Man City signs striker, Alli leaves Spurs on bust deadline day in England
LONDON: FEB. 1 – Manchester City has completed the deadline day signing of Argentine striker Julian Alvarez from River Plate for a fee of around 15 million pounds (20.2 million U.S. dollars).
The striker has agreed to a five-and-a-half-year contract with the Premier League leaders but will remain on loan at his current club until the summer.
The club sees Alvarez, who has scored 36 goals in 96 appearances for River Plate, as a long-term replacement for Kun Aguero, who joined Barcelona last summer and subsequently had to retire due to a heart problem.
“Julian is a player we have monitored for some time. He is capable of operating in a number of attacking roles, and we firmly believe he’s one of the best young attacking players in South America,” commented City’s Director of Football, Txiki Bergiristain.
Other deadline day signings in the Premier League saw struggling Burnley sign Dutch international striker Wout Weghorst from German side Wolfsburg for around 12 million pounds, while Brentford has given a six-month contract to Danish international Christian Eriksen, just seven months after he suffered a cardiac arrest in last summer’s European Championships.
Tottenham has completed a double swoop from Juventus to sign Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur with a contract until the end of June 2026, while Swedish international Dejan Kulusevski also moved to the club on an 18-month loan.
Aston Villa’s Matt Targett joined Newcastle United on loan to become their fourth signing of the month, with Dan Burn’s move from Brighton seeing them quickly complete a fifth.
Dele Alli left Tottenham with the former England midfielder, just 25-years old, aiming to kickstart his career under new coach Frank Lampard at Everton.
Alli initially joins for nothing, but the fee will rise in accordance with incentives and could climb to a final total of around 40 million pounds.
Meanwhile, the biggest signing in Scotland saw former Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey join Glasgow Rangers on loan from Juventus.
-Xinhua
