Author: moshood

Everton have signed Colombia midfielder James Rodriguez for £22m from Real Madrid.

The 29-year-old has signed a two-year deal with an option for a third season in a move that sees him link up with Carlo Ancelotti for the third time, having played under him at Bayern Munich and Real.

Ancelotti signed James from Monaco as Real manager in 2014, but the former World Cup Golden Boot winner failed to truly establish himself in the Spanish capital, before going on a two-season loan to Bayern in 2017, by which point Ancelotti was in charge of the German side.

With one year remaining on his Real contract, James had been deemed surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu by Zinedine Zidane.

“I am really, really happy to be at this great club, a club with so much history, and here with a manager who knows me really well,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to achieving great things here – and winning things, which is what everyone’s aim is.

“I’ve come here to try to improve, to get better. I’ve also come here to help the team to win, to play good football – entertaining football.

“I’m convinced, with Carlo and his technical staff, we can achieve big things and one of the big reasons [I signed] was the presence of Carlo Ancelotti.

I have enjoyed some great times with him previously at two different clubs. That was a massive reason to come here.”

James was named in the team of the tournament at last year’s Copa America, where Colombia reached the quarter-finals.

He has 76 international caps and 22 goals – in addition to 25 assists – following a debut against Bolivia in October 2011, netting his first strike the following June in a meeting with Peru.

Rodriguez becomes the second South American midfielder to join Everton during this transfer window after Brazilian Allan arrived from Napoli on a three-year contract.

Newcastle have completed the signing of Ryan Fraser on a free transfer.

The Scotland international left Bournemouth at the end of last season after his contract expired and has signed a five-year deal with Steve Bruce’s side.

The 26-year-old is the second ex-Bournemouth player to join the Magpies on Monday, following Callum Wilson’s £20 million ($26m) transfer.

Ex-Aberdeen winger Fraser spent seven years with the Cherries, having joined in 2013 when they were in League One.

He made 208 appearances for the club as they ascended to the Championship and then the Premier League, where they spent four years before their relegation last term.

The winger says the decision to return to the English top-flight with the St James’ Park outfit was a “no-brainer” after penning a long-term contract.

“I’m absolutely buzzing for it – I came down to see the place the other day and it was all just good things; the manager, the place, the fans, the messages I’ve been getting,” Fraser told Newcastle’s website.

“It was just a no-brainer, really, to play in such a big stadium with such passionate fans, and being back up in the north again is big as well.

“So I’m really looking forward to it and I just can’t wait to show everyone what I can do, help the team and help us get back to where we belong.”

Meanwhile, Newcastle manager Bruce is excited to see Fraser in action for his side next season.

“I’m delighted to bring Ryan to Newcastle United. We have held off big competition to get his signature and that says a lot about what this club has to offer,” Bruce said.

His ability and his contributions on the pitch speak for themselves and I’m looking forward to seeing him getting to work in a Newcastle shirt.

“He has wonderful chemistry on the pitch with Callum Wilson, which excites me, and I hope it excites our supporters ahead of the new season.”

Newcastle, who finished 13th in the Premier League in 2019-20, will start the new campaign with a home match against West Ham on September 12 and host Brighton the following week.

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.

Chelsea have announced the signing of Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen for a total fee of £89 million.

The German passed his medical earlier today and will join Frank Lampard’s team immediately.

This makes it Chelsea’s sixth signing after signing Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen for a total fee of £89 million.

Havertz joins Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva, Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, and Malang Sarr as the new Chelsea additions for the upcoming 2020/21 English Premier League season.

The 21-year-old German joined the Bayer academy in 2014 and has spent six years at the club. In the 2019/20 season, Havertz scored 18 goals and created nine assists in 45 games and was deployed primarily as a central attacking midfielder.

The issue now will be about the balance in the side and how Frank Lampard fits all his new attacking players into the starting XI for the big games.

Lampard will have a lot of different options on his hands, but with the amount of congested fixtures this season, there will need to be some rotation.

However, Chelsea don’t seem to have finished with their transfers with reliable sources linking them to Edouard Mendy from Rennes. The Senegalese keeper has a price-tag of £30 million which Chelsea are ready to use.

Lionel Messi has put to bed the biggest potential transfer saga this summer by committing his future to Barcelona in a statement on Friday, confirming a dramatic u-turn after initially telling the club he wanted to leave.

“I wasn’t happy and I wanted to leave,” the player told Goal. “I have not been allowed this in any way and I will stay at the club so as not to get into a legal dispute. The management of the club led by Bartomeu is a disaster.”

It had earlier been reported the Argentine icon and Barca’s all-time top scorer would make his decision official as the club had made it known they would not sell him for less than the €700 million buyout clause in his contract.

“I’ll continue at Barcelona and my attitude won’t change, no matter how much I have wanted to go. “I told the club, the president, that I wanted to go.

I’ve been telling him all year. “I thought my time in Barcelona was over, sadly – I always wanted to finish my career here,” he said.