Radamel Falcao’s loan move to Manchester United was the major
deadline day signing as Premier League summer spending hit a record £835m.
Manchester United have signed Colombia striker Radamel Falcao in a £6m
season-long loan deal from Monaco. Falcao had been linked during the summer
with a move away from the French Ligue 1 side, whom he joined for £50m in May
2013. The 28-year-old scored 11 goals in 20 league appearances for Monaco, and
two in three games this season. Falcao was United’s second deadline-day arrival
after the £13.8m signing of Daley Blind from Ajax. The versatile Netherlands
international, 24, has signed a four-year deal with United. Falcao’s move,
meanwhile, includes an option for United to buy him for £43.5m at the end of
the loan spell. The striker told his new club’s website: “Manchester United is the biggest club
in the world and is clearly determined to get back to the top. I am looking
forward to working with Louis van Gaal and contributing to the team’s success
at this very exciting period in the club’s history.” United, like most of
Europe’s top clubs, had been made aware of Falcao’s availability with two days
to go in the transfer window. Premier League champions Manchester City opted
against pursuing a deal as they could not make space in their squad for the
Colombian. Van Gaal said: “When a player of this calibre becomes
available, it is an opportunity not to be missed.” Falcao had also been
linked with Arsenal, as well as Italian champions Juventus and Spanish side
Real Madrid.
Arsenal have signed Manchester United forward Danny Welbeck
for £16m.The 23-year-old, capped 26 times by England, has signed a
five year deal at the Emirates Stadium. Welbeck, who scored 29 goals in 142
United appearances, was told he could leave given the impending arrival of
Radamel Falcao on loan from Monaco. The Manchester-born forward, who joined
United’s academy aged eight, also played 28 times during a loan spell with
Sunderland, and made a further eight appearances for Preston. The Black Cats
were keen to re-sign Welbeck, a Premier League winner in 2013, while Tottenham
were also interested. But he has joined Arsenal, who are without striker
Olivier Giroud for up to four months after he broke a leg. The Gunners were not
expected to sign a replacement for the Frenchman, but manager Arsene Wenger
said on the eve of deadline day the club remained “very active” in
the transfer market. Meanwhile, Arsenal’s Japanese midfielder Ryo Miyaichi, 21,
has joined Dutch side FC Twente on loan for the remainder of the season.
Manchester City’s
Micah Richards has ended his 12-year stay at the club by joining Fiorentina on
a season-long loan deal. The Italian club have paid £3.5m for the defender
which will rise to £4.7m if they make the move permanent.The 26-year-old is
City’s longest serving player. It is understood he turned down a number of
offers from Premier League clubs in order to join Fiorentina and is
“excited” about the challenge. The versatile defender, who can play
at right-back and centre-back, has found his City chances limited under Manuel
Pellegrini. He becomes the 24th Englishman to play for a Serie A club. City
captain Vincent Kompany tweeted: “#MCFC club legend! Proud to have played
6 years alongside this man. Congratulations and good luck at @ACF_Fiorentina my
brother #forzaMicah.” Richards, who has made almost 250 appearances for
City, has accepted he has to leave to get more games and recapture the form
that made him one of the country’s most exciting prospects when he first burst
on to the scene.
West Ham have announced the signing of the Barcelona
midfielder Alex Song on a season-long loan. The 26-year-old Cameroon
international struggled to hold down a regular place at Camp Nou after a move from
Arsenal in 2012 and returns to the Premier League with the Hammers – who
paraded their new addition to fans before their match with Southampton. Clubs
throughout Europe were put on alert when it emerged Song would be allowed to
leave Barcelona – with West Ham having won the race to take him to Upton Park
on a temporary basis despite reported interest from Napoli and Galatasaray. Song
revealed it was a conversation with the West Ham manager, Sam Allardyce, that
led to his decision to move to east London and he is targeting European
qualification. “I had a very good chat with him and that’s why I am coming
here. We have to do better than last season. I think the club has very good
ambition and I hope we can maybe catch the European positions, because that
would be very good for the club. West Ham is looking to be a very, very big
club in the future. The club has a great project and it is a very big project
with very big ambition. I think it’s great for the fans that the club wants to
be one of the biggest in England. That’s why I chose to come here. I always
said that if I was to leave [Barcelona] one day I would return to the Premier
League. It was a very hard decision when you have options of a lot of clubs who
are playing in the Champions League, but at the end of the day I chose West Ham
because I wanted to come to the Premier League.”
