Winter Transfer Window 2014 Deadline Day: A Preview

It's shaping up to be a busy day for Liverpool and the club's fans. As the last day of the transfer window dawns, it's good to get a sense of what's in store, because soon all will be chaos.

Remember deadline day three years ago? All looked calm from a Liverpool perspective. Luis Suarez had just arrived, and things were looking pretty spiffy. Then Fernando Torres dropped a nuclear bomb on the city with his transfer request, and the rest of the day was spent virtually sprinting around trying to figure out what's going on and oh god he's going to Chelsea and Andy Carroll really for how much for THAT much are you crazy oh my god this is really happening it's not just a bad dream why oh why.

The last two years have featured relatively calm deadline days for Liverpool fans, but things are shaping up to have at least some degree of excitement, both for the club we all love and around Europe as a whole.

To Konoplyanka, Or Not To Konoplyanka

Indications are that Liverpool is in the midst of a full-court press to get Ukranian winger Yevhen Konolyanka from Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the Ukranian Premier League. We've talked about it at length over the last two days, and it still looks as though Liverpool is heading full-force towards signing him.

Of course, things can never be easy for Liverpool, and rumors of Tottenham and Arsenal trying to sneak in at the last minute have persisted. Still, it looks as though Liverpool is in the lead, with talk of the bid being in the neighborhood of £15 million, which is a steal for a player of his quality. This is something that should develop quickly as the day goes on, and I'd imagine we'll know the end result one way or another well before the hypothetical deadline bell rings.

Other News In The Wind?

While things have been relatively quiet on the Liverpool rumor front of late aside from Konoplyanka, there do still seem to be a few lines in the water. Rumors of various defensive-minded mids have made fans eager to see what could happen in that arena. Potentially even more interesting have been whispers of some Liverpool loanees being recalled; given the success some of their players have had, that could make for a fun squad down the stretch if they're worked in properly.

Part of the chaos of deadline day is that things can fire up and go away in a hurry. The compressed nature of the winter window only serves to exaggerate that tendency. It's going to be a long day.

What About Other Teams?

This is shaping up to be a crazy day, especially abroad in Europe. That's especially true in Italy, where it seems like there's at least 50 deals just waiting to be finalized. Napoli's office seems to be running their espresso machines at full tilt, as they've wrapped up several deals in the last week, and are working on several more on a number of fronts. Despite their struggles in the league, Inter Milan seems to be a hub of activity, with Walter Mazzarri making wholesale changes to his squad.

The most intriguing thing, though, is that so many of the moves being reported seem to be interconnected with one another. We've reached a stage where one signing going official at one club could kick off a chain of eight or nine transfers between a few clubs in rapid succession. One such chain involves Inter, who are trying to wrap up a deal for a midfielder so they can sell Fredy Guarin to Tottenham, who want him to replace Etienne Capoue, who they'd then sell to Napoli. That's really just scratching the surface, though, with a few other pieces and clubs involved. Nani even fits in there somewhere, somehow.

It's going to be a long day, with a lot to keep track of. We'll be doing our level best to bring you everything you need to know throughout the day, and probably a few things you don't. We'll also be doing a day's end wrapup once everything is said and done, and I'll be bringing you player profiles of any new Liverpool signings as I can through the day and on Satuday. Hold on to your hats, folks.