Liverpool
Liverpool announced on Tuesday the signing of 19-year-old Belgium striker Divock Origi from Lille, but said they will loan him back to the French side for the 2014/15 campaign.
“I am very happy and delighted a club as big as Liverpool showed interest in me. I’m very excited,” Origi told the Liverpool website.
“I know it’s a club with a great history, great fans and a lot of great players. For me, Liverpool is one of the greatest clubs in the world and I’m very excited to be part of this great history.”
Origi travelled to the United States, where Liverpool are on a pre-season tour, in order to complete the deal. Liverpool did not disclose the length of his contract.
After a breakthrough campaign with Lille in 2013/14, Origi impressed for Belgium at the World Cup, scoring an 88th-minute winner against Russia in the group phase to send his team into the last-16.
Origi is Liverpool’s fifth close-season signing, following the arrivals of the former Southampton trio of Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren, and German midfielder Emre Can from Bayer Leverkusen.
While the teenager will have to wait at least a year before making his Liverpool debut, he is already excited about the prospect of becoming a part of manager Brendan Rodgers’ side.
“The fact we have a young team and can grow is the most exciting part,” he said.
“With the coach we have, he’s a great manager who can handle a young team. He’s said a lot of good things about Liverpool and told me it’s the perfect club for me.
“This year I’ll have a chance to play at European level, in the Europa League or Champions League.”
Liverpool narrowly lost out to Manchester City in the battle for last season’s English Premier League title.
They start the 2014/15 season at home against Southampton on August 17.
Everton
Everton are set to announce the signing of Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku in a club-record deal after calling a press conference for 7pm.
It is reported the club have finalised a deal, reported to be worth £25million (Dh155m), to sign the Belgium international on a five-year contract.
Reports began emerging in the 21-year-old striker’s homeland earlier on Wednesday of a deal being done and the striker tweeted a picture of himself on a plane with the message “Time to write a new chapter.....”, although whether the inclusion of a partially-obscured exit sign behind the player’s head was intentional or accidental is open to debate.
Everton
Highly regarded England midfielder Ross Barkley has signed a new four-year contract with Everton, the English Premier League club announced on Tuesday.
“Ross Barkley has committed his long-term future to Everton by signing a new contract at Goodison Park,” Everton announced on their website.
“The 20-year-old midfielder has put pen to paper on a new four-year agreement, meaning he will remain with the club until at least the end of the 2017/18 season.”
Barkley, 20, exploded onto the scene in the Premier League last season and was nominated for the Professional Footballers’ Association Young Player of the Year award.
The skilful central midfielder was rewarded for his form with a place in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for the World Cup and appeared in all three of his side’s group-stage games in Brazil.
He came off the bench in the 2-1 defeats against Italy and Uruguay and started in the 0-0 draw with Costa Rica, leaving him with nine international caps to his name.
Barkley has been linked with clubs including Manchester United, but he said that he had had no second thoughts about tying himself to Goodison Park.
“Signing a new contract is a dream. I’ve played for Everton most of my life. This is a big thing for me,” he told the club website. “It didn’t take any persuading. As soon as I got told about it, I wanted to sign.”
Barkley has made 56 appearances since making his debut against Queens Park Rangers during the 2011/12 season and manager Roberto Martinez believes that he will continue to improve as a player.
“Ross has signed a new contract to reflect his new role and development,” said the Spaniard. “When you talk about assembling squads and getting ready for the new season, for us it is as big news as you can get.
“Ross is still a young man and there is a long way to go in his development, but as it stands he is a massive part of our squad.
“It is a big moment, as every Evertonian will tell you Ross Barkley is the sort of player everyone would love to pay to watch him play.
“He brings back memories of the big legends we’ve had at the club. But saying that, he is a young man and his best years are yet to come.”
Everton chairman Bill Kenwright described Everton and Barkley as “the perfect fit”.
He added: “This was an important agreement and, I have to say, was conducted in a way that showed clearly the devotion to Everton Football Club of everyone involved.”
Barkley follows 25-year-old Irish right-back Seamus Coleman in signing a new contract during the close season.
Everton have also signed Bosnia-Herzegovina midfielder Muhamed Besic from Hungarian club Ferencvaros and turned Gareth Barry’s loan move from Manchester City into a permanent transfer.
Martinez’s side finished fifth in the Premier League last season, narrowly missing out on a place in the Champions League. They open the 2014/15 campaign with an away game at promoted Leicester City on August 16.
Southampton
Midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin and striker Jay Rodriguez will not be leaving Southampton, the English Premier League club’s chairman said on Tuesday.
According to media reports Schneiderlin and Rodriguez have been close to joining Tottenham Hotspur, adding to a player exodus that has left Saints fans concerned about their ability to compete this season.
