Author: moshood

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Reports emerged on Thursday morning that Liverpool had agreed a £25million deal to sign the Spain international. And a deal is now said to be completed for the Bayern Munich star.

Romano claims Thiago promised to Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp in June that he would join the Reds.

Thiago played a crucial role in helping Bayern win the Champions League only last month.

But that appears to have been his final competitive game for the Bundesliga giants.

Liverpool are set to pay £20m in four instalments of £5m over the four years of the contract.

The extra £5m will be made up by performance-related add-ons.

Klopp was asked about a deal for Thiago on Thursday but refused to give anything away.

Nothing, actually. Absolutely nothing,” he told Sky Sports.

“How it always is, we are not part of speculation. We try to never be. That’s it.

When something is announced, you are the person I will call!”

“It’s completely normal that we have to make another step because other teams will make other steps as well.

“It has nothing to do with being champions, we constantly try to develop and find solutions to the new challenges before we have the problems with them. That’s how football works.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson has admitted he is a fan of Thiago but said there had been no sign of the 29-year-old at the club’s Melwood training ground amid reports the player was undergoing a medical.

“When you are at a club like Liverpool, you get linked with players all the time,” Robertson told Sky Sports.

For us, we focus on our squad. Nobody is in Melwood in terms of Thiago or any other player now for a new signing. Until something is signed on the dotted line then we don’t listen to rumours.

“Our aim is to excite fans, we excited them last season. They believed we might have won the league by Christmas time, but we [the players] didn’t.

“If we’re not exciting the fans, we’re not doing something right.

“If the club are exciting the fans with a potential link or potential rumour that we are going to sign this player then I suppose we are doing something right.

I have watched him. He is a fantastic player. A player full of talent. He would add to the quality of squad and probably any team in the world.

“If we get him, great. If we don’t then it is what it is. But we’ll wait and see until it’s confirmed then maybe I can sit down again and talk about his qualities a bit more.”

Leicester have agreed on a deal, in principle, to sign Roma’s Cengiz Under on loan with an obligation to buy him next summer, according to reports.

Brendan Rodgers’ side will pay £24.6m at the end of the season for the Turkish international who scored three goals in Serie A last year.

Rodgers has been in the market for a winger, having failed to attract Trincao from Barcelona.

The loan to buy deal is seemingly a mark of the way the club will do their business in what are currently difficult financial circumstances.

The 23-year-old joined Roma from Istanbul Basaksehir after impressing in his homeland, however, things haven’t gone exactly to plan for Under and he will be looking to kickstart his career once more.

Having made 26 Serie A appearances in each of his first two seasons, Under made just 18 league outings last term and now the Italian giants are hoping to cash in.

A talented youngster with plenty of tricks and skills who will add creativity to a Foxes side already boasting an abundance of forward-thinking players.

Rodgers will be delighted to get Under in at the King Power Stadium and will hope with the help of the rest of the squad he can get the best out of the winger.

Gareth Bale completed his emotional return to Tottenham on Wednesday night in a move that was driven by Jose Mourinho.

The Wales international has agreed terms on a year-long deal that Sportsmail understands to be worth more than £13million – part of which will be financed by Real Madrid – and he is relishing the prospect of relaunching his career at the club that propelled him to stardom.

There is no indication yet as to when Tottenham – who face Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the Europa League on Thursday – will make an official announcement but it will happen once a few minor contractual issues are signed.

Bale’s return to North London, seven years after he was sold to Madrid for a the world record fee of £90m, is laced with sentiment but it was a move that Mourinho, Tottenham’s manager, felt was absolutely imperative following his side’s dismal 1-0 defeat to Everton last Sunday.

Mourinho was adamant that Tottenham needed Bale’s drive and dynamism to enliven Tottenham’s attack and negotiations accelerated following discussion with Chairman Daniel Levy.

It is understood no players will go in the opposite direction.

The deal for Bale stands as a separate transaction as Tottenham will also move for Sergio Reguilon, Real Madrid’s left-back who has also been linked with Manchester United, on Thursday.

He is due to undergo a medical and will sign a five-year deal with Tottenham, paying £27million fee.

Mourinho had been coy earlier in the day when quizzed on how close a deal was to bring Bale back to north London.

While initially intimating he would make no comment, the Portuguese eventually revealed his admiration for the Welshman – a nod to how much he wanted to get the player.

‘I tried to sign him for Real Madrid which was not possible to do during my time there,’ Mourinho said in his Wednesday press conference. ‘But the president followed my instinct and my knowledge and the season I left he brought Gareth to the club.

There is no secret on that. Even Gareth knows that. But I’m not going to speak about him anymore because he is a Real Madrid player.’

Eric Dier, who will now become a team-mate of Bale’s, insisted prior to Sportsmail’s exclusive story confirming the deal that the players had not discussed Bale’s return in their squad WhatsApp chat.

But the defender described it as an ‘extremely exciting’ time for the club to bring back one of the game’s finest attackers.

‘From the fans’ point of view, when you’re linked with a player of that level, it’s extremely exciting for any club,’ Dier said.

‘For me personally it doesn’t really effect me in any way. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time.

‘There’s constantly speculation about people going different places, different talk in football every day.’

Bale became a fan favourite at Spurs where he scored 56 goals and provided 58 assists in 203 appearances.

In 2012-13 he was crowned Tottenham’s Player of the Year and also claimed the PFA Players’ Player of the Year, PFA Young Player of the Year, Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year and Premier League Player of the Season award.

He was the Premier League’s most impressive player and Real Madrid were aggressive in the transfer market in bringing him in to partner Cristiano Ronaldo at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Ronald Koeman has said Barcelona must sell before they can think about signing Lyon captain Memphis Depay as the head coach expects to start the La Liga season with no additions to the squad.

Depay has been tipped to reunite with former Netherlands coach Koeman at Barca following his exploits for Ligue 1 outfit and Champions League semi-finalists Lyon.

However, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas prior to Tuesday’s 2-1 loss against Montpellier claimed Barca cannot afford to buy Depay due to their finances caused by the coronavirus global pandemic.

Koeman, who has replaced Quique Setien at Camp Nou, was asked about former Manchester United forward Depay amid talk of a €25 million (£23m/$30m) transfer and he told Fox Sports Netherlands: “For Depay to arrive, you must first sell.”

Barca have been linked with a number of players following a miserable 2019-20 campaign, which saw the Spanish powerhouse dethroned by bitter rivals Real Madrid in La Liga and embarrassed 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.

After receiving Miralem Pjanic in a swap deal that sent Arthur to Serie A champions Juventus, Barca continue to be linked with Inter star Lautaro Martinez.

Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum has emerged as a possible target for Barca, while former star Thiago Alcantara has also been linked with a move from Bayern.

However, Koeman said: “We’re working towards the new season and I think we will go into it with the same group of players that we have now for pre-season.”

Barca will open their 2020-21 La Liga campaign at home to Unai Emery’s Villarreal on September 26.