Lloris heading to Arsenal for Almunia and £14m?

The final day of the transfer window is here and Transfer Talk hopes to answer some of football's eternal questions, such as: Will Arsenal finally sign a goalkeeper to replace 'Fawlty' Manuel Almunia? Will Liverpool fans have a new striker's name to chant when Fernando Torres (inevitably) takes up residence in the treatment room? Will Alex Ferguson's long wait to sign an accomplished playmaker end tonight? And will Ramires be Carlo Ancelotti's last signing?

First off the bat is a last gasp bid from Arsenal for regularly-linked-to-North-London, French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris of Lyon. According to TalkSport, the Gunners have offered a generous £14m, as well as current stopper Manuel Almunia. The appeal of working under Arsene Wenger in the Premier League could well prod Lloris in the right direction, but whether Lyon will want to sell one of their most prized assets is another matter.

The name is vaguely familiar, but Transfer Talk knows little of Sulley Muntari. Yet apparently he was the carrot dangled before Arsenal by Inter Milan in their bizarre bid to secure the services of Cesc Fabregas. The Italian club were also prepared to throw in £28.7m but the Gunners' response was to tell Inter where they could stick their Sulley. The extraordinary story comes courtesy of Italian website, Sportmediaset.it, which goes on to say that Inter's sporting director Marco Branca has accepted defeat in his crazy quest to bring the Arsenal skipper to the San Siro and instead is now pursuing Fiorentina's Riccardo Montolivo. (Muntari, by the way, turns out to be a Ghanaian international who used to play Portsmouth. That Italian sense of humour...)

Still on the subject of Fabregas, Barcelona have let it be known they believe he will move to the Nou Camp at the end of this season. Speaking to Spanish rag Star, Barca midfielder Xavi simpered: "Every Barcelona player wanted Cesc to join this year – we made no secret of that. But we are prepared to wait another year. Everybody in football knows where Cesc's heart is.  He's from Barcelona and was a youngster at the club. It's not like we have to try to convince him to join – it's where he wants to be. Arsenal have him for another year and, during this season, they will have time to either develop one of their younger players or scout a replacement to buy when Cesc leaves." A scenario outlined by The First Post before the World Cup got underway.

From smug Spaniards to injured Irishmen, it appears that Arsenal's hopes of landing Aussie keeper Mark Schwarzer have evaporated after Shay Given's decision to take himself out of the transfer market and remain at Manchester City. The Guardian reports that the 34-year-old Irish shotstopper has had a heart-to-heart with Sky Blues' boss Roberto Mancini and been persuaded to stay and fight for his place. At Eastlands. All of which spells bad news for the Gunners as Fulham had made it clear they would only agree to the sell of Schwarzer if they could secure Given as his immediate replacement. And with Fulham's first-choice keeper David Stockdale out for several weeks with injury it seems almost certain the Cottagers will keep hold of Schwarzer, though the Sun says that Arsenal have made a last-ditch £4m bid for the ageing Aussie. Fulham manager Mark Hughes is apparently weighing up the offer and also sounding out Reading as to the availability of their highly-rated goalkeeper Adam Federici. According to the Mirror Schwarzer is quietly confident his dream move to the Emirates will come off, telling them: "I'm biding my time waiting for things to happen and then I'll be on move - if you see what I mean. I'm hopeful, I'm always hopeful."

Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson has intimated he might be willing to part with Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva should a decent offer land on his desk on the last day of the transfer season. "If someone came in and offered us £20m for him and he wants to go we would consider it but it is a bit late in the day, that's for sure," Hodgson said on the Reds' official site, adding that: "I'm not anxious to be getting rid of any players this late in the day."

Spare a thought for Spurs as the transfer window prepares to shut. The Lilywhites have desperately been looking for a half-decent striker in readiness for their Champions League odyssey but can't seem to buy one for love nor money. First they lost out to German outfit FC Schalke in the chase for AC Milan frontman Klass Jan Huntelaar – Sky Sports reporting that Shalke shelled out €14m for the Dutchman - and now comes news that Brazilian netbuster Luis Fabiano has decided to stay loyal to Sevilla and extend his contract until 2013. The 30-year-old Fabiano has been hunted by Spurs for months and a deal looked to be in pipeline after Sevilla were dumped out of the Champions League last week, but obviously Fabiano doesn't rate Spurs' chances of progressing beyond the group stage and has spurned the opportunity to move to White Hart Lane.

And if the Mirror isn't taking the mick then it would appear Spurs are about to suffer a hat-trick of knockbacks, this time from Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor. The paper says that Spurs have made a "sensational bid" for the 26-year-old with chairman Daniel Levy willing to find the funds to pay Adebayor's  £170,000-a-week salary. However, recent reports from Eastlands suggest that  the former Arsenal frontman is going to remain with City and fight new signing Mario Balotelli for his place in the team.

AC Milan might have lost Huntelaar but they could be about to swoop for Manchester City's disgruntled striker Robinho. A report in La Gazzetta dello Sport says that Italian Prime Minister and AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi wants to bring the Brazilian to the club despite having just signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Barcelona. "If a certain player we are thinking about were to emerge as purchasable, we are ready for another coup," the paper quotes Berlusconi as saying, adding that the perma-tanned Italian premier was referring to Robinho. Apparently City would be happy to loan the player to AC Milan for a season with the option of making the transfer permanent thereafter.

Finally Luis Suarez has stated he would like to stay at Ajax despite interest from several of Europe's biggest clubs including Manchester United. The Uruguayan striker who enjoyed a good World Cup, particularly at the expense of Ghana, told NUsport that the Dutch club is in his blood: "I have never asked for a transfer. If I felt I was finished here I would say that but I don't... Ajax's financial position is the only reason I'm even thinking of a transfer." Suarez went on to say that if he did have to leave Ajax, it would be "to a club where real football is played", all rather ironic coming from a man who achieved notoriety for his handball antics during the World Cup. ·