All Quiet On The Teixeira Front

Welcome to Deadline Day, y'all! In this case, no news is bad news as the BBC is speculating that the deal for 26-year-old Brazilian attacking midfielder Alex Teixeira is stuck in a permanent holding pattern (with fuel running out at 11 PM GMT).

Only one official deal--one worth £24.5 million--has been tabled so far, though there have been suggestions that Liverpool floated the possibility of performance-based add-ons. Shakhtar Donetsk management, instead of being swayed by this offer, or by the player's very public desire to leave for England, have doubled down and raised their initial valuation from £38.5 million to upwards of £53 million.

Although Teixeira appears to be the type of player who could help our add some "attack" to our "attacking" midfield, Ian Ayre & Co. are unwilling to risk such a sizable chunk of their annual transfer budget on a largely unproven player.

In any case, unless some major developments happen today, this looks like another failed attempt to dip into the Ukrainian Premier League for talent, following the likes of Yevhen Konoplyanka, Willian, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.