Football news, transfer gossip and rumours - Spurs scramble for Gareth Bale on deadline day

West Ham had until 1am to confirm the signing of Hull City striker Jarrod Bowen. The London club appeared to have beaten Crystal Palace to the signing of the 23-year-old forward, who will cost around £20 million to join from the Championship. However, while a deal sheet was submitted for the 11pm deadline, they needed until just after to resolve formalities and get the deal done with minutes remaining.

Paper Round’s view: West Ham were prevented from bringing Marko Arnautovic back from the Chinese Super League in part due to the coronavirus spreading across the world, which means that getting Bowen down from the North East was an easier deal. They need goals to come desperately quickly or they may struggle to stay up for next season.

Another difficulty in the transfer market on deadline day was a proposed loan for Spurs striker Troy Parrott. The 17-year-old Irish international was wanted by Burnley, Charlton and Den Haag, but Spurs were unable to let him go, reports the Sun. That’s because registering him elsewhere would have interrupted the two years needed to secure his status as a homegrown player.

Paper Round’s view: It’s a minor inconvenience for Parrot, who joined at 16 so does not have too long to wait in order to become homegrown, and that will increase his value for the future. However he is unlikely to see much action under Jose Mourinho who generally prefers to favour older players, and they just signed Dutch forward Steven Berwijn.

Tottenham are in the news again, this time the Daily Mail, as they report on the potential return of Gareth Bale to North London. However, the move for the 30-year-old Welsh forward could not be done because Real Madrid wanted to sell the player, and Bale did not want to take a cut on the £600,000-a-week wages he was on. A structure could not be agreed to make a compromise.

Paper Round’s view: It seems almost inevitable that Real Madrid will have to come to some sort of deal with Bale in the summer. He is not wanted by Zinedine Zidane but he is understandably not interested in taking a pay cut when his contract was offered to him in good faith. The older he gets, the harder any deal is to be agreed.

Yet another target for Jose Mourinho was Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud. The French international had been linked with Inter Milan and Lazio but nothing was done. Boss Frank Lampard said: "We all know there has been interest, I've sat here at every press conference and said that. If it's right for Olivier, for myself and the club and he's been impeccable in that period."I've got huge respect for him as a player. The answer again is no, as in will he leave? No. He trained today. No ins and no outs."

Paper Round’s view: At 33, Giroud needs first team action to convince French national manager Didier Deschamps to grant him a chance at Euro 2020, likely his last international tournament. He faces another half-season of inaction now and that will mean other players will be able to make a better case for inclusion this summer.