Month: September 2020

Newcastle United have signed England striker Callum Wilson on a four-year-deal from Bournemouth for about £20m.

The 28-year-old, who has four England caps, made 187 appearances for the Cherries and scored 67 goals.

Aston Villa were also interested in Wilson but withdrew a higher bid of £21m, with the former Coventry City striker preferring a move to Newcastle.

Wilson is Steve Bruce’s third summer signing since the collapse of the proposed takeover of the club in July.

He follows midfielder Jeff Hendrick and goalkeeper Mark Gillespie’s arrival

at St James’ Park on free transfers.

“From the minute I knew Newcastle were interested, it was definitely something that appealed to me,” Wilson told the club’s website.

“It’s a massive club with great history. Along the years, they’ve had great strikers so if I can emulate half of what they’ve done, I’d like to attempt that.”

Bruce, who has also been linked with Norwich City left-back Jamal Lewis and Wilson’s former Cherries team-mate Ryan Fraser, says he is “grateful” the club have made the signing happen.

The Newcastle manager said: “Callum is somebody I’ve admired for a long time and I’m delighted to get him. He has done fantastically well at Bournemouth and was deservedly playing centre-forward for England less than two years ago.

“The club has worked ever so hard to get Callum here and we have beaten off competition from a number of clubs.”

Wilson has scored one England goal – on his debut against the United States in November 2018 – and won his most recent international cap in the 6-0 win over Bulgaria in Sofia in October 2019.

The striker is the latest high-profile departure from Bournemouth following their relegation from the Premier League, with Nathan Ake moving to Manchester City in a £41m deal and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale signed by Sheffield United for £18.5m.

Barcelona forward Ansu Fati broke a 95-year national record to become Spain’s youngest goalscorer at the age of 17 years and 311 days against Ukraine.

Fati – also the youngest goalscorer in Champions League history and Barcelona’s youngest scorer in La Liga – curled home a fine 20-yard shot off the post on his first start.

He had already won a penalty, scored by Sergio Ramos, as he became the youngest player to start a Nations League match.

Ramos added a header in the win.

The Real Madrid defender has now incredibly scored 10 goals in his last 15 caps.

The 34-year-old has 23 goals for his country, as many as the great Alfredo di Stefano.

Manchester City defender Eric Garcia, 19, made his debut as a second-half substitute while new City signing Ferran Torres scored a late fourth with a volley at the far post.

Barcelona and Juventus are negotiating a fee that will allow Luis Suarez to make the move to the Serie A champions.

According to reports, the Uruguay international, Suarez has already reached a personal agreement over a three-year contract worth €10 million (£9m/$12m) per season with the Turin giants.

Suarez is set to sit an Italian language exam in the coming days to get a passport to allow him to make the move.

The 33-year-old is in the final year of his contract at Camp Nou, which will automatically renew for a further year should he feature in more than 60 per cent of matches.

New Barca boss Ronald Koeman has decided Suarez has no place in his plans for the future and the attacker called for clarity on his place in the squad from president Josep Maria Bartomeu last month.

The Catalan side could release Suarez but it would cost €14m (£13m/$17m) to terminate the former Liverpool star’s contract, which is far from ideal considering the financial issues the club has had to contend with amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Barca are already plotting a move for Inter star Lautaro Martinez to take Suarez’s place and partner fellow Argentina star Lionel Messi up front after the latter confirmed to Goal on Friday that he will stay despite his desire to leave for free this summer .

Koeman’s side have also been linked with a move for Lyon and Netherlands star Memphis Depay, who recently suggested he would be open to leaving the French side in the current transfer window. Lyon coach Rudi Garcia admitted on Sunday that he would not stand in the 26-year-old’s way if Barca made an offer.

Juve, meanwhile, are in need of a new forward after new coach Andrea Pirlo confirmed Gonzalo Higuain will leave a year before his contract expires.

Suarez joined the Blaugrana from Liverpool in 2014 and has scored 198 goals in 283 appearances as he helped them to four La Liga titles and a Champions League crown.

He scored 21 times in 36 games in all competitions last season as they finished second in the Spanish top-flight and crashed out of Europe’s top club competition at the quarter-final stage with an 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich.

Wolverhampton Wanderers have bolstered their defensive options with the signing of Fernando Marcal from Lyon.

The 31-year-old, who can play at both left wing-back and centre-back, has arrived at Wolves on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

After starting out his career in his native Brazil with Gremio, Marcal moved to Portugal, where he played for Torreense in the second tier and then Nacional in the Portuguese Primera Liga.

Following spells on loan from Benfica with Gaziantepspor and Guingamp, Marcal joined Lyon in 2017.

He made 42 Ligue 1 appearances and helped the French side reach the semi-finals of last season’s UEFA Champions League.

Marcal will report for testing on Monday a week before Wolves’ opening match of the season at Sheffield United.