Author: Amrit Santlani
Real Madrid unveiled their new signing, Arda Guler, on Friday (July 7) after signing the Turkish midfielder from Fenerbahce. Nicknamed the next ‘Ozil’, Guler was also being heavily pursued by Barcelona. However, he finally decided to join the Santiago Bernabeu-based club.
Real Madrid also paid the Turkish club a €20 million transfer fee, along with a €10 million performance bonus, plus a 20% sell-on clause, which turned out to be a much more lucrative offer for the player’s parent club.
After Guler made it clear that he wanted to leave Fenerbahce, the two La Liga giants tried to woo him. But in the end, Los Blancos presented a better package. In addition, Barça have other priorities, as they need to balance the books in order to focus on other deals and contract extensions for current players.
“Many clubs wanted me, but I decided to go to Real Madrid. This is the biggest club in the world“, said the 18-year-old. “I’m not going out on loan, that’s not an option. I want to stay and play for Real Madrid. I want to become a Real Madrid legend” he added.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are expected to close a deal with AC Milan that would see Christian Pulisic join AC Milan for €22 million.
Both clubs are in the final stages of concluding the deal, with the payment structure under discussion.
New Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino was asked about Mason Mount ‘s departure to Manchester United, to which he replied that the club has other options and will be looking to add more ‘quality’ to the squad.
“I don’t know what happened to Mount, but we have to move on. The past is the past. We don’t have the whole team, but they’re very open. We have quality, let’s add MORE quality” said the Argentine coach.
PSG have been very active this summer, in addition to the Kylian Mbappé saga, the club has been looking to rebuild its squad by officially confirming the signings of Manuel Ugarte, Marco Asensio and Milan Škriniar.
PSG are also expected to unveil Lucas Hernández, Kang-in Lee and Cher Ndour in the coming days.
It was a busy Friday for Arsenal, as the club confirmed William Saliba ‘s contract extension until 2027, and two of their summer signings, Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice, also underwent their respective medicals.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich are also making moves in the summer window, as they have their eye on Kyle Walker. The club feels confident of securing the England right-back. The Bundesliga giants are also expected to add Kim Min-jae, with the South Korean successfully completing his first part of the medical. Bayern are also monitoring Valencia’s Giorgi Mamardashvili, while Yann Sommer could be allowed to move on this summer with Inter Milan in pursuit of the Swiss goalkeeper.
Manchester United are on the hunt for Andre Onana, who had his €50 million offer turned down. Although the two clubs are still in negotiations with an expected settlement of €55 million, Onana has already agreed terms with United.
Sadio Mane supposedly has many offers from Saudi Arabia. The former Liverpool striker, however, has no intention of leaving Bayern after joining them last summer.