The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Brazil winger Lucas challenged his new Spurs team-mates to win the Champions League after arriving from PSG for a reported £25 million.
Manchester City may have got nowhere with their interest in Mahrez, but the Premier League leaders paid a club-record fee of £57 million for young French centre-back Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao, in a deal confirmed on Tuesday.
Fantasy football alert! ?@Laporte is now available in the @OfficialFPL! #WelcomeAymeric pic.twitter.com/ddwqfSlPO7
— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 31, 2018
– Strugglers seek loan boost –
Swansea, battling for Premier League survival, brought Ghanaian forward Andre Ayew back to Wales from West Ham late Wednesday — 18 months after he joined the Hammers for £20.5 million.
The Swans said they had re-signed the 28-year-old for a club record but undisclosed fee on a three-and-a-half year contract that will reunite Ayew with brother Jordan at the Liberty Stadium.
Newcastle, just a point above the bottom three, sealed a similar season-long loan move for Islam Slimani, the Leicester striker.
Slimani has struggled to live up to his £30 million price tag as Leicester’s most expensive signing, with 13 goals in 46 appearance since his arrival in 2016.
But Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez, speaking after his side’s 1-1 draw with Burnley on Wednesday, said: “He is a player who can fight with defenders, challenge and score goals.”
Everton, who saw Theo Walcott, a £20 million window signing from Arsenal, score twice in a 2-1 win over Leicester on Wednesday, also made a loan signing Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala, now surplus to requirements at the Etihad after Laporte’s arrival, subject to Premier League clearance.
?#BemVindoLucas pic.twitter.com/dcJGjBC7CB
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 31, 2018
Earlier in the window, Everton’s local rivals Liverpool signed Virgil van Dijk from Southampton for £75 million — a world record for a defender.
German World Cup winner Mesut Ozil gave Arsenal a big boost by finally agreeing a new contract that will see him become the highest paid player in the club’s history, according to the BBC, which said he would earn around £350,000 a week.
There was no official confirmation from Arsenal but Ozil posted a tweet with a picture of him signing photos with the message: “Had a busy day signing things.”
