Turan swaps Madrid for Catalonia

In a transfer story that blew right past us all pretty quickly, Barcelona has snapped up Turkish midfielder Arda Turan from Atletico Madrid for 35 million euros. Turan was linked with English giants Chelsea and Manchester United, but after manager Luis Enrique made the request to Barca president Josep Bartomeu to sign the playmaker, Turan’s decision was made. Turkey’s ‘#10’signs a five-year contract with La Blaugrana but will not be able to play an official match for the club until Janauary 2016 because of a transfer ban imposed by FIFA for breaching rules over signing under-age players.

This is an interesting transfer at the very least. Barcelona usually buys young, and in an already ageing first team squad (Iniesta, Daniel Alves, Adriano and Jeremy Mathieu are all over 30 years old) they are adding another heavy-legged midfielder at 28-years-old, albeit in his peak. It will be interesting to see how this transfer pans out.

Milan swoop for South American duo

AC Milan has suddenly made a huge splash in the transfer market after both completing the transfer of Brazil international Luiz Adriano and agreeing a deal for Carlos Bacca on the same day. Adriano, 28, arrives in Italy after 5.7 million pounds was paid to Shakhtar Donetsk while Carlos Bacca’s buyout clause with Sevilla was activated at 21 million pounds.

Adriano was Shakhtar’s all-time leading goalscorer with 129 goals, including nine in last season’s Champions League, while Bacca netted 20 times in all competitions for Sevilla, including two in the Europa League final. It goes without saying that the Rossoneri are looking to enhance their firepower with proven goalscorers and lessen the burden on players like Jeremy Menez and Stephan El Shaarawy.

Red Devils clean house

Manchester United parted ways with Portugese winger Nani last week and another big name seems to be on his way out. Netherlands captain Robin van Persie has reportedly agreed a three-year deal with Turkish club Fenerbahce, the same team Nani joined for 6 million euros. A fee is yet to be agreed between the two clubs but is not expected to be more than half of the 24 million pounds United paid Arsenal for RVP in 2012. Van Persie is heading to the exit door on the back of struggling throughout last season to score 10 league goals and ultimately lose his starting place.

Meanwhile in London, Tottenham Hotspur completed the signing of Atletico Madrid’s Toby Alderweireld on a five-year contract. The player turned out for Ronald Koeman’s Southampton last season, on loan from Atletico, where he impressed in multiple positions. The Saints were looking to tie up a permanent deal for the defender, but Tottenham hijacked the deal; Southampton are of the belief foul-play was involved and are considering taking the matter to court.

Costa heads to Munich

Brazilian winger Douglas Costa has joined Bayern Munich for a reported sum of 21 million pounds from Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk. Costa is the second Brazilian to leave Shakhtar in the past couple weeks, a team often referred to as “little Brazil”. The speedy Brazilian is expected to provide cover for the injury-prone duo of Franck Ribery and Dutchman Arjen Robben, and has already been given the #11.