It is a tale of two men Manchester United wanted to sign in a World Cup year. Not Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera, or even Arturo Vidal and Mats Hummels. Rather, contrasting examples of how, and when, to do business at a time when players' values can suddenly be inflated by performances on the global st...
Posted by ESPN Staff
Inter Milan have announced the signing of Yann M'Vila from Rubin Kazan.
- Javier Zanetti: 'Play Like a Man'
M'Vila, 24, spent 18 months at Rubin Kazan after joining from Rennes in January 2013, making 24 league appearances.
The French midfielder trained with his new Inter teammates on Tuesday a...
Southampton have offered striker Jay Rodriguez a lucrative new contract and made it clear that they intend to hang on to their remaining star assets this summer, sources have told ESPN.
Having already sold Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana to Liverpool and signed off on the 27-million-pound transfer ...
Posted by ESPN staff
Dani Alves said he will meet with Barcelona manager Luis Enrique with the hope of determining where his future lies with the Catalan club.
Upon his return to Spain on Tuesday, Alves said he will meet with the club's new coach "and then we can decide whether I stay at the club or not. The decision is...
Posted by ESPN FC
The World Cup has only just ended, but there has been plenty of activity in the Premier League this summer as the top clubs have splashed out millions on some of the best players in the world. Here are the top six so far:
DIEGO COSTA - CHELSEA - £32m
Jose Mourinho finally got the striker that he had been craving when Chelsea paid Atletico Madrid 32 million pounds to secure the services of Brazilian-turned-Spaniard Diego Costa. Named "Diego" after Maradona by his football-loving parents, Costa grew up playing a brutal version of street football in Brazil, where he honed his physical attributes and has never looked back. Read
ALEXIS SANCHEZ - ARSENAL - £30m
One of the most talked-about young players in the game, Sanchez attracted the attention of Barcelona and Man City in 2011, eventually signing for the Spanish side. Now, in the summer of 2014, with three years of brilliance in La Liga under the belt, he has become another signature signing for Arsene Wenger. Read
CESC FABREGAS - CHELSEA - £30m
Fabregas emerged from the Barcelona cantera, but it was under the guidance of Arsene Wenger at Arsenal that he became one of world football's most sought-after players. Barcelona and his former colleagues mounted a relentless campaign to convince him to return to Camp Nou -- and in August 2011, that pursuit came to fruition. After three years in his native Catalonia, however, he decided to return to England -- this time with Chelsea, ahead of the 2014 World Cup. Read
ANDER HERRERA - MANCHESTER UNITED - £28.5m
Almost a year after a proposed move fell through, Ander Herrera finally completed a switch from Athletic Bilbao to Manchester United, marking an exciting new stage in the midfielder's career. Herrera was born in Bilbao, Spain, where he would later go on to shine as the fulcrum of Athletic's midfield, but was raised for the most part in Zaragoza, and it was there that he received his football education. Read
ADAM LALLANA - LIVERPOOL - £25m
The rise to fame of Adam Lallana came about quickly as he joined Liverpool in June 2014, with the midfielder one of English football's great success stories. Having begun his footballing journey at Bournemouth, Lallana moved 30 miles down the south coast to Southampton in 2000 to continue his development and made his first-team debut at the age of 18 just six years later. Read
FERNANDO - MANCHESTER CITY - £12m
The most surprising thing about Fernando's move to Manchester City from Porto in the summer of 2014 was that it had taken so long for a club outside of Portugal to pry him away from the Estadio Dragao. Born in Brazil, Fernando began his career in his homeland with Vila Nova, but it would be a 2007 move to Porto, renowned for their extensive South American scouting network, that would be the making of the young midfielder. Read
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