Moves for Yarmolenko or Mata Remain Unlikely

With transfer deadline day dragging on and news on the Liverpool front mostly quiet, a highly speculative story or two was bound to surface. That story appears to be that Liverpool are looking to turn their rumoured interest in Andriy Yarmolenko into a late capture, with a handful of outlets passing along reports of a £12M opening bid.

Elsewhere, news out of Russia has Zenit St. Petersburg having had a £23M bid for Yarmolenko's services turned down by Dynamo Kyiv. Whether or not Brendan Rodgers was being honest earlier in the week when he claimed to have never heard of the Ukrainian winger, that there might be any truth to a £12M opening bid on deadline day for a player Dynamo would be reluctant to lose for twice as much seems unlikely in the extreme.

With no other, more reliable talk surrounding a potential move for Yarmolenko to Liverpool, it seems fairly certain that if there was any interest in bringing the attacker to Anfield this summer, he won't be moving before the 11PM deadline. Reports credited to Spanish radio and Marca—and seen nowhere else—that a £25M bid for Chelsea's Juan Mata had been rejected appear similarly unreliable and unlikely.

Meanwhile, official confirmation is expected to arrive soon concerning a season-long loan deal that will take Fabio Borini to Sunderland. Any chance of Andre Wisdom heading out on loan remains up in the air, though if the loan were to a lower-league side it could be completed in the coming weeks and would not have to be wrapped before the close of the window tonight.

More from The Liverpool Offside:

• Liverpool to Madrid: "And Don't Call Back!"
• Dani Pacheco Finally Leaves Liverpool for Good
• Is There Space for Martin Skrtel at Liverpool?
• Victor Moses Joins Liverpool
• Fabio Borini Ungergoing Medical at Sunderland