Burnley have signed Tottenham’s Georges-Kévin Nkoudou on loan until the end of the season. The France Under-21 international will move to Turf Moor having found his opportunities limited under Mauricio Pochettino.
Sean Dyche and Saint-Étienne had shown an interest in signing Nkoudou on a permanent basis but it is understood Pochettino was keen to retain a player who joined on the final day of the August 2016 transfer window for £9.4m.
“That’s why I have come here, to find football,” Nkoudou said in a statement on Burnley’s website. “I knew Sean Dyche is a big manager who likes young players and players who go forward, so it suits my character to come here and I am happy to work with him.
“I hope to help the club. If I can, I will. But the last word is with the manager. If he puts me on the pitch, I will do everything to help the team go forward. I am ready to play and waiting on the starting blocks. If the manager puts me on the pitch, I will do everything on the pitch.”
New home 🏠📍@BurnleyOfficial 👋🏾 pic.twitter.com/wVLPGMGW0n
— GK NKoudou (@gknkoudou) January 9, 2018
The 22-year-old added that former Burnley player Kieran Trippier convinced him to make the move. “He told me good things about this club,” Nkoudou said.
The 22-year-old has made only nine Premier League appearances for Spurs but is yet to start a league match despite scoring in the Champions League victory over APOEL in December. Pochettino was keen to create a space for the fit-again Érik Lamela in his Champions League squad and Nkoudou’s departure means the Argentina international will now be added before their last-16 tie against Juventus.
The Nigeria coach, Gernot Rohr, has admitted Kelechi Iheanacho and Ahmed Musa are likely to leave Leicester this month as they search for game time before the World Cup. Both forwards have been sparsely utilised by Claude Puel since the Frenchman’s arrival at the King Power Stadium, with Musa yet to play in the Premier League this season.
“I expect these players who are not playing regularly, especially Musa and Iheanacho, to get another club in the same league or elsewhere,” said Rohr.
Crystal Palace and Watford are in contention to sign the goalkeeper Vicente Guaita from Getafe, with Roy Hodgson expected to add the 30-year-old to his squad. Hodgson has been on the lookout for a long-term replacement for Julián Speroni, with Everton’s Oumar Niasse also in talks to move to Selhurst Park. With Jeffrey Schlupp set for a spell on the sidelines after suffering suspected medial ligament damage to his knee against Brighton on Monday, Hodgson admitted he could bring in several players this month.
“We have been talking about strengthening our squad for about two or three weeks into my time at the club, so literally nothing has changed in that area,” he said.“That’s become even more vitally important with the number of injuries we suffered. You could argue that if we said we wanted three or four then really we should be looking at six or seven, because we have lost at least two players for the rest of this season, and probably the start of next season.”
The Austrian right-back Moritz Bauer has completed a transfer to managerless Stoke having been a target of the recently dismissed Mark Hughes. The Potters have signed Bauer, 25, for an undisclosed fee from Russian club Rubin Kazan.
Swansea look set to complete the signing of Ryan Fredericks from Fulham. The 25-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and is available for around £3m.
Newcastle are in talks over extending Karl Darlow’s contract until 2023 despite the former Nottingham Forest goalkeeper starting only six Premier League games this season for Rafael Benítez’s side.
