Simon Stone
BBC Sport

West Ham are considering whether to make a move for Southampton centre-half Jan Bednarek.

Hammers defender Craig Dawson is keen to take up an option to move away from the London Stadium.

Leicester, Wolves and Aston Villa have all enquired about the 32-year-old, who was outstanding for the Hammers last term and has a year left on his current deal.

If manager David Moyes opted to let Dawson go, it would leave him short in central defence given new signing Nayef Aguerd has been ruled out of the early weeks of the campaign following ankle surgery.

Bednarek started Southampton’s opening two games of the season but was an unused substitute in the recent games against Leicester, Manchester United and Chelsea.

Image source, Getty Images

Willy Boly's no-show for Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend is not the first time a player has taken a calculated risk to force a move as the transfer window draws to a close.

His manager Bruno Lage said the Ivory Coast defender failed to report for Sunday's 1-1 draw against Newcastle amid strong links with a move to Nottingham Forest, despite being selected for the matchday squad.

"He has been a great professional but in the end he wants to force something," said Lage.

The classic transfer deadline day example of taking matters into your own hands will always be West Brom's Peter Odemwingie infamously driving himself to Queens Park Rangers without permission - with the deal falling through.

But for a more modern point of reference, anyone who has watched All or Nothing: Arsenal will have enjoyed the scene in which Arsenal's technical director Edu Gaspar discovers for the first time that striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has taken an unsanctioned trip to Barcelona, before any agreement has been reached on his eventual move there.

So how common is this sort of behaviour? Premier League strikers Callum Wilson and Michail Antonio discussed the issue before deadline day on their BBC Sounds Footballer's Football Podcast.

Alex Howell
BBC Sport

Douglas Luiz is a player who has been linked with clubs such as Arsenal, Liverpool and Atletico Madrid.

However, Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard has said it’s not in his control whether the player stays at Villa Park this window.

The Brazil midfielder is into the last year of his contract and Gerrard said: “There’s more than two people that are in control of that but I’m certainly not one of them. That will be Douglas, that will be his agent and that will be what happens around that.

“I would like to keep him, he’s a fantastic player and I’ve made that abundantly clear. We are not in a position where we need to lose top players.

“But at the same time, Douglas has got a year to go and it is really one of those really touchy situations where the club has to do what is best for the club, not necessarily what is best for me.”

Image source, Reuters

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

Manchester City are closing in on the signing of Borussia Dortmund's Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji.

The fee will be an initial £15m.

However, asked about the transfer after Wednesday's defeat of Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium, City manager Pep Guardiola adopted a cautious tone.

"The club tell me the deal is still not done," he said.

Asked if there would be any other deadline day business for City, he said: " I don’t think so, but nobody knows."

Image source, Reuters

David Ornstein
The Athletic football correspondent on BBC Radio 5 Live

The Athletic football correspondent David Ornstein believes Chelsea will complete a move for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang today from Barcelona.

The 33-year-old and his family were victims of a violent robbery in their home earlier this week with Aubameyang suffering a broken jaw that will keep him on the sidelines for a few weeks.

"That has complicated matters," Ornstein told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast. "He may need to undergo surgery.

"But Chelsea will go ahead on amended terms and if all goes to plan he will make a remarkable return to the Premier League just six months after leaving Arsenal in acrimonious circumstances."

Chelsea's deal for Wesley Fofana took their summer spending to almost £250m and Ornstein says they are casting their net wide to improve the squad.

"They have made a number of enquiries and chief among them is Edson Alvarez from Ajax," he said.

"They will not want to lose him after all the departures this summer but when the money gets to the level of 50m euros they may have to consider it.

"Chelsea have also looked at Ibrahim Sangare from PSV so there may be more activity at Stamford Bridge. The focus of attention though is Aubameyang."

Image source, Getty Images

Phil: Every striker in Europe to be linked to Chelsea.

Chelsea completed the signing of defender Wesley Fofana from Leicester yesterday. Their pursuit of Everton winger Anthony Gordon seems to be over but could they be bringing former Arsenal striker Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang back to the Premier League today?

Now here's the first done deal of the day...

