Football transfer news

Daniele De Rossi has confirmed his desire to remain at Roma, in turn rejecting the advances of Premier League champions Manchester City.

The Italian had been strongly linked with a move to City but, as Goal.com exclusively revealed on Monday, he has decided to remain with the club he joined at the age of 17.

City had prepared an offer of £31 million pounds for the Italy international and were willing to offer a lucrative contract which would have seen him paid £7m a year.

However, though Roma were receptive to the possibility of allowing the 29-year-old to leave, the midfielder opted against a move.

The news comes as a blow to Roberto Mancini, who lost out to Chelsea in the race to sign Eden Hazard and similarly failed to capture the signature of Robin van Persie prior to his move to Manchester United.

The club have made just one signing thus far this summer, bringing in young midfielder Jack Rodwell from Everton in a deal believed to be worth £15m.

AC Milan and Inter have reached an agreement over a player-exchange deal involving Giampaolo Pazzini and Antonio Cassano, Goal.com can confirm.

On top of the inclusion of the 30-year-old Cassano in the transfer, Milan will also pay their arch-rivals a fee of €7 million for the services of former Fiorentina star Pazzini.

Milan CEO Adriano Galliani recently revealed that both clubs were in talks, and they have now come to a conclusion after further meetings on Monday.

Galliani met with Pazzini’s agent Tullio Tinti in the afternoon to discuss a three-year deal worth €2.8m per season plus bonuses, before visiting Inter chiefs Massimo Moratti and Marco Branca in the early evening to iron out the exact details of the moves.

Beppe Bozzo, Cassano’s agent, will meet with Inter on Tuesday to talk about a contract until June 2014, worth €3m per annum.

“We have to yet finalise the deal, but who wouldn’t like a player such as Cassano?” asked Moratti when questioned by reporters on the imminent transfer.

Pazzini, 28, will travel to Milanello on Tuesday afternoon to undergo his medical at the Rossoneri, and the deal could be concluded by the end of the day.

By Greg Stobart

Stoke City are planning a double raid on Tottenham with Tony Pulis ready to launch a bid to sign Tom Huddlestone and Michael Dawson.

Goal.com has learned that Huddlestone is set to leave Spurs on a season-long loan, while Dawson will be sold should the club receive a bid in excess of £8 million.

Stoke have made their move for both players as Andre Villas-Boas makes his mark on the Spurs squad, with defender Sebastien Bassong also on his way out of White Hart Lane having joined Norwich.

Both Huddlestone and Dawson were left out of the squad for Tottenham’s opening Premier League match against Newcastle on Saturday and Stoke have opened dialogue over moves for both players.

Last year, Potters boss Pulis tied up a double deal to sign Wilson Palacios and Peter Crouch from Spurs and he is hoping for similar success before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

They face stern competition for Dawson’s signature in particular, with QPR expected to make a ‘significant’ bid this week, according to sources close to the situation.

The defender, who has been named Tottenham’s club captain following Ledley King’s retirement, appears to have fallen to the bottom of the pecking order at White Hart Lane behind Younes Kaboul, Gallas, Jan Vertonghen and Steven Caulker.

Huddlestone has fought back from ankle injuries that restricted him to just two league appearances last term, but Villas-Boas believes the midfielder lacks the fitness and mobility to work in his system.

Spurs believe Huddlestone must leave on loan to build his mobility and sharpness but they are not ready to close the door on his future at the club, and are likely to insist on a recall option in January.

With Jermaine Jenas also available for transfer, Scott Parker out of action until October and Luka Modric waiting for his proposed move to Real Madrid, Huddlestone’s departure increases the pressure on Spurs to sign another midfielder this summer.

Villas-Boas has made Porto star Joao Moutinho his first choice to replace Modric and provide creativity in central midfield, but Tottenham have so far been unwilling to meet the Portuguese club’s £30m asking price.

Sebastien Bassong has announced his transfer from Tottenham to Norwich City on a three-year deal.

Bassong moved to White Hart Lane in 2009 for £8 million but fell out of favour last season, spending the second half of the campaign at Wolves.

The Cameroon international tweeted: “Morning tweeps!! I’ve been officially transfered to Norwich today! 3 years deal! Another chapter in my football life!

“I wish all the best to my old team mate at Spurs!! I’ve had great time with them! I hope they’ll success!”

Bassong was first introduced to English football at Newcastle United, who signed him from Metz in 2008. The Frecnh-born defender was unable to prevent the Magpies’ relegation from the top flight, but impressed enough to earn a move to Spurs.