Manchester City
striker Alvaro Negredo has joined Valencia on a season-long loan deal. The
Spanish club have an obligation to make the deal for the 29-year-old permanent at
the end of the season. Spain international Negredo joined City last summer from
Sevilla and scored 23 goals in his debut season to help the club win the
Premier League title. However, he failed to score in the last 16 games of the
campaign and has not featured for the club this season. Valencia revealed the
news of the signing on their official website, stating that Negredo will be
officially presented at the Mestalla stadium on Tuesday. After an impressive
start to his City career his form tailed off, partly as a result of injury,
over the second half of his debut season.
Manchester United
striker Javier Hernandez has joined Spanish side Real Madrid on a season-long
loan. Real have an option to buy the 26-year-old, who joined United from
Guadalajara in 2010, at the end of the deal. The Mexican international is
surplus to requirements at United after they agreed to take Colombia striker
Radamel Falcao on loan from Monaco. European champions Real were looking to add
to their attack following Alvaro Morata’s £15.8m move to Juventus. Hernandez,
who is under contract with United until June 2016, will provide back-up at the
Bernabeu for first-choice striker Karim Benzema.
Manchester United’s
agreed a reported €18 million fee with Ajax for the transfer of Dutch
international Daley Blind. United confirmed on Saturday morning they had
agreed a deal with the Amsterdam club for the versatile 24-year-old. Blind was
part of Louis van Gaal’s World Cup squad earlier this summer and is the son of
former Dutch defender Danny Blind. The Ajax youth academy product can play in a
variety of positions, including left back and in central midfield.
Real Madrid’s
Cristiano Ronaldo was named European Footballer of the Year last Thursday, the
Portuguese striker topping the journalists’ poll ahead of Germany’s World Cup
winner Manuel Neuer and Dutchman Arjen Robben. Ronaldo is the fourth
recipient of the award, succeeding Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta and Lionel
Messi. France’s Ribery won the award last time around ahead of Messi and
Ronaldo. This time Ronaldo prevailed in a vote by 54 European journalists which
took place on the sidelines of the draw for the Champions League group stages
in Monaco. “I’ve worked hard for this award, I am very happy, I thank all
my team, because without that kind of team individual awards couldn’t
exist,” said the reigning Ballon d’Or title holder, after receiving his
award from Uefa chief Michel Platini. Ronaldo failed to sparkle at the World
Cup in Brazil where Portugal were eliminated in the first round, but inspired
Real Madrid on the European stage. The 29-year-old broke the record for goals,
17, by a player in a Champions League campaign last season as Madrid claimed
their tenth European title. “It was amazing, something that Madrid had
looked to do for many years,” said the striker. “As Madrid players we
feel as though you have to win the Champions League. It was a fantastic season
– we won the Champions League, the Spanish Cup and the (Uefa) Super Cup.”
Chelsea have
announced the signing of Queens Park Rangers striker Loic Remy on a four-year
deal. Chelsea triggered a £10.5m release clause in Remy’s contract on
Saturday lunchtime and he was then left out of QPR’s squad to face Sunderland
last weekend. “I feel very happy and very proud,” said Remy, 27.
“When I heard Chelsea wanted to sign me I said ‘let’s go’.” Arsenal
also made an enquiry for the Frenchman on Saturday night but quickly ended
their interest. Chelsea had been seeking to reinforce their attack after
Fernando Torres moved to AC Milan on loan. Remy was close to a move to
Liverpool earlier on this summer when the Reds also met his release clause but
the transfer fell through after reports of a failed medical. Remy scored 14
goals in 26 Premier League appearances for Newcastle last season.
Chelsea midfielder
Marco van Ginkel has joined AC Milan on a season-long loan. The 21-year-old
Dutchman joined Chelsea from Vitesse Arnhem for £8m in July 2013, but has made
just four appearances for the Blues. Van Ginkel said: “Milan is a great
club. I think that I will have the chance to play at Milan in a great league
against strong sides.”
Fernando Torres’ supreme fitness helped him break all
previous records when undergoing his AC MIlan medical, boss Filippo Inzaghi has
revealed.Torres ended a disappointing four years at Chelsea after
his £50million switch from Liverpool, when he completed a two-year loan deal
with the Rossoneri. And Inzaghi has revealed the Spanish striker has made an
instant impact at the club before he has even kicked a ball. Inzaghi said after
their 3-1 win over Lazio: “He (Torres) will give us a big hand and the
opportunity to make the most of counter-attacks. He had his medical tests today
and set a new record for the team. He added: “What are our objectives? There
are perhaps three teams who have something more, but with hunger, temperament
and our fans back at San Siro, we could be a surprise.”
Southampton added
Atletico Madrid defender Toby Alderweireld and Red Bull Salzburg winger Sadio
Mane to their squad on deadline day. Alderweireld, 25, joined on a
season-long loan while Mane, 22, completed a £10million switch from the
Austrian League to begin his career in the English Premier League.