Republic of Ireland Under-21 winger Tyreik Wright has joined League Two Bradford on loan from Aston Villa.

Drew: All settled in at work for a flurry of Deadline Day activity and fun! For the first time in years I am not living in fear of Man United buying Fellaini.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

Manchester United are expected to conclude two deals today.

Back-up goalkeeper Martin Dubravka is joining from Newcastle and winger Antony is coming from Ajax.

The £81.3m fee for the Brazilian will make him the fourth most expensive signing in Premier League history and takes United's overall spending beyond £200m.

They didn't get Frenkie de Jong and there is still uncertainty over Cristiano Ronaldo but manager Erik ten Hag seems quite happy.

"As a manager you always want more," he said.

"What I demand from my players, I have to show myself as well.

"You always want to maximise but at a certain point you also have to be satisfied with what is there.

"Now we have that opportunity to choose and I’m lucky that we have that situation. We created that situation so well done, I would say."

Michael: And that is that, no striker and no left-back. Criminal. Will be amazed if anyone else comes in before end of the window - in fact I can see James leaving really late on and we get no one in. Will be typical Leeds that.

The Athletic

However, The Athletic reports, external that PSV Eindhoven have decided against selling Cody Gakpo this summer.

Dutch media say the 23-year-old striker was close to joining Leeds and was supposed to be on a flight to Leeds/Bradford this morning but didn't board.

Image source, EPA

So, this is the update we had yesterday on Southampton's pursuit of PSV Eindhoven striker Cody Gakpo, who's been linked with a host of Premier League clubs this summer including Everton and Leeds.

Now then, that's Wednesday's Premier League action for you... let's crack on with the transfer talk shall we.

Here's a reminder of everything you need to know on deadline day.

It's only just turned 8am and we already have our first transfer twist of the day...

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte says it was a "very clear" penalty for an Aaron Cresswell handball, despite it being overturned during their 1-1 draw with West Ham.

Tottenham boss Antonio Conte says officials in England "have to learn" how to use the Video Assistant Referee system after his side were held to a Premier League draw at West Ham.

David Moyes' side hit back from a goal behind at London Stadium to claim a point against Spurs, who maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign.

Conte's men have won three and drawn two of their five games so far and stay in third place, but saw the two sides above them - north London rivals Arsenal and champions Manchester City - both claim victories on Wednesday.

Spurs thought they had a penalty when Peter Bankes pointed to the spot for an Aaron Cresswell handball, but after a lengthy check by VAR and having watched the incident on the pitchside monitor, the referee overturned his decision.

"Honestly, at the end of the first half, I spoke with the referee and told him 'you have taken the right decision'," Conte told BT Sport.

"It is incredible that VAR looked again, called the referee, he can see it was the right decision and the call from VAR was strange. I can tell only that the referee has taken the right decision. Usually the VAR calls when the call is not right."

Image source, PA Media

Arsenal

Arsenal maintained their 100% start to the season to stay top of the Premier League with a narrow victory over a lacklustre Aston Villa side.

The result is likely to heap more pressure on Villa boss Steven Gerrard who has seen his side lose four of their first five fixtures.

However, he could have few complaints here with his side struggling to match the hosts' intensity particularly in a one-sided first period.

Gabriel Jesus' third goal of the season was a meagre reward for Arsenal's first-half dominance with the Brazilian forward sweeping a low effort past Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez after he had fumbled Granit Xhaka's deflected shot.

And while Villa improved after the break and found an equaliser directly from Douglas Luiz's corner - as Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale protested that he was impeded by Boubacar Kamara - they were on level terms for less than three minutes.

Mikel Arteta's side, who carried the greater threat throughout went straight back on the offensive and regained their lead with Gabriel Martinelli turning in Bukayo Saka's pinpoint cross.

It means Arsenal have won their opening five league matches for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign, when they went on to finish second.

Image source, EPA

Fletch Opinions: Deadline day: big questions, will Forest spend another 100 mil on another 5 players? How many defenders will Chelsea buy? Excited to find out

Liverpool

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said his side's 98th-minute winner was a "perfect response" to interruptions caused by Newcastle United as the Reds won 2-1 in injury time after a number of stoppages.