The defender made 72 appearances in three seasons in north London and has featured 15 times for Cameroon’s national side.

He becomes Chris Hughton’s second centre-back signing in recent weeks, following the arrival of Michael Turner from Sunderland.

The Carrow Road boss told the club’s official website: “Sebastien is a player that I have known well since my time at Newcastle and I’m delighted to have brought in someone with the Premier League experience he has got.

“He will give us power and pace at the back and again add to the competition in the squad.“

PROFILE
By Kris Voakes | Italian Football Writer

A first team player at 16, Serie A regular at 18 and Champions League superstar at 19, Stevan Jovetic didn’t exactly hang around in making himself known to the footballing world, and he may well be about to make the next step to global notoriety with a move to Manchester City.

Many at Fiorentina didn’t know what to make of the Montenegrin when he arrived from Partizan Belgrade in the summer of 2008. His big mop of curly hair was not befitting of an €8 million (£6.3m) signing who Viola fans had been told could propel their side to the next level after their fourth-place finish the previous season had taken them into the promised land of the Champions League.

For much of his early days at the Artemio Franchi, Jovetic was used as an alternative to Adrian Mutu behind the sharpshooting Alberto Gilardino, and the first-choice pair’s combined 39 goals in 2008-09 saw him regularly forced to make an impact from the bench.

Indeed, it wasn’t until April that Jovetic scored his first goal in the famous purple shirt, but less than six months later he would announce himself in the grand manner.

JOVETIC AT FIORENTINA
2008-09
SERIE A APPEARANCES/GOALS COPPA ITALIA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TOTAL	29/2 1/0 5/0 35/2
2009-10
SERIE A COPPA ITALIA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TOTAL	29/6 2/0 6/5 37/11
2010-11
SERIE A COPPA ITALIA TOTAL	0/0 0/0 0/0
2011-12
SERIE A COPPA ITALIA TOTAL	27/14 2/0 29/14

After finding himself used in a platoon with Mutu at the beginning of 2009-10, as coach Cesare Prandelli looked to make the best of Jovetic, the Montenegrin made Europe sit up and take notice by grabbing a magnificent double against Liverpool in a 2-0 Champions League win in Tuscany.

It was a famous night for the club and proved key to their eventual progression from the group, while the Reds suffered an elimination from which they have arguably still to recover.

As for Jovetic, it proved to be a big moment in terms of belief that he could take on the role of talisman at Fiorentina, and he went on to score 11 goals in all competitions that season, despite the club struggling to make an impression on Serie A.

That was due in part to their exertions in Europe, which ended in a controversial away-goals defeat to Bayern Munich after another Jovetic double had looked set to send the Italians into the quarter-finals.

Just as ‘Jo-Jo’ seemed set to become a Fiorentina legend, he was dealt the huge setback of a knee ligament injury during the build-up to the 2010-11 campaign. It would see him miss out on the entire season, with the club’s struggles under Sinisa Mihajlovic meaning there was no real need to rush him back in for meaningless games as he made his way towards full fitness in the term’s latter months.

One year on, he returned to a very different looking Viola first team, with Mutu having moved on and Gilardino a yard or three shorter in the pace department. It meant that Jovetic was often used more as a traditional striker, but there remained clear evidence that his best work was still coming when allowed to roam between the lines.

He ended the campaign as the club’s top scorer with 14 goals, more than he had scored in his entire Fiorentina career before then, but his best performances always came when playing behind a front man rather than filling in for one, and he was even given the captain’s armband on occasion by Delio Rossi.

Now looking set for a transfer which could change his life for good, the 22-year-old has the chance to pick up where he left off before his knee injury two years ago. With a full season under his belt last term, he can now go into the new campaign with all guns blazing once more. But in whose shirt will he be playing?

If it is Manchester City’s sky blue that he dons, then he could well prove to be a great addition to Roberto Mancini’s side, so long as he is not expected to be a sharp-shooting centre-forward.

With the loss of Sergio Aguero to injury, the Premier League champions need a focal point, in the short term at least, but in Jovetic they would be acquiring a classy link player, able to fashion the kind of openings that the likes of an Aguero or even Edin Dzeko love to feed off.

His nimble feet, clever brain and ability to pick a pass in the final third without the slightest of fluster make him a real catch. Whereas his qualities have sometimes looked like a luxury at Fiorentina, at a club like City they could well be nurtured in a way that could make the Montenegrin a household name across the world.

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