Soccer transfers and rumours

Manuel Akanji Borussia Dortmund 2018 | BVB sign Swiss centre half from Basel

Borussia Dortmund have officially confirmed the signing of Manuel Akanji from Swiss Super League side Basel. The 22 year old had been linked with the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham, West Ham and even Manchester United, but has opted to further his career at the Westfalenstadion.

How much did Borussia Dortmund pay for Akanji?

Unofficial reports have the transfer fee for Akanji at €22m (22 million euros)

What is the length of Akanji’s Dortmund contract?

He has signed a four and a half year contract at BVB

What will be Akanji’s jersey number at Dortmund?

Akanji will wear the No.16 shirt at BVB

With Akanji being one of their key central defenders, the move weakens Basel ahead of their Round of 16 CL clash against Man City, unless they bring in reinforcements quickly. The news of Akanji’s transfer also comes just days after Basel sold Renato Steffen to Wolfsburg.

At the time of writing this article, Basel are two points behind Young Boys in the Swiss top flight while Dortmund are fourth in Germany, behind the trio of Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Schalke 04.

Read more

Kristijan Bistrovic CSKA Moscow 2018 | Russian side’s first purchase since 2015

Russian outfit CSKA Moscow have completed the signing of youngster Kristijan Bistrovic from Slaven Belupo. The transfer wouldn’t perhaps otherwise make news in the football world, but it is interesting for one reason- the 19 year old Bistrovic is the FIRST player CSKA have bought since early 2015, effectively making it a three year gap between two permanent transfers. Their signings during this period have effectively been loans, free transfers and academy prospects, and given that CSKA competed in the group stages of the Champions League this season, that’s a pretty impressive stat for a CL team. We’re unsure if that’s a record in the modern CL era, but a mind boggling stat all the same.

The player mentioned above that CSKA signed in 2015, Carlos Strandberg, no longer plies his trade for them though.

CSKA have had some really long serving players- when they played Liverpool in the Super Cup back in 2005, they had Akinfeev in goal and Ignashevich and Berezutski in defence, and a decade later (in 2017), the trio were still in the starting XI when they took on Manchester United in the Champions League

Read more

Most Expensive Defender, Dutch Football Player & Liverpool transfer- Virgil van Dijk to complete £75m move

Centre half Virgil van Dijk will become the world’s most expensive defender after Liverpool announced today (December 27, 2017) that they had agreed a deal to sign the 26 year old from Southampton for £75m. The Reds have made no secret of their interest in the Dutch international and with problems in defence plaguing them all season, have beaten both Man City and Chelsea to his signing.

Van Dijk is therefore now the most expensive Dutch soccer player ever, with his 84 million euro move trumping that of Marc Overmars (40 million euros) nearly two decades ago, back in 2000. He is also Liverpool’s most expensive signing and is the newest entrant in the list of most expensive transfers, coming in at 8th behind Neymar, