Vermaelen, Williams. Kone, Benteke, Icardi
TRANSFER TALK
As expected, 30-year-old former Arsenal centre-back Thomas Vermaelen has turned down West Ham United to join Italian side Poma from Barcelona. The Italian side are in the Champions League Play-off Round facing a two-legged tie against Portuguese side Porto on 17 and 23 August. As usual with Barcelona, they have included a buy-back option on him. Initially he joins the Italians on loan.
John Stones has been sold to Manchester City and Everton are bringing in 32-year-old Ashley Williams from Swansea City to replace him. He has travelled to Merseyside for a medical. One is young and full of potential, one has only a few years left, hardly a long-term purchase, more a Harry Redknapp stop gap buy.
They are also bidding on a 27-year-old centre-back from Sunderland, Lamine Kone. Reports suggest an £18-million bid has been made!
Besiktas have approached Liverpool to ask about 25-year-old Christian Benteke, but with the asking price Liverpool, have put on him he won't be joining the Turkish side. Crystal Palace are believed to have returned to the negotiating table in a bid to get Liverpool to lower their price for the misfiring forward. The trouble is he has lost value and Liverpool want the money back they wasted on him. 10 goals in 42 games doesn't shout £30-million.
I have been writing all summer that Mauro Icardi is not for sale and that Inter do not want to sell their captain. New Inter Milan boss Frank de Boer has reiterated that Icardi is not for sale. That scuppers all the Arsenal transfer talk.
"First of all we don't want to sell our key players for sure and Icardi is very important and I want to keep all of our important players.
"Of course we analysed the squad very carefully, but we've got to see how things develop. I want everybody to stay right now and then in a few weeks we will see if we need anything else."
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