The problem with spending £49m on a player who has yet to achieve very much is that the rest of the world’s clubs tend to notice. And so, if you’re a club such as Manchester City and have recently bagged Raheem Sterling for that kind of fee, then Wolfsburg aren’t going to flog you Kevin De Bruyne for less than £50m. Or at least that’s what they’ll tell you to your face, while secretly being happy to accept £38m and an explanation of precisely how Sergio Agüero, David Silva, Sterling and De Bruyne will enjoy being kicked up in the air by the Premier League’s more agricultural defences.
According to the Mirror, Manchester United will force PSG to pay an extra £3m for Ángel Di María after the forward posed for a selfie with the French club’s owner in Qatar before an originally mooted £44m move. Apparently Di María had permission to talk to PSG but not to travel to Qatar to speak to people there personally, all of which could lead the Mill into a rant about the age of personal communication being dead, and technology’s role in the decline of mankind, but this being an article on a website means it may not be the best place for it. And anyway, the fact he had to travel to Qatar to talk to the owners of a French club is head-shake-inducing enough, frankly. Still, however you slice it, a £3m fine for taking a selfie is a regime The Mill can get behind.
Meanwhile, Luis Enrique has said he wants the Manchester United target Pedro to stay at Barcelona. “As his coach I want him to stay. I know him since he was in the second team,” parped Enrique, failing to add that “the second team” is likely to be where Pedro would be doing most of his playing were he to remain in Spain. No less than what the Sun calls a United “delegation” have travelled to Barcelona with £20m to persuade Pedro to hop aboard their return flight home.
Kitmen at West Ham and Tottenham are nervously waiting the outcome of their respective clubs’ tussle o’ love over Javier Hernández, unsure whether they need to stock up on the letters that form the words Chicharito, Hernández or the more cost-effective Pea in order to iron them to the back of his shirt. Given that West Ham are offering £12m and Spurs are not, this one could be resolved reasonably soon. Tottenham will turn their attention to Crystal Palace’s Yannick Bolasie instead, laughing in the face of the £40m price tag Alan Pardew has hung around the player’s neck.
Alexandre Lacazette has been cleared by Lyon to leave the club and join the cast of a thousand forwards currently stinking up the Liverpool frontline, while the Anfield club’s Irish winger Sheyi Ojo has joined Wolves on loan. West Brom hope to swoop from the skies and snatch Anderlecht’s Dennis Praet from Arsenal’s clutches. Aston Villa’s Aly Cissokho has been hoofed as far out of Aston Villa as Tim Sherwood can manage (all the way to Porto, it turns out, on a one-year loan). Meanwhile Vitesse Arnhem are likely to be the sole beneficiaries if Chelsea’s interest in Cagliari’s 19-year-old Ghanaian midfielder Godfred Donsah reaches its usual conclusion.