Queens Park Rangers
completed a transfer deadline day double swoop for Tottenham Hotspur midfielder
Sandro as well as Dynamo Kiev attacking midfielder Niko Kranjcar. Sandro,
25, joins for £10million while Kranjcar, 30, completes a second season loan
deal which sees him return to QPR after already serving with them in the
previous campaign.
Bayern Munich have signed Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso
from Real Madrid for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract.The
32-year-old had been at Real for five years following his £30m move from
Liverpool in 2009. The Spaniard, a Champions League winner in May, only signed
a new two-year deal in January. Alonso announced his retirement from
international football on Wednesday after 114 caps. Bayern moved for the
central midfielder after Toni Kroos joined Madrid after the World Cup and
fellow Spaniard Javi Martinez was ruled out until 2015 with a knee injury. “He
has bags of experience and a big personality,” said Bayern boss Pep
Guardiola. “We need a player with his quality and vision. I know he’s 32
but that doesn’t matter in this position, where you need intelligent players,
rather than the legs and stamina for the flanks.” Alonso said: “I had
a great time here, we have won big things and now a new chapter opens for me.
It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to take. The club did not want me to
go. It was my decision and I asked them to understand. The club didn’t share my
idea but they understood my need to start a new chapter, to start from zero in
a new club.”
Midfielder Shinji
Kagawa has rejoined Borussia Dortmund from Manchester United for an undisclosed
fee. The 25-year-old has signed a four-year deal with the German club, for
whom he played from 2010 to 2012, prior to his move to Old Trafford for £12m. Japan’s
Kagawa scored six goals in 57 appearances for United during a two-year spell in
which he found it difficult to secure a regular starting spot in the first XI. “I
wanted to realise my Premier League dream but now I’m happy to be back in
Dortmund in this great team. Dortmund is like a family,” the midfielder
said. He made just one appearance under new United manager Louis van Gaal this
season – in their 4-0 Capital One Cup defeat against MK Dons. “I said on
the day of my departure that my story with Borussia Dortmund was not
completed,” Kagawa told Dortmund’s official website. Kagawa joined Dortmund
from Cerezo Osaka and went on to make 61 appearances for the Bundesliga club,
scoring 24 goals. His departure comes as United this week completed the
British-record £59.7m signing of midfielder Angel di Maria from Real Madrid.
Hull City were one of
the more active teams on deadline day with no less than four new signings to
add to their ranks. Their biggest addition was the record £10million
acquisition of Palermo striker Abel Hernandez. Elsewhere, they completed a
switch for Southampton’s Gaston Ramirez for an undisclosed fee while also
adding the likes of Hatem Ben Arfa and Mohamed Diame on loan from Newcastle
United and West Ham United respectively.
Liverpool announced
on Saturday that they have sold Denmark international defender Daniel Agger to
his former club Brondby for an undisclosed fee. The 29-year-old centre-back
joined Liverpool from Brondby in 2006 and made 232 appearances for the club,
scoring 14 goals and winning the League Cup in 2012, but his spell at Anfield
was frequently disrupted by injuries. “Liverpool have been such a big part
of my life and my family’s lives for so long, that leaving is extremely
difficult,” Agger told the Liverpool website. “The opportunity arose
for me to return home to Brondby and at this stage of my career, it felt like
the right decision for me. “I wouldn’t leave here to go anywhere else and
that has been proven by my actions in recent seasons – I have turned down many
offers to move to other Premier League and European clubs. I would like to
thank the Liverpool supporters for the incredible backing they have given me in
my time here and the warmth and generosity of spirit displayed to my
family.” Agger slipped down the pecking order at Liverpool following the
arrivals of Dejan Lovren, Mamadou Sakho and Kolo Toure over the past year, but
manager Brendan Rodgers paid tribute to his achievements. Agger began his
career with Brondby and spent two seasons with the club, winning a Danish
league and cup double in 2005, before joining Liverpool in 2006 for a fee of
around £6 million.
Barcelona forward
Lionel Messi will not feature in Wednesday’s international friendly between
this year’s Fifa World Cup finalists Germany and Argentina due to injury. The
Albiceleste captain picked up a knock in his club’s 1-0 win over Villarreal on
the weekend, and will not feature for his country in the international break as
a precautionary measure.
Ivory Coast will not
be allowed to host their African Nations Cup qualifier against Sierra Leone in
Abidjan because of fears over the Ebola virus, the country’s football
federation announced. The Ivory Coast government has told the football
federation they will not allow the match to take place as they have banned all
travel between the two countries. “The authorities are taking no chances
against a possible Ebola outbreak,” media officer Eric Kacou told reporters. The
move follows Congo’s demand their scheduled qualifier in Nigeria next weekend
be moved to a neutral venue because they are reluctant to travel. Nigeria and
Sierra Leone are among the countries affected by the hemorrhagic fever that has
killed at least 1427 people in the deadliest outbreak of the disease to date. Sierra
Leone and Guinea, another where there have been deaths, have already been
ordered by the Confederation of African Football to move their home qualifiers
to neutral venues, but the Ivorian ban is the first time a government has told
its own team it cannot play at home. Ivory Coast are scheduled to hosts Sierra
Leone on September 6 in a Group D qualifier, but must scramble to find a
neutral venue. Sierra Leone have similar problems as they battle to find a
country willing to allow them to host their second game in the group, against
the Democratic Republic of Congo on September 10. Guinea have moved their Group
E opener against Togo on September 6 to Casablanca in Morocco. Nigeria, where
there have been five reported deaths because of the Ebola virus, are still on
course to host their opening Group A match against Congo on September 6, but
the Congo Football Federation have written to CAF to ask for it to be moved to
a neutral venue. Ebola can kill up to 90 percent of those infected though the
fatality rate in the current epidemic is around 60 percent. There are two
rounds of Nations Cup qualifiers scheduled on September 5-6 and a second on
September 10 as the group phase of the preliminaries for the finals in Morocco
next year get underway.
New Everton signing
Samuel Eto’o has announced his retirement from international football, joining
Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso in confirming they will no longer play for their
respective countries. Eto’o hangs up his international boots after 17
years, having made his debut as a 15-year-old against Costa Rica in 1997. As
Cameroon’s all-time leading goal-scorer, the four-time African Player of the
Year finishes his international career with 56 goals in 113 appearances for his
country, twice winning the African Cup of Nations while also winning gold at
the 2000 Olympic Games.
English Premier League
Transfer deadline day: Confirmed deals
Biggest signing this window by British club: Angel Di Maria
– Real Madrid to Manchester United for £59.7m.
Radamel Falcao – Monaco to Manchester United (season-long
loan)
Michael Keane – Manchester United to Burnley (loan until
January)
Nick Powell – Manchester United to Leicester (season-long
loan)
Danny Welbeck – Manchester United to Arsenal (£16 million)
Hatem Ben Arfa – Newcastle to Hull City (season-long loan)
Tom Lawrence – Manchester United to Leicester (£1 million)
Sadio Mane – Red Bull Salzburg to Southampton (undisclosed)
Kevin Doyle – Wolves to Crystal Palace (loan)
Krisztian Adorjan – Liverpool to Novara Calcio (undisclosed)
Toby Alderweireld – Atletico Madrid to Southampton (loan)
Morgan Amalfitano – Marseille to West Ham (undisclosed)
Niko Kranjcar – Dynamo Kiev to QPR (season-long loan)
Alvaro Negredo – Manchester City to Valencia (season-long
loan)
Oussama Assiadi – Liverpool to Stoke City (season-long loan)
Gaston Ramirez – Southampton to Hull City (season-long loan)
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa – Newcastle to Roma (season-long loan)
Sandro – Tottenham to QPR (£10 million)
Micah Richards – Manchester City to Fiorentina (season-long
loan)
James McArthur – Wigan Athletic to Crystal Palace (£7
million)
Ryo Miyaichi – Arsenal to FC Twente (season-long loan)
Zeki Fryers – Tottenham to Crystal Palace (£3 million)
Kris Scott – Swansea to Leicester (free)
Daley Blind – Ajax to Manchester United (£14 million)
Ricky Alvarez – Inter Milan to Sunderland (season-long loan)
Mohamed Diame – West Ham to Hull City (£3.5 million)
Sebastian Coates – Liverpool to Sunderland (season-long
loan)
Lewis Holtby – Tottenham to Hamburg (season-long loan)
Abel Hernandez – Palermo to Hull City (£10 million)
Javier Hernandez – Man Utd to Real Madrid (season-long loan)
Brian Lenihan – Cork City to Hull City (undisclosed)
Karim El Ahmadi – Aston Villa to Feyenoord (undisclosed)
George Boyd – Hull City to Burnley (£3million)
Modou Barrow – Ostersunds FK to Swansea (undisclosed)
Modibo Diakite – Sunderland (released)
Tomislav Gomelt – Tottenham to Bari (loan)
Souleymane Coulibaly – Tottenham to Bari (undisclosed)
Marco van Ginkel – Chelsea to AC Milan (season-long loan)
Benjamin Stambouli – Montpellier to Tottenham (undisclosed)
Nathaniel Chalobah – Chelsea to Burnley (loan)
Valentin Roberge – Sunderland to Stade de Reims (season-long
loan)
Jose Canas – Swansea to Espanyol (contract cancelled by
mutual consent)