DE BOER DELIGHT
Tale of two Sakhos as Palace get their man
CRYSTAL PALACE boss Frank de Boer will hope Mamadou Sakho can help secure the club’s Premier League status after signing him from Liverpool for £26million.
The France defender was pivotal to Palace’s survival fight last season and had been their prime target for the summer.
Liverpool resisted previous bids, including a £25m offer this week which opened the door for rival offers from West Brom and Leicester. But Sakho, 27, was set on a return to London.
Palace flirted with alternatives and agreed a fee with Manchester City for Eliaquim Mangala on Thursday but that was dependent on City landing Jonny Evans from West Brom. As Evans set off for San Marino with Northern Ireland, Palace revived their Sakho offer and Liverpool relented.
Chairman Steve Parish returned to Merseyside to agree a £9m fee with Everton too for striker Oumar Niasse as he looks to quash early relegation fears.
East of London, there was a certain irony that The Happy Hammer was a non-runner in the 3.20 at Chelmsford yesterday and that West Ham’s striker Diafra Sakho was sitting in the car park while his agent’s horse Siege of Boston won the race.
It was not lost on West Ham fans who had hoped for the arrival of Kevin Mirallas or Andre Gomes but were left non-plussed as Sakho tried to force a move to Rennes for ‘personal problems’.
Speaking from the winners’ enclosure at Chelmsford, Sakho’s agent Mark McKay said: ‘I hope all the West Ham fans backed the horse. No bid has been accepted. We are just waiting for (West Ham co- owner) David Sullivan. The medical has been passed. There is a lot of off-field stuff to sort out.’
Sakho had spent Wednesday in France after Rennes agreed to pay £9m plus a sizeable sell-on. McKay picked him up from Southend Airport and ended up at the London Stadium only to find no West Ham officials there to push through a sale.
Sullivan and co-chairman David Gold had other plans after seeing a loan bid for Everton’s Mirallas rebuffed and hopes of another loan for Barcelona midfielder Gomes gatecrashed by Tottenham.
As if there wasn’t enough salt in their wounds, West Ham’s Under 23s proceeded to lose 7-2 to Tottenham.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte felt their pain though as he saw long- time target Fernando Llorente snub the champions and head to north London from Swansea.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy had made a call on Wednesday and Llorente was in London for his medical by 11am.
Swansea had discussed taking Vincent Janssen on loan as part of negotiations, fearful that primary target, Wilfried Bony, was heading to Verona in Italy. They also saw a bid rejected for Norwich City’s Nelson Oliveira as they scrambled through options.
However, a £ 12m deal was ultimately agreed for Bony’s return and Llorente was promptly signed by Tottenham.
Leicester lined up Adrien Silva from Sporting Lisbon as they braced themselves for Chelsea’s improved £35m offer for Danny Drinkwater.
Nampalys Mendy was also allowed to return to Nice on loan while a season-long loan deal has been agreed for Bayer Leverkusen’s centre back Aleksandar Dragovic after two bids were rejected for Arsenal defender Calum Chambers.
Much attention centred on the whereabouts of Riyad Mahrez after Algeria allowed him to leave their camp to seal a transfer.
There were subsequent unconfirmed reports of Mahrez being spotted in Charles de Gaulle airport, in Barcelona and eventually in London only for Leicester to say they had not received any fresh bids.
Everton struggled to find a striker after asking about Llorente, Khouma Babacar at Fiorentina, Raul Jimenez of Benfica, Cardiff’s Kenneth Zohore, Lucas Perez at Arsenal and Michy Batshuayi of Chelsea but they did sign Nikola Vlasic from Hajduk Split.
Stoke City saw Bojan depart for Alaves and record signing Giannelli Imbula join Toulouse but they did make a signing as 29-year- old captain Ryan Shawcross agreed a new four- year contract.
Brighton asked to take Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul on loan and agreed a deal for Sporting Lisbon right back Ezequiel Schelotto while his former team-mate Marvin Zeegelaar joined Watford for £3m.
The frustration mounted for Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez, though, as he missed out on Southampton left back Matt Targett.
Newcastle wanted the 21-yearold for the season, but Targett only wanted to stay until January.