Paper Round: Liverpool to land huge coup AFTER deadline day

Liverpool set to sign Valdes: Brendan Rodgers' efforts on transfer deadline day might have been overshadowed by the exploits at Manchester United and Arsenal, but it seems that the Reds could yet secure one of the biggest coups of the summer by signing former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes. The Independent reports that Liverpool are "likely to sign the former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes next month." The key is that Valdes is a free agent who left Barca at the end of his contract this summer - and thus can still be registered outside of the transfer window. The deal hinges on his successful recovery from the cruciate ligament injury he suffered in March.

Paper Round's View: Simon Mignolet currently has nobody pushing him at Anfield, and no top level back-up in case of injury since number two Brad Jones is simply not a top-level keeper. And landing a player of Valdes's calibre for free would be a magnificent move for Liverpool: Valdes has six Liga winners' medals, three Champions League medals and a host of other trinkets in his cabinet, and was being pursued by some of the biggest clubs in Europe..

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How Defoe wasted his cash on Transatlantic dash to rejoin Premier League: The Daily Telegraph reports that Jermain Defoe "failed to push through a return to the Premier League after travelling to England in an attempt to end his Toronto FC gamble after just six months." With Leicester City and QPR both keen the former Tottenham star jumped on a jet to get away from his Canadian hell: "Just six months into the four-year £90,000-a-week Toronto contract he signed in February, Defoe is believed to be concerned that he made a mistake by moving to Canada and that the standard of football is not as good as he had hoped." But Toronto nixed any move for the 31-year-old, who looks set to stay in MLS for the time being.

Paper Round says: You have to love a great "desperate dash" story on deadline day. Who can forget Peter Odemwingie driving down to London to try and talk his way into a move away from West Brom a few windows ago? And Defoe has upped the ante. Sadly, there are no details about whether he blew some of his £90,000-a-week wages on a private jet, or whether he was happy to schlepp across the pond on a mere £6,000 first class ticket.

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Falcao gamble to cost United £24m: There are all sorts of estimates in the press about how much the Radamel Falcao loan plus option-to-buy deal is costing Manchester United - but the biggest of the lot is in the Daily Express, which claims that the club will pay a total of £24 million in wages and loan fees for the Colombian's services.

Paper Round's view: Considering that we're already three matches into the season, and that Falcao is coming off a serious injury, and he has both Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney as competition for a starting spot, this deal could easily end up costing United £1m-a-match. They had to gamble, and of course if any club has the money to do so then it's United… but still, they're really betting the house on this one. A lot of careers hang in the balance…

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Liverpool starlet Borini refused QPR move: The Daily Mail reports that Liverpool's misfit striker Fabio Borini was all set for a £10 million move to QPR - but refused to go at the 11th hour after refusing the wages on offer. The dithering Italian also missed out on a return to Sunderland: "The Italian had been linked with a move back to Sunderland after spending last season on loan at the Stadium of Light, but that deal also completely collapsed due to the prohibitive cost of a permanent deal.

Paper Round says: Could this be the making of Borini? Now seemingly stuck on the books at Anfield, he will have an opportunity to knuckle down and try to play his way into the reckoning for the Reds. There are a lot of in-form players at the club, but it's a long season…