Section:GDN 1N PaGe:42 Edition Date:190808 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 7/8/2019 21:05 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
- The Guardian Thursday 8 August 2019
(^42) Sport
Football
Tot ten ha m
agree £55m fee
with Real Betis
for Lo Celso
Zaha requests move after Palace
turn down Everton’s latest bid
Fabrizio Romano and Ed Aarons
Ed Aarons
Tottenham have reached an agreement
with Real Betis to sign Giovani Lo Celso
for a club record-equalling €60m
(£55.3m) while Mauricio Pochettino
is also hoping a deal for Fulham’s Ryan
Sessegnon can be completed before
to day’s transfer deadline.
On a busy penultimate day of the
Wilfried Zaha has submitted a transfer
request to Crystal Palace after they
rejected Everton’s latest off er and
insisted they will not accept less than
£100m for the Ivory Coast forward.
Marco Silva’s side have emerged as
the only serious suitors for Zaha since
Arsenal’s bid for the 26-year-old was
rejected this summer. Everton hav e
already seen a £52m bid rejected by
Palace at the end of July.
Having signed Moise Kean from
Juventus , however, Silva is under-
stood to be keen to add more attacking
options to his squad and on Tuesday
Everton submitted a new off er of £70m
plus James McCarthy that would have
also involved the Turkey striker Cenk
Tosun joining on a season-long loan.
That was immediately rejected by
Palace, who are reluctant to sell with
the Premier League’s transfer window
closing today and concerns about how
they could replace such a crucial player
before the start of the new season.
It is understood that Zaha is furious
at the decision and disappointed that
the south London club are blocking
the transfer despite having agreed last
summer to accept any “reasonable
off ers” they received.
After his representatives held talks
with Palace yester day he submitted
the transfer request in an attempt to
force their hand before Saturday’s
opening game of the season, a t home
to Everton.
It is understood that the chairman,
Steve Parish, remains committed to
retaining Zaha, although there is a
recognition that they cannot keep a
player who is unhappy.
Everton, who expect to complete
the loan signing of the France
international Djibril Sidibe from
Monaco, also saw a bid for Arsenal’s
Alex Iwobi rejected but are still hope-
ful of adding extra players to Silva’s
squad having agreed to sell McCarthy
to Palace.
The Republic of Ireland midfi elder
travelled to London on Tuesday for
his medical having agreed terms on a
£3m move while Roy Hodgson’s side
have also signed Victor Camarasa on a
season-long loan from Real Betis. The
Spaniard spent last season on loan at
Cardiff and Palace will have the option
of making his move permanent at the
end of the season for £15m.
Lukaku to join
Inter for £70m
after United
accept new off er
Fabrizio Romano
Romelu Lukaku is set to join
Internazionale after Manchester
United accepted the Italian club’s latest
off er of £70m including add-ons for the
striker. The Belgian travelled to Milan
yesterday and will have a medical at
the Serie A club’s headquarter s today.
The player’s representative,
Fede rico Pastorello, spent most
of yesterday in talks with United
representatives in London to sort out
the long-running diff erences and the
two sides came to an agreement in
the early evening. United had already
knocked back one bid from Inter and
had been hoping to receive a fee of
around £80m for the Belgium inter-
national but were in the end persuaded
to accept the latest off er.
Lukaku was desperate to join Inter
and his relationship with the United
manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, had
deteriorated in the past week. He was
fi ned by United for missing training
without permission this week.
Inter had previously off ered £64.7m
including add-ons paid over two years
and were initially hoping that the
Belgian would join on loan for the fi rst
year. However, United’s resistance led
to Inter, under pressure from their new
manager, Antonio Conte, rais ing their
bid yesterday.
Inter’s fi nal off er consisted of an
initial £64.7m plus a further £5.3m
in add-ons. United have managed to
include a sell-on clause in the deal
but do have to pay part of the fee to
Everton. The player has agreed a fi ve-
year deal with Inter worth around
£300,000 a week. Conte is a long-time
admirer of Lukaku and wanted to sign
the Belgian when at Chelsea , so will be
delighted to have got his man.
Lukaku scored 27 goals in his fi rst
season at the club but managed only
15 in 2018-19. He joined United from
Everton for £75m plus £15m in add-ons
in July 2017.
The fee paid for Lukaku is a transfer
record for Inter, the pre vious record
for the Italian club being in 1999 when
Christian Vieri joined from Lazio for
€46m (£42.5m).
United will be pleased that the saga
is over and Solskjær is confi dent he
can be competitive with the options
available up front. He has Marcus
Rashford, Anthony Martial, Alexis
Sánchez and Mason Greenwood from
whom to choose.
United were interested in signing
Christian Eriksen and Paulo Dybala
but have ended their interest in
both players. The club decided
that Dybala’s wage demands were
excessive and Eriksen would prefer
a move to Spain if he were to leave
Tottenham this summer.
Dybala is earning more than
£300,000 a week at Juventus before
tax and was looking for an increase in
that at United. A further complication
was his image rights, which are expen-
sive, as well as agents’ fees of up to
£12m.
It has been a mixed transfer summer
for United. They fi nished sixth in
the Premier League last season, a
demoralising 32 points behind the
champions, Manchester City, but have
been able to add the central defender
Harry Maguire from Leicester for
£80m, Aaron Wan-Bissaka from
Crystal Palace for an initial £45m as
well as Daniel James from Swansea for
£15m in this window.
They also look like keeping hold
of the midfi elder Paul Pogba, who
has been the subject of consistent
interest from Real Madrid through
the summer.
Pogba had said in June that “it could
be a good time for a new challenge”
but Solskjær said last weekend, after
beating Milan 5-4 on penalties to main-
tain their 100% record this summer,
that he had “no doubts at all” over
Pogba’s commitment to the club.
Asked then if Pogba will feature on
the opening day of the season, when
United face Chelsea at Old Traff ord,
Solskjær replied: “He should be OK. I
hope so, anyway.”
▲ Wilfried Zaha has been valued
at £100m by Crystal Palace
▼ Ole Gunnar Solskjær is happy
with the strikers he has available
DAVID LIDSTROM/GETTY
Conte is a long-
time admirer and
wanted to sign the
Belgian at Chelsea
▼ Romelu Lukaku missed
training and was desperate
to join Internazionale
MATTHEW PETERS/MANCHESTER UNITED VIA GETTY
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