Dalglish signs Henderson but Phil Jones eludes him

Liverpool have agreed terms with Sunderland for Jordan Henderson, reports the Daily Mail. Apparently the deal was reached on Tuesday night with the Reds happy to pay Sunderland £20m for the midfielder once he’s passed a routine medical. Liverpool will also give the Black Cats their under-rated frontman David Ngog as a sweetner.

The 20-year-old Henderson will apparently put pen to paper on his return from playing for England in the Under-21 European Championship in Denmark, and link up with his new team-mates at Anfield next month.

Henderson is Kenny Dalglish's first big signing since becoming the full-time manager of Liverpool but the canny Scot is not having everything his own way, at least according to the Daily Mirror.

They say that Manchester United have nipped in front of Liverpool in the queue for Blackburn defender Phil Jones and the Red Devils have got their man, though it will cost them £16m to prise the England Under-21 star from Ewood Park. United manager Alex Ferguson apparently sees Jones as the man to replace Rio Ferdinand in their suspect defence and has snapped him up as part of his £80m summer spending spree.

But while Ferguson may be about to land Jones, he's drawn a blank in his pursuit of Fabio Coentrao. Spanish rag Marca reports that Manchester United have been pipped by Real Madrid in their attempts to sign Coentrao from Benfica. The Old Trafford club had been linked with the gifted left-back for months but now it seems the 23-year-old has decided to move to the Bernabeu after the Portuguese club accepted Real's offer of £22m.

In other news, Arsenal's summer spending spree has got underway. Their first official signing of the summer is Charlton Athletic's Finnish Under-21 defender Carl Jenkinson, who joins from The Valley for an undisclosed sum. Their main rivals for his signature appear to have been non-league outfit Eastbourne Borough.

The 19-year-old has been with Charlton since the age of eight, but has only made nine appearances for the first team and went on loan to Eastbourne last season. Although born in England the right-back has represented Finland at youth level as he qualifies through his mother.

Jenkinson is not the only former Charlton defender linked with the Gunners today. Madjid Bougherra has upped the ante with Arsenal by going public with his desire to move south from Rangers. The Algerian centre-back impressed Arsene Wenger during last year’s World Cup and it’s rumoured that the Gunners boss would like to install the 28-year-old at the Emirates.

But as is Wenger's way, he's taking his time about making his move and so Bougherra is flirting unashamedly with the Frenchman. "My focus is on the Premier League," he told reporters. "I played there for six months with Charlton [2007-08] and want to go back as six months isn't a long time."

Rangers boss Ally McCoist has said he would like Bougherra to honour the last year of his contract at Ibrox but the Algerian is keen to leave without any fuss, saying: "I don’t want any trouble between me and the club. I want any move to be easy."

Southampton are doing everything in their power to keep hold of their highly-rated teenager Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The 17-year-old sensation has attracted admiring glances from Arsenal and Manchester United in recent months, with the Gunners particularly keen.

But goal.com claim that the Saints see Oxlade-Chamberlain as a vital cog in their wheel as they seek to follow their promotion from Division One to the Championship with elevation to the Premier League next season.

To that end, Southampton have slapped a £15m price tag on the attacking midfielder, an extraordinary sum for a player who doesn’t turn 18 for another two months, but one that will probably deter both Wenger and Ferguson from making a bid.

Talking of young talent, Chelsea have allegedly offered Belgian club Racing Genk £9m for Kevin De Bruyne. The 19-year-old left-winger has already been the subject of an earlier £5.3m offer by the Blues, but this time they’re going in much higher in the hope of concluding a deal asap.

The Metro reports that Genk know they won't be able to keep hold of De Bruyne but are hoping to strike a deal with Chelsea so that he remains with them on loan for a while longer. ·