Barca complete ‘deal’ for Umtiti
Spurs sign Janssen
BARCELONA, July 12, (Agencies): Barcelona have completed the signing of France defender Samuel Umtiti from Lyon in a deal worth 25 million euros ($27.7 million), the Spanish champions announced on Tuesday.
Umtiti, 22, will pen a five-year contract with Barcelona which includes a buy-out clause of 60 million euros, the club said in a statement.
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu confirmed last month that the two clubs had reached an agreement over the transfer while Umtiti was on international duty for France at Euro 2016.
The Cameroon-born centreback made his France debut in the quarter-finals against Iceland and retained his place in the team for the next two matches, including Sunday’s 1-0 defeat by Portugal in the final. Umtiti, who can also play at left-back, will be officially presented as a Barcelona player on Friday after undergoing a medical at the Camp Nou.
Umtiti
Prolific Dutch international striker Vincent Janssen signed for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday from AZ Alkmaar for a reported fee of £17 million ($22.3m, 20.1m euros), the buying club announced.
The 22-year-old — well known to English football fans having scored in a 2-1 friendly win over England in March this year — signed a four-year contract.
Janssen, who finished top scorer in the Dutch league last term with 27 goals and won the Johan Cruyff trophy for young player of the year which future Spurs teammate Christian Eriksen won when at Ajax, joins Kenyan midfield enforcer Victor Wanyama as fresh faces at Spurs.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino has been strengthening the squad for the twin challenges of the title race — having finished third last term — and the Champions League.
Republic of Ireland international midfielder Glenn Whelan’s sterling service to Premier League side Stoke was rewarded with a one-year extension to his contract on Tuesday.
The deal with the 32-year-old — capped 73 times since making his international debut in 2008 — will see him stay at the club until 2018.
That would make it a decade at the Britannia Stadium, having joined from Sheffield Wednesday for £500,000.
“Glenn has been one of the mainstays of our side since his arrival and few players can have provided such value for money in the history of the Premier League,” chief executive Tony Scholes told the club’s official website.
England defender Ryan Bertrand has signed a contract extension that will keep him at Southampton until 2021, the Premier League club said on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old, who was in his country’s squad for Euro 2016, initially joined the club on a seasonlong loan in July 2014, but completed a permanent move from Chelsea in February the following year.
But now he has signed a new five-year deal as the club continues to tie up key players on long-term contracts. “I’m very pleased. It’s been a fantastic move for me since the day I came to this club and I look forward to many more successful years and really pushing forward,” Bertrand told the club’s website (www.saintsfc.co.uk).
“I’ve enjoyed my football here. I’ve really enjoyed the club, and the fans have been fantastic with me personally as well, so I couldn’t think of any better place to play football and to keep on developing.
Bertrand, who had a frustrating spell with Chelsea, made 32 league appearances last season to lead Southampton to a sixth-place finish in the table and a place in the Europa League group stages.