priority is to begin offloading unwanted players within the ranks to boost the transfer war chest needed to bring about on-field improvements at Old Trafford.

Given that, in the eyes of Financial Fair Play regulators, cashing in on academy graduates can be regarded as 100 per cent profit, several players who have come through the youth ranks could be moved on, with Mason Greenwood one of those set to depart.

Rashford is another who could really tip the balance sheet in United’s favour. He may have to improve his goal return, currently standing at four in all competitions, between now and the end of the season to win more suitors, but PSG are longstanding admirers and may have a Kylian Mbappe-shaped hole to fill, with the French superstar tipped to head to Real Madrid in the coming months.

Mbappe’s potential departure, club sources insist, will bring about a change of approach in the transfer market, moving away from signing big names based on their reputation alone – the Neymar, Sergio Ramos and Lionel Messi-type acquisitions – and bringing in younger, hungrier players.

However, should Rashford be available at the right price and Ineos decide to quickly rid themselves of a figure who is becoming more and more disruptive, returning for another attempt to give the England international a fresh start could be impossible to resist.

There are few who doubt Rashford has the talent to succeed – his 30-goal haul last season is testament to his abilities. A new home, away from his boyhood club, could be just what he needs to start to fulfil his potential on a more regular basis.

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Everton’s appeal against the 10-point deduction given to them by the Premier League for breaching profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) between 2019-2022 will reportedly be heard this week.

The appeal hearing will begin on Wednesday 31 January and end on Friday 2 February, with a final decision expected by the middle of February, according to Sky Sports.

Everton were punished for breaching PSR in the period 2019-2022 but they have maintained their innocence throughout the process.

They are currently 17th in the Premier League despite their 10-point deduction and visit Fulham this evening. They would currently be 12th in the table in their appeal was successful.

Everton, along with Nottingham Forest, have also been charged with a PSR breach for the period 2019-2023.

As a result of new rules introduced by the Premier League this season, their new case will be heard and resolved, including any appeal, within three months, meaning they could face further points deductions this season.

Fans have pointed out that, due to Covid-19 meaning the 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years being annexed into one year, any potential further punishment

Everton’s Fan Advisory Board (FAB) have also put forward their own 25-page witness statement to the appeal.

Dave Kelly, chair of the FAB, recently told i: “I’m very quickly falling out of love with the beautiful game this season. I’m actually finding it difficult to motivate myself to go to games. The game has evolved so much over the last couple of years and not for the better.

“The best thing Everton could sign this January would be a top-notch barrister, or top-notch accountant. Football shouldn’t be about spreadsheets, it should be about teamsheets.

“The problem with the enforcement of PSR is they’re not open and they’re not transparent. Nobody understands them. We don’t know the rules of engagement because they don’t exist. That’s going to end up disenfranchising so many people. It’s a lose-lose situation.”

The Premier League have been approached for comment and Everton have declined to comment.

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In many ways, it makes sense. Karim Benzema wants temporary refuge from his hollow existence as an overpaid and under-supported Saudi Arabian show pony and Chelsea wouldn’t mind a former Ballon d’Or-winning striker.

Rumours of a six-month loan move to bridge the gap between now and a potential summer assault for Ivan Toney or Victor Osimhen appear logical, as do reports Benzema has found the transition from Madrid to Jeddah somewhat uncomfortable.

Yet Chelsea granting Benzema asylum would be a reversion to the celebrity-driven myopia of the Roman Abramovich era. It’s not that it didn’t work as a philosophy at the time, it’s that it clearly isn’t the plan now.

Todd Boehly and co have almost exclusively bought players below the age of 25 on contracts as long as eight-and-a-half years. Of course, older heads are eventually going to be needed in the interest of experience and leadership and balance, but does Benzema provide those, even in the short term?

Yes, Benzema is Real Madrid’s second-highest goalscorer ever, just two years from winning football’s greatest individual prize. But he is also a famously complex character – and that’s a euphemism doing some heavy lifting.

Benzema spent nearly six years out of the France squad for his role in a sex-tape blackmail plot. He also went to trial for soliciting a 16-year-old prostitute, and was found not guilty because he didn’t know she was 16.

Even as a teammate, in March 2020 he called himself “Formula 1”, while France’s all-time top goalscorer Olivier Giroud was “karting”, before stropping off after picking up an injury before the 2022 World Cup.

He now appears to be agitating to leave Saudi Arabia six months after becoming one of the league’s new faces, on one of the largest contracts ever offered to a footballer.

Is this the kind of footballer or man Chelsea want providing an example to their impressionable and volatile, not to mention valuable, young squad? Benzema is a name and personality that would consume everything at Chelsea, dominate the headlines and attention and discourse constantly.

This could be hugely disruptive to Mauricio Pochettino’s young squad. While their away form is still patchy to poor, Chelsea are now unbeaten in 11 home games, including winning their last seven. They have breached the top half of the Premier League and reached the final of the Carabao Cup.

This is progress, but it’s fragile. Their previously disparate assortment of current and recent teenagers are beginning to coagulate into something coherent, to develop the necessary relationships to at least look like a cohesive unit. Benzema’s arrival could swing a sledgehammer through this progress.

And what of Nicolas Jackson, Chelsea’s supposed pet project up top? Jackson has an eight-year contract. He’s here for the long-haul.

Yet signing Benzema would be a very public announcement that they don’t trust him, that he’s not good enough, that they don’t even think he can hold the fort until a viable alternative is available in the summer.

Other rumoured names Callum Wilson or Jhon Duran would be signings to both compete with and support Jackson. Benzema would only come to Stamford Bridge with the promise of a starting berth. For six months, the circus would come to town, then it would head back to Saudi Arabia.

And what’s the upside of a potential Benzema move? Is it really more likely to push Chelsea past Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final? Is it more likely to secure Pochettino a place in the Europa Conference League? If they got there, would fans and players even respect Europe’s third tier?

Maybe there would be a few goals in the short term, but remember Radamel Falcao (10 games, one goal)? Gonzalo Higuain (18 games, five goals)? Andriy Shevchenko (77 games, 22 goals)? We’ve seen this one before.

But if, as is now said repeatedly around Chelsea, this is a long-term project, then why disrupt that with a short-term hire which would also shatter the wage structure Boehly has worked so hard to lower? Only four players at the club now earn £200,000 or more – there’s every chance Benzema would expect double that.

Signing Benzema would be a sad return to the old Chelsea, a jarring launch from the current extreme to the former. While the club’s current transfer philosophy has its flaws, there is a plan they believe in and it appears to be bearing fruit. If you’re going to spend a season telling fans to trust the process, at least show you trust it too.

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