Friday's transfer news: Manchester United agree deal for Harry Maguire, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool latest
The best of Friday’s transfer news, rumours and done deals
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The transfer window closes next week meaning that we are set for a busy few days of action as the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea scramble to bolster their squads ahead of the August 8 deadline.
Arsenal dominated the headlines yesterday as they finally completed the club-record move of Lille winger Nicolas Pepe, but they remain in the market for a defender. Celtic’s Kieran Tierney is their top target and could be announced very soon.
United meanwhile have entered talks with Juventus about a swap deal involving Paulo Dybala and Romelu Lukaku, with the Argentine’s agent already in England to hold negotiations with the Premier League club. And Spurs have entered the race for Sporting’s Bruno Fernandes. Follow LIVE updates below:
The summer transfer window closes at 5pm on Wednesday 8 August for all Premier League and Championship clubs, with teams in League One, League Two and across Europe able to sign new players until 11pm on Monday 2 September.
Good morning everybody and welcome to our live coverage of Friday's transfer news, rumours and done deals.
Yesterday's big news was, of course, that Arsenal have completed a club-record £72m deal to sign Nicolas Pepe from Lille OSC.
The 24-year-old underwent a medical at London Colney earlier this week after his representatives finalised a five-year contract with the Gunners.
The Ivorian becomes the third most expensive signing in Premier Leaguehistory - behind Paul Pogba (£89m) and Virgil van Dijk (£75m) – and breaks the £56m club-record Arsenal spent to bring Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the Emirates in January 2018.
Head coach Unai Emery said: "Nicolas is a highly-rated and talented winger who was wanted by many of the top teams in Europe. Signing a top-class winger has been one of our key objectives in this transfer window and I'm delighted he's joining.
"He will add pace, power and creativity, with the aim of bringing more goals to our team."
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Earlier this summer there were reports that Tottenham could snap up Dani Alves on a free transfer, but he has instead decided to return home.
The Brazilian full-back has signed a free transfer deal to play for his boyhood team Sao Paulo FC.
The club announced the move Thursday in a video with the 36-year-old former Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain defender.
Brazilian media reports the deal is valid until the end of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
"I could have chosen anywhere to play, but I chose to return to Brazil," the right-back said.
Alves's contract with PSG expired in July. The Brazilian said then he would like to remain in European soccer.
The right-back was Brazil's captain in the latest Copa America title winning campaign. He was also voted by organizers as the best player of the tournament.
Sao Paulo is in fifth position in the Brazilian championship after 12 matches.
Tottenham Hotspur have turned to Sporting midfielder Bruno Fernandes as an alternative to Real Betis' Giovani Lo Celso.
The north London club are determined to add to their squad ahead of this month’s transfer deadline and have been in negotiations with Betis since the start of the summer.
Spurs had a bid of around £52m rejected for the Argentina international and have so far baulked at triggering the Argentina international’s £88m release clause.
That has led them to look elsewhere with Sporting’s Fernandes seen as a viable alternative.
Fernandes is also a target of Manchester United but The Independent understands that, despite significant interest, the club have not made an offer for the 24-year-old.
Spurs meanwhile made enquiries into Fernandes’ availability at the start of the window and are now prepared to firm up their interest in Portugal international.
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Manchester United are on the verge of signing Monaco midfielder Hannibal Mejbri, who will complete a medical with the club today.
The 16-year-old starlet is set to become the club’s third signing of the summer, after the arrivals of right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka and winger Daniel James.
The wonderkid is set to join United in a deal worth around £9m.
Bayern Munich have publicly denied that they are on the verge of signing Manchester City winger Leroy Sané.
Reports in Germany on Thursday claimed Sané was close to joining the Bundesliga champions in a deal worth more than €100m.
Bayern have long held an interest in the Germany international, with head coach Niko Kovac expressing confidence last weekend that “dream player” Sané would eventually join his squad.
Kovac’s comments embarrassed Bayern, who have sought to distance themselves from a move for Sané since and on Thursday afternoon, the Bavarians forcefully dismissed fresh reports of a deal.
“News reports made today stating that Leroy Sané has decided to join FC Bayern do not correspond to the facts,” Bayern tweeted.
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Nicolas Pepe is delighted to be an Arsenal player after clinching a £72 million move from Lille but he is fully aware of the club’s history and those who paved the way for him.
Namely Kolo Toure, his compatriot who left an indelible mark during his time in north London as an ‘Invincible’ and after interest from Napoli, Gunners fans can thank their former player for helping to convince their new record signing to head to the Emirates instead of the San Paolo.
And Pepe has explained how regular conversations with Toure from their time together with the Elephants, where the latter was an assistant coach, helped convince him that Arsenal was where he needed to be to reach “the very top”.
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Celtic captain Scott Brown has said that team-mate Kieran Tierney has not been distracted by all the talk of an impending transfer to Arsenal.
Asked how Tierney has been coping with rumours surrounding his future, Brown replied: ‘He’s fine, he’s just come back from an injury. He’s looking forward to trying to get himself back into training and get himself back on the pitch as well.
“He’s been a phenomenal player for us for the last five seasons. We’ll just wait and see what happens but here’s hoping he stays.
“As it stands he’s a Celtic player and I’d love him to stay because of what he’s done the last five seasons.
“There’s always going to be speculation on top-quality players and that’s what Kieran is. There will always be speculation whether he goes through this window to the next window, it will always be there.
“That is what we expect when the team is doing so well and we’re doing well in Europe, and he’s performing well in Europe. It will always be there or thereabouts.”
Manchester United are struggling to strike an agreement with Paulo Dybala and his representatives, putting the deal with Juventus for Romelu Lukaku under severe threat.
The Independent has been told that there is a significant distance between the positions of the two parties, and the Argentine still remains unconvinced whether the move would be a “good step” for his career, especially since this is another season that United are not in the Champions League.
Dybala’s representatives are understood to have quoted the Old Trafford hierarchy £350,000 in wages, but there is as yet no agreement, and he has reservations about their ability to return to the top level.
Here's Miguel Delaney with the latest:
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Manchester United have submitted an £80m bid for Harry Maguire but Leicester are still holding out for an increased offer of £90m.
The Independent understands that the Foxes have stood firm on their asking price, hoping to force United into one last improved offer.
The £80m bid eclipses the world record fee for a defender (£75m) paid for Virgil van Dijk by Liverpool.
Maguire was left out Leicester’s Twitter announcement that confirmed the squad numbers of the 2019/20 season yesterday.
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