Author: cimi

Ligue 1 big spenders Paris Saint-Germain have announced in their official website their latest scalp of Brazilian young sensation Lucas Moura from Sao Paolo on a four year contract.

The Sao Paolo attacking midfielder has been one of the top transfer targets of Manchester United and was expected to join the Premier League heavyweights until PSG outbid them by putting in a mammoth £35.5m offer. The player’s agent had revealed that the agreement between United and the player was ready but the French club put in a last moment bid which saw 20 year old Moura move to the Paris based club.

Carlo Ancelotti has been spending heavily this summer and Moura becomes their latest big name signing after securing the services of Milan duo Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic earlier. The player, who recently won a Silver medal in the Olympics representing his country, will move to his new club in January next year.

“The player and Paris Saint-Germain have also signed an agreement from January 2013 to July 2017.

“The player will join Paris Saint-Germain and his new teammates in January 2013 for the second half of the season 2012/2013.

“By signing a young talent of the quality of Lucas Rodriguez Moura Da Silva, Paris Saint-Germain is already preparing the future.”

Manchester City have been put on alert after Roma director of football Walter Sabatini has agreed that the club would be forced into selling star midfielder Daniele De Rossi if an irrefutable offer is made.

City boss Roberto Mancini has been a firm admirer of the Italian midfield general since his Inter days and now wants to make De Rossi his first signing this summer. With Dutchman Nigel de Jong likely to move away from Etihad, Mancini wants to bring in the gritty 29 year old to bolster the midfield.

De Rossi is a Roma faithful and has recently signed a new five year contract extension with the club. However, Sabatini confirmed that if big offers come their way they would be forced into considering them.

“He is certainly not for sale, but there are things in football that cannot be predicted,” Sabatini is quoted as saying in Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Roma cannot be detached from the reality that the movement of players may be necessary for survival – you see it elsewhere.

“If a team approaches us for De Rossi and proposes a figure where we cannot say no, we will sit around a table and talk about it. This does mean that he would then be sold, but it is a possible scenario.”

 

 

 

Napoli President has instructed an unidentified Italian agent to start talks with a Premier League over the transfer of Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani according to Italian news organization Sports Mediaset.

The 25 year old has been linked to Chelsea and Manchester City in the past but the President of Napoli Aurelio De Laurentiis had earlier strongly resisted any advances for the prolific striker. However, a disappointing Olympics campaign has apparently forced Napoli bosses to rethink their stance on Cavani’s sale and have asked an agent to hold talks with interested parties.

After the sale of Ezequiel Lavezzi to PSG, the Serie A club have been reluctant to let go of their most valuable striker but there would not be lack of keen clubs now that Laurentiis has privately expressed his desire to cash in on the South American star. Roberto Di Matteo is still in search of a striker to put pressure on out of form Fernando Torres for the starting berth and Cavani would be the ideal bet for the Londoners.

Roberto Mancini is yet to do any business this summer and looks to have lost the race to sign Arsenal captain Robin Van Persie with their city rivals United emerging as outright favorites to land him. The Italian has now shifted his focus once again back to Cavani who has scored 64 goals in his last two seasons for Napoli.

 

AC Milan have reportedly joined the race to sign Turkish playmaker Nuri Sahin from Real Madrid days after assistant coach Aitor Karanka expressed desire to keep the youngster at the club.

The former Borussia Dortmund star moved to the Santiago Bernabeu in the beginning of last season and since then has managed to play bit part role in Real Madrid’s title winning campaign. The player has repeatedly expressed his desire to stay on and fight for his place, but the coach feels that he should move to get more playing time. Arsenal are seriously interested in the talented playmaker and are ready to bring him on loan for the next season, although the reigning Spanish champions would push for a permanent deal.

Milan and Real Madrid squared off against each other on Wednesday in a friendly and according to Calciomercatonews, Adriano Galliani met Florentino Perez to make an informal inquiry into Sahin’s availability. Real are looking to offload the Turkey international on a permanent basis although Arsenal and Liverpool are keen on taking the 23 year old on a loan deal.

The Serie A giants have already started talks with Madrid over the possible move  of Kaka to San Siro and vice president Galliani is also eager to take Sahin along.

Chelsea could be on the verge of signing Spanish defender Cesar Azpilicueta after Marseille President Vincent Labrune revealed that they have received a ‘serious offer’ from Chelsea.

The 22 year old has represented Spain at all levels but is yet to earn a senior cap. He has been with Spain’s Olympics football team of which he has been appointed the captain. The Marseille full back is rumored to be valued at £7m and the officials at Stamford Bridge are trying to seal the deal at the earliest.

Cesar Azpilicueta has been impressive for the Ligue 1 side ever since his move from Osasuna and Roberto Di Matteo is keen to land him after failed attempts to sign Maicon from Inter. Jose Anigo, Sporting Director of the French club, seems to be willing to let the Spaniard leave.

“Everybody has to sell before buying,” Anigo told RTL. “In effect, it could either be (Stephane) M’Bia and Azpi. But for now, nothing has changed.

Chelsea have been in desperate search of a right back after Jose Bosingwa’s departure and after failing to secure the signature of other targets like Brazilian defender Maicon and Dortmund star Lukasz Piszczek.