Luka Modric’s move from Spurs to Real Madrid in 2012 was followed by a strange announcement from the London club. “The club can announce that it has signed a partnership agreement with Real Madrid FC and reached agreement for the transfer of Luka Modric, subject to medical, to the Spanish club. The partnership agreement will see the two clubs working together in respect of players, coaching, best practices and commercial relationships.”
Having sold Gareth Bale to the Madrid giants a year later, and after receiving no players, coaches, no announcements of joint commercial ventures, Tottenham ended the ‘partnership’, having watched Real sell Mesut Özil to Spurs’ biggest rivals. But time, it appears, is a healer and just three years after that divorce, Real are back, baby, with cash in a wheelbarrow, and a note that reads “Dele Alli, por favor.”
Real Madrid are thought to favour a summer move for the England international, who earns a measly £60,000-a-week at the Lane. The 20-year-old signed a new contract in both January 2015 and September (to 2022) but has scored five times in his last three Premier League games. Spurs are loth to lose one of their most promising players but Mauricio Pochettino has valued Alli around the £50m mark and Levy is said to prefer any sale to a club abroad, rather than a Premier League rival.
Paulo Dybala has already told Real president Florentino Pérez that he will sign for them in the summer, according to the Barcelona newspaper Mundo Deportivo. Juventus have offered the Dybala a new contract until 2021 but that is still €2m shy of the salary his compatriot Gonzalo Higuaín earns in Turin.
Crystal Palace’s Christian Benteke has turned down a £40m offer from the Chinese side Beijing Guoan. The striker feels settled in London after his £27m move from Liverpool and looks set to become a key part of Sam Allardyce’s plans. The Belgian grew up playing street football as a kid in Liège with Axel Witsel, who has just agreed a switch to Tianjin Quanjian worth nearly £300,000-a-week, similar to the Lionel Messi’s wage at Barcelona. Witsel turned down a move to Juventus, explaining “there was a crucial offer for my family that I couldn’t turn down. The leadership at Juventus have always behaved like gentlemen with me and I can only be grateful to them. I will cheer for Juventus and I hope they can win the Champions League. Then who knows, maybe one day in the future our paths will finally meet.”
RB Leipzig are said to be preparing a £15m offer for Brentford striker Scott Hogan, which would make the Englishman their record signing. The German side are three points off the top of the Bundesliga but are no strangers to the Championship’s finest, having spent £13m on Nottingham Forest teenager Oliver Burke in the summer. One of the speediest players in England’s second tier, Hogan has scored 14 times this season already, and would join a lightning-quick attack that includes Timo Werner and Yussuf Poulsen.
Cesare Prandelli has confirmed that Valencia’s failure to sign Simone Zaza was the reason that he resigned as head coach. The Italian manager quit just three months after joining Valencia, who sit in 17th in La Liga, and targeted Zaza – on loan at West Ham from Valencia – as a January reinforcement. “I felt undermined,” said Prandelli. “I arrived at a big project and left with a poor impression. Why is Zaza not here? I do not know. But on the 28th, the president told me I had 24 hours to choose between a striker and a midfielder and that for me was not a progressive move. I think an outside counsellor advised [owner] Peter Lim no to sign him.”
Ten goals in 55 Championship appearances is apparently enough to earn you a move to the Premier League these days: Rudy Gestede is on the verge of sealing a transfer from Aston Villa to Middlesbrough, where he will likely spend most of his time reminiscing about playing well with his old Blackburn Rovers mucker Jordan Rhodes on the Boro bench. “The two clubs have agreed a fee [thought to be £6m] and he’s up there for talks”, said the Villa manager Steve Bruce on Monday.
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