Chairman Ralph Krueger has already sanctioned the sales of Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren to Liverpool, Calum Chambers to Arsenal and Luke Shaw to Manchester United.
Those deals have dismantled the squad that finished eighth last season under Mauricio Pochettino who left St Mary’s in the close season to take over at Tottenham.
But Krueger gave a guarantee to Southampton fans that French international Schneiderlin, 24, and England’s Rodriguez, 25, would be staying on the south coast.
“That’s correct,” he told Sky Sports News. “They are part of the core that we have decided to keep in Southampton – Jay Rodriguez and Morgan Schneiderlin are not for sale.
“All of those stories are false,” added Krueger of the Spurs reports.
“It is come September that will be judgment day,” he said in reference to the end of the transfer window. “I think people need to realise we are in a process right now.”
Krueger added that manager Ronald Koeman had money to spend and that new players would come in during the window.
“Now we have finances and once again we are excited to continue the rebuilding process in the next few weeks,” he said.
“We will make transfers to strengthen the squad. I can understand some frustration maybe in and around our fans but we needed to stay silent (on outgoings) to bring in the best deals for the club.
“Ronald Koeman has done an outstanding job with his staff thus far in pre-season. We’re extremely pleased with the work that’s going on at St Mary’s.
“We know we are going the right way but we also know we need more players and we need more depth in our line-up.”
Galatasaray
Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder is staying with Istanbul giants Galatasaray this season despite speculation that he would leave following his sparkling showing in the World Cup, the club president said Tuesday.
Galatasaray will be seeking to make a major impact in the Champions League this season after signing former Italy football manager Cesare Prandelli as their new coach.
“Sneijder is going to stay with Galatasaray,” said Galatasaray president Unal Aysal, quoted by Turkish media.
“It’s not just our opinion but that of Cesare Prandelli and the player. There can be no talk of a split between us.
“He had a tiring season and right afterwards he played at the World Cup. He will rejoin us after the holidays,” he added.
Aysal had previously said that the club was willing to sell Sneijder if another club was willing to cough up for a EU€20 million (Dh98.4m) release clause.
Sneijder, who joined Galatasaray in 2013 from Inter Milan, had been linked with a move to Ligue 1 side AS Monaco or English giants Manchester United or Chelsea.
Hull City
Last season’s beaten FA Cup finalists Hull City on Tuesday announced the arrivals of Scotland international left-back Andrew Robertson from Dundee United and centre-back Harry Maguire from Sheffield United.
Robertson, 20, cost Steve Bruce’s side £2.85m (Dh17.7m), according to the club website, while the fee for 21-year-old Maguire was £2.5m. Both players have signed three-year deals.
Robertson joined Dundee United from Scottish third-tier side Queens Park just over a year ago and was named Scotland’s Young Player of the Year after an excellent maiden campaign.
England Under-21 international Maguire, meanwhile, made 166 appearances for Sheffield United and was named the club’s Player of the Year in each of the last three seasons.
“A lot of things attracted me to Hull City. But a big factor was the manager,” Maguire told the club website.
“Steve Bruce is a great manager. He was a centre-back himself during his playing days – and a very good one at that – so I’m sure he’ll be willing to pass on a bit of advice.”
Robertson and Maguire join Jake Livermore, Robert Snodgrass, Tom Ince and Karim Rossi in arriving at the KC Stadium during the close season.
Hull, beaten 3-2 by Arsenal in last season’s FA Cup final, open their Premier League campaign away to promoted Queens Park Rangers on August 16.
Panathinaikos
Dutch attacking midfielder Ouasim Bouy has been loaned by Juventus to Panathinaikos for an undisclosed fee, the Greek Super League club announced on Tuesday.
Bouy, 21, has alraedy been loaned to Germany’s Hamburg and Italian Serie B outfit Brescia by Juventus since he joined the Serie A club in 2012.
He has played for the Netherlands Under-17 and Under-19 squads from 2009 to 2013.
“I am very happy to be playing for such a significant club as Panathinaikos,” Buoy said.
“I’ll give everything to help the team achieve its goals at the end of the season but also to improve myself on a more personal level.”
Luiz Felipe Scolari
Luiz Felipe Scolari did not have to wait long to find work after his Brazil World Cup disaster as he was announced as Gremio’s new coach on Tuesday.
The Porto Alegre club took to its Twitter feed to confirm the appointment.
Scolari has already coached the club twice before in 1987 and from 1993 to 1996.
He led Gremio to the Copa Libertadores crown in 1995 and the Brazilian championship a year later.
The 65-year-old, who was replaced as Brazil coach by Dunga, endured a miserable World Cup as his side were humiliated 7-1 by Germany in the semi-finals before losing 3-0 to the Netherlands in the third-place play-off.
However, he was the coach who led Brazil to their last World Cup triumph in 2002 in Japan and South Korea.
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE