Regular updates with all the transfer news as they happen through this transfer window..
Latest updates: Thursday 25 August

From Arsenal: Midfielder SAMIR NASRI to Manchester City for a fee of £25 million. The France international has signed a four year deal and claims he likes the City fans better than Arsenal’s.

From Chelsea: Centre back SLOBODAN RAJKOVIC to Hamburger SV on a four year contract.

From Sporting Clube de Portugal: Midfielder SIMON VUKCEVIC to Blackburn Rovers for £2 million. The Montenegro international has signed a three year contract.

From Internazionale: Striker SAMUEL ETO’O to Anzhi Makhachkala on a three year deal. The Cameroon international will be the world’s highest paid footballer during his time at the Russian club.

From Paniani: Striker MOHAMED CHALALI has made the move from Greece to Scottish club Aberdeen.

From Liverpool: Centre back SOTIRIOS KYRGIAKOS to Wolfsburg on a two year deal.

From AZ Alkmaar: Goalkeeper SERGIO ROMERO to Sampdoria for a fee of €3.5 million.

From Southampton: Left back JOSEPH MILLS to Reading on a one year contract.

From Manchester City: Winger VLADIMIR WEISS to Dynamo Kiev for a fee of £4 million. The Slovakia international has spent most of his time in Britain out on loan, first with Bolton Wanderers and later with Rangers.

From Valencia: Winger JUAN MATA to Chelsea for a fee of £23.5 million.

From Liverpool: Striker NABIL EL ZHAR to Levante on a free transfer. The Moroccan international has signed a two year deal with the Spanish club. He spent last season on loan with Greek club PAOK F.C.

From Porto: Striker RADAMEL FALCAO to Atlético Madrid for a fee of €40 million.

From Saint-Étienne: Defender CARLOS BOCANEGRA to Rangers. The USA international has signed a three year deal.

From Örebro: Midfielder ALEJANDRO BEDOYA to Rangers. The USA international has signed a three year deal.

From West Ham United: Midfielder THOMAS HITZLSPERGER to Wolfsburg on a free transfer. The 29 year old Germany international has signed a three year deal.

From Tottenham Hotspur: Striker ROBBIE KEANE to LA Galaxy for a fee of £3.5 million. The all time top scorer for his national side Ireland is also 9th on the all time top scorer list for Spurs.

From West Bromwich Albion: Striker ISHMAEL MILLER to Notthingham Forest for a fee of £1.2 million. The 24 year old has signed a three year contract.

From Standard Liège: Defender ELIAQUIM MANGALA to FC Porto on a five year deal.

From Standard Liège: Midfielder STEVEN DEFOUR to FC Porto for a fee of €6 million. The Belgium international has signed a five year contract.

From Hércules CF: Striker HAEDO VALDEZ to Rubin Kazan on a four year deal.

From Liverpool: Centre back DANIEL AYALA to Norwich City for a fee of £800,000.

From Arsenal: Midfielder CESC FABREGAS to Barcelona in a deal believed to be worth around £35 million. The 25 year-old has finally returned to the club he first joined as a ten year old. Fabregas has signed a five year contract.

From Gremio Prudente: Right back BRUNO RIBEIRO to Blackburn Rovers on a three year contract. The Brazilian 28 year old has spent pre-season with Premier League club and has been issued with a UK work permit.

From Tombense: Defender BRUNO PERONE to Queens Park Rangers. The Brazilian 24 year old has signed a one year deal.

From Newcastle United: Left back JOSE ENRIQUE to Liverpool for a fee of £6 million.

From Reading: Striker SHANE LONG to West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £4.5 million. The Ireland international has signed a three year deal.

From West Ham United: Defender MATTHEW UPSON to Stoke City on a free transfer.

From FK Partizan: Midfielder RADOSAV PETROVIC to Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £3 million.

From Manchester United: Winger GABRIEL OBERTAN to Newcastle United on a five year deal.

From Southampton: Winger ALEX OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN to Arsenal in what could be a potential £10 million deal.

From Anderlecht: Striker ROMELU LUKAKU to Chelsea. The 18-year-old Belgium international has been linked with the Blues throughout this transfer window. The move is now subject to the player passing a medical and agreeing personal terms.

From Chelsea: Midfielder YURI ZHIRKOV to Anzhi Makhachkala on a four year deal.

From FC Utrecht: Goalkeeper MICHEL VORM to Swansea City for a fee of £1.5 million.

From Ipswich Town: Goalkeeper MARTIN FULOP to West Bromwich Albion on a one year deal.

From Aston Villa: Striker JOHN CAREW on a free transfer to West Ham United.

From Liverpool: Winger MILAN JOVANOVIC to Anderlecht. The Serbia international has signed a two year deal with the Belgian side, only one year after he arrived at Liverpool from Standard Liège.

From Politehnica Timisoara: Goalkeeper COSTEL PANTILIMON to Manchester City. The 24 year old Romania international is to provide back-up to Joe Hart following Shay Given’s move to Aston Villa.

From Barcelona: Midfielder ORIOL ROMEU to Chelsea on a four year contract.

From Blackpool: Striker DJ CAMPBELL to Queens Park Rangers on a two year deal.

From Hibernian: Striker RICARDO VAZ TE to Barnsley on a one year contract.

From Dundee United: Striker DAVID GOODWILLIE to Blackburn Rovers on a four year deal.

From Burnley: Right back GRAHAM ALEXANDER to Preston North End on a one year deal.

From Sunderland: Midfielder STEED MALBRANQUE to St Etienne on a two year deal.

From Benfica: Goalkeeper ROBERTO GAGO to Real Zaragoza on a five year deal.

From Ajax: Goalkeeper MAARTEN STEKELENBURG to AS Roma for a €6.3 million fee.

From Palermo: Midfielder JAVIER PASTORE to Paris Saint Germain for a fee of €43 million. The highly sought after Argentina international has signed a five year deal.

From VfB Stuttgart: Winger CIPRIAN MARICA to Schalke 04 on a free transfer. The Romania international has signed a two year contract.

From Newcastle United: Winger WAYNE ROUTLEDGE to Swansea City for a fee of £1.8 million.

From Fiorentina: Goalkeeper SEBASTIEN FREY to Genoa on a five year deal.

From Middlesbrough: Striker LEROY LITA to Swansea City for a fee of £1.75 million.

From Burnley: Winger CHRIS EAGLES to Bolton Wanderers on a three year contract.

From Burnley: Right back TYRONE MEARS to Bolton Wanderers on a three year contract.

From Juventus: Midfielder MOHAMED SISSOKO to Paris Saint Germain for a fee of €7 million.

From Palermo: Goalkeeper SALVATORE SIRIGU to Paris Saint Germain on a four year contract.

From Atlético Madrid: Striker SERGIO AGÜERO to Manchester City on a £38 million deal. The Argentina international has signed a five year contract.

From Villarreal: Midfielder SANTIAGO CAZORLA to Málaga for €19 million.

From Aston Villa: Midfielder NIGEL REO-COKER to Bolton Wanderers on a free transfer.

I watched Uruguay beat Paraguay 3-0 with more than 3000 fans on a giant television screen set up in Montevideo’s central avenue. It turned into one amazing big party, with more people taking to the streets. Many with their faces painted sky blue, wrapped in Uruguayan flags, singing and chanting between drums and trumpets and car horns. This was a celebration of Uruguayan pride and the success of Óscar Tabárez’ Los Charrúas team, winning a record 15th Copa América. One more than this year’s hosts Argentina.
This team has followed up a strong World Cup campaign last year with some solid and skilled football. Luis Suárez was named player of the tournament, Sebastian Coates best young player and Uruguay also got the Fair Play Trophy. Suárez scored the first goal in the final, his fourth in the tournament. Diego Forlán scored the other two and became historic in several ways. Like his father and grand-father he is now a Copa América winner, he has equaled legendary Héctor Scarone as the country’s top scorer with 31 goals and during the tournament Forlán is now also the most capped player with 82 appearances. In this Copa América Álvaro Pereira also scored two and Diego Pérez one for Uruguay.
When the players returned to Montevideo in the early hours of Monday morning some 60 000 fans greeted them in the historic Centenario stadium. Thousands more crowded the team bus as they drove in from the airport. Everyone had partied all night and were delirious when the team finally turned up at the stadium.

 

Uruguay has been the success story at this Copa América, cementing their place as one of the best teams in the world. Argentina and Brazil, the giants of South America, both have a lot lacking from their game. Despite having more stars to pick and choose between they have plenty of work to do before the 2014 World Cup kicks off in Brazil. Uruguay will also be looking towards the World Cup qualifiers when they have sobered up from the Copa celebrations. Uruguayan football looks in good shape, with the U-17 team reaching the final in their world cup earlier in the month and their U-20 team amongst the favourites in their world cup starting next week.

Honourable mentions to Paraguay, reaching the final in this Copa but falling well short against a strong Uruguayan side. In the play-offs for third place Peru convincingly beat Venezuela 4-1, after a hattrick from Paolo Guerrero. This also earnt the Hamburger SV striker the top scorer title with five goals in the tournament.

Team of the tournament (3-4-2-1): Justo Villar (PAR); Darío Verón (PAR), Diego Lugano (URU), Oswaldo Vizcarrondo (VEN); Maicon (BRA), Carlos Sánchez (COL), Tomás Rincón (VEN), Alvaro Pereira (URU); Alexis Sánchez (CHL), Luis Suárez (URU); Paolo Guerrero (PER)

The next Copa América will take place in Brazil in 2015, the year after they host the World Cup.

Regular updates with all the transfer news as they happen through this transfer window..
Latest updates: Tuesday 26 July

From Wigan Athletic: Left winger CHARLES N’ZOGBIA to Aston Villa on a £9.5 million deal.

From Palermo: Centre back DORIN GOIAN to Rangers. The Romanian international has signed a three year deal.

From Palermo: Midfielder PAJTIM KASAMI to Fulham on a four year deal.

From Bursaspor: Striker KENNY MILLER to Cardiff City. The Scotland international did not settle in Turkey and asked to be allowed to return to Britain.

From Bayer Leverkusen: Midfielder ARTURO VIDAL to Juventus on a five year deal.

From Olympique Marseille: Left back GABRIEL HEINZE to AS Roma on a free transfer. The 33 year old Argentina international has signed a one year contract.

From Fulham: Right back JOHN PAINTSIL to Leicester City on a free transfer. The Ghanaian international was released from Fulham after Martin Jol’s arrival as new manager.

From De Graafschap: Winger STEVE DE RIDDER to Southampton on a three year deal.

From Le Mans: Striker FREDDY DROGBA to Dijon on a free transfer.

From Udinese: Striker ALEXIS SANCHEZ to Barcelona for an initial fee of €26 million with an additional €11.5 million in add-ons.

From Kashiwa Reysol: Midfielder YUKI OTSU to Borussia Mönchengladbach on a three year deal.

From Helsingborgs IF: Striker ALEXANDER GERNDT to FC Utrecht on a four year deal.

From Barcelona: Striker BOJAN KRKIC to AS Roma for €12 million. He had been excused from attending training and pre-season preparations with Barcelona. The transfer was delayed while Barcelona and the player waited to see if they’ve been successful in signing Chile striker Alexis Sánchez from Udinese.

From Villarreal: Striker JOZY ALTIDORE to AZ Alkmaar on a four year contract. The USA international has had loan spells at Hull City and Bursaspor during his time at Villarreal.

From Lazio: Goalkeeper FERNANDO MUSLERA to Galatasaray on a five year deal. The transfer involved Lorik Cana moving the opposite direction, to Lazio, while Galatasaray also paid €6.75 million to Muslera’s former club Montevideo Wanderers who still owned 50% of his playing rights. The total value of the transfer is €12 million, making the Uruguay international the most expensive goalkeeper transfer in Turkey.

From Blackburn: Goalkeeper JASON BROWN to Aberdeen on a free transfer.

From Juventus: Midfielder TIAGO MENDES to Atlético Madrid on a two year contract. The Portuguese international has been on loan to Atlético since January 2010.

From Slovan Liberec: Midfielder MARCEL GECOV to Fulham on a two year contract.

From Sevilla: Left winger DIEGO CAPEL to Sporting Clube de Portugal for €6 million fee, on a five-year contract.

From Deportivo de La Coruña: Forward ADRIAN LOPEZ to Atlético Madrid on a free transfer. The 23 year old has signed a four year contract.

From Liverpool: Left back CHRIS MAVINGA to Stade Rennais on a four year contract. With the move to Rennes, the 20 year old is returning to French football, having arrived at Liverpool from Paris Saint Germain two years ago. The U-20 French international did not break into the Liverpool 1st team under Roy Hodgson and spent the latter part of last season on loan at Belgian side Racing Genk.

From AC Siena: Striker SOULEYMANE COULIBALY to Tottenham for a £1.5 million fee. The 16 year old from Côte d’Ivoire won the Golden Boot in the recent U-17 World Championship.

From Fulham: Midfielder JONATHAN GREENING to Nottingham Forest for a £600.000 fee. The 32 year old has signed a three year contract.

From Manchester City: Striker CARLOS TEVEZ to Corinthians. Only formalities remains between the Brazilian club and a signature from the 27 year old Argentine international. UPDATE July 21st: Corinthians wasted their opportunity and didn’t manage to get through the deal before the Brazilian transfer window closed yesterday. This despite Manchester City having done what they could to help them, after accepting the £40 million bid. This has been revealed on Corinthian’s official website.

From Rosenborg: Midfielder PER CILJAN SKJELBRED to Hamburger SV. The Norwegian international has signed a four year deal.

From Aalesund: Left back JONATHAN PARR to Crystal Palace. The 22 year old will link up with fellow Norwegian Steffen Iversen at Selhurst Park.

From Real Madrid: Centre back EZEQUIEL GARAY to Benfica. The Argentine international has signed for an undisclosed fee.

From Santos: Right back JONATHAN to Internazionale on a four year contract.

From AS Roma: Goalkeeper ALEXANDER DONI to Liverpool on a free transfer.

From Manchester City: Goalkeeper SHAY GIVEN to Aston Villa on a five year deal.

From Plymouth Argyle: Midfielder KARI ARNASON to Aberdeen.

From Bordeaux: Striker FERNANDO CAVENAGHI to River Plate, who just have been shock relegated to the Argentinian second division. The 27 year old won three championships with River Plate before he left for Spartak Moscow in 2004. He moved to Bordeaux in 2007 and won Ligue 1 with the club in 2008/09. Last season he was on loan, first with Mallorca, then with Brazilian club Internacional.

From Stoke City: Forward EIDUR GUDJOHNSEN to AEK Athens on a free transfer. This after a deal with West Ham United was almost completed but fell through. The Icelandic international had a miserable season at Stoke and spent the later part of it on loan to Fulham. The prior season he was on loan at Tottenham from French side Monaco. In two months he will turn 33 years old and still seeks to emulate some the previous success enjoyed at Barcelona, Chelsea and Bolton.

From Aston Villa: Left winger STEWART DOWNING to Liverpool for a fee of £20 million.

From West Ham United: Midfielder KIERON DYER to Queens Park Rangers on a one year contract.

From AS Roma: Left back JOHN ARNE RIISE to Fulham on a three year deal.

From Liverpool: Left back PAUL KONCHESKY to Leicester City on a three year contract. The 30 year old only signed for Liverpool, from Fulham in August last year. When Kenny Dalglish took over as Liverpool manager Konchesky went on loan to Nottingham Forest for the second half of the season.

From Birmingham City: Defender ROGER JOHNSON to Wolverhampton Wanderers on a four year deal.

From Cardiff City: Striker JAY BOTHROYD to Queens Park Rangers on a free transfer.

From Standard Liège: Midfielder AXEL WITSEL to Benfica for a fee of €8 million. The Belgian international has signed a five year deal.

From Tottenham: Centre back JONATHAN WOODGATE to Stoke City on a free transfer. The injury plagued player was released from Tottenham and has now signed a one year contract with Tony Pulis’ side.

From Lille: Forward GERVINHO to Arsenal. The signature of 24 year old Ivory Coast international has finally been confirmed by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

From Stade Rennais: Midfielder SYLVAIN MARVEAUX to Newcastle United on a free transfer. The Frenchman failed to agree terms with Liverpool and has instead signed a five year contract with Newcastle.

From Birmingham City: Midfielder LEE BOWYER to Ipswich Town on a free transfer.

From West Bromwich Albion: Right back GIANNI ZUIVERLOON to Real Mallorca on a three year contract. The Dutchman came to WBA from Heerenveen in 2008.

Luka Modric has again come out in the media and expressed his desire to leave Tottenham for Chelsea. This time in an interview with the Croatian newspaper Sportske Novosti, Modric claimed that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy doesn’t even want to listen to him. Modric also claims that they made a gentleman agreement last summer, when Modric signed a new six year contract, to sit down and talk should offers from big clubs come in.
Modric had a short meeting with Daniel Levy when he returned for pre-season training last week. Modric claims in the interview that Levy simply told him, he would not be sold and if he didn’t accept that he would find himself on the bench or in the stands.

All this leaves more questions than answers. Levy is known as an astute businessman. Could he have given some loose promise to his player, just to get an extended contract with him and such boost his transfer price? In today’s football market it seems inconceivable that anything would be agreed outside a carefully drafted, written contract. Is it instead Modric who is playing dirty against the Spurs chairman?

What we do know is that both Levy and manager Harry Redknapp repeatedly have insisted that Modric, or any other top player, is not for sale. Levy will have some difficulty backtracking on such statements. However, nothing is not for sale forever. Modric might not have been for sale last month, he could be for sale the next, or in the January transfer window. Having a disgruntled player in the squad can be very damaging. That scenario is not strange to Tottenham either. Modric’s fellow croat, Niko Kranjcar, has long been unsettled due to lack of playtime. The same could be said about Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko. Have Redknapp and Levy done enough to communicate and work with their prized players? Will Levy indeed play hardball and place Modric in the stands, so that he won’t see any first team football until he succumb to what the club wants from him? Or will the club be dictated by player power, as it has happened so often in professional football, and have to release him from the contract he has signed?
In the meantime Modric is fast losing popularity with the Spurs faithfuls. It could turn uglier before it is resolved.

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All the best from
Frank, Carlo & Eric

PS. Carlo has just arrived in Buenos Aires, ready to feed us with news from the Copa America!