PEP NETS KYLE
City prise Walker out of Spurs in £54m deal
KYLE WALKER will today become the world’s most expensive defender when he joins Manchester City for a transfer fee that could rise to £54million.
The deal for the England right back, who has a medical today, will also break his new City team-mate John Stones’s £47.5m record for an English player. City will pay Tottenham an initial £45m plus £5m in payments over 12 months, with a further £4m based on performances. If those bonuses are met, the deal will beat the £50m Paris SaintGermain paid Chelsea to sign David Luiz in June 2014. Walker, 27, (right) who will sign a five-year contract, is expected to go on City’s US tour on Monday and could face Spurs in a friendly in Nashville on July 29.
City boss Pep Guardiola will now turn his efforts to adding more full backs, with talks developing over Monaco’s Benjamin Mendy and Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand.
Tottenham are pursuing Lyon’s Rafael, Ricardo Pereira of Porto and ex-Spurs youngster Adam Smith of Bournemouth.
KYLE WALKER will become the most expensive defender in the world when he joins Manchester City today in a deal worth £54million.
Walker will have a medical today to seal the deal, which also breaks John Stones’s £47.5m transfer record for an english player. City will pay Tottenham an initial £45million plus £5m in payments across 12 months, with a further £4m based on performances. If any of those bonuses are met, it will break David Luiz’s £50m record as the most expensive defender.
Walker’s former club Sheffield United are also due around £5m from a sell-on clause which gave them 10 per cent of the fee of his next transfer.
City and Tottenham had been £10m apart in their valuation but City accelerated talks after missing out on back-up Dani Alves, who snubbed their advances in favour of joining Paris Saint-Germain.
Pep Guardiola had identified Walker as his main target at right back after allowing Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary Sagna to leave. Walker, 27, who will sign a five-year deal, is expected to go on tour with City on Monday and could line up against Spurs in the International Champions Cup in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 29.
he played 39 times for Spurs last season but manager Mauricio Pochettino was happy to let him go after a strong end to the season from Kieran Trippier, who has since been handed a five-year contract.
City will now turn their efforts to adding more full backs, with talks developing over Monaco’s Benjamin Mendy and Southampton’s ryan Bertrand.
Tottenham are considering Lyon’s rafael, ricardo Pereira of Porto and Adam Smith of Bournemouth as they look to move quickly to replace Walker. In the past, Spurs have waited until the latter stages of the summer transfer window before making moves for players, but, with the season starting in less than five weeks, Pochettino wants to wrap up deals early and avoid the uncertainty.
In that mind, Juan Sebastian Veron was in London yesterday to finalise the transfer of Juan Foyth from estudiantes. Veron, the former Chelsea and Manchester United midfielder, now president of estudiantes, is friends with Pochettino and hopes to conclude a £9m deal for the Argentina Under 20 international, who is comfortable at centre back — in both a three and four-man defence — and has also been used in midfield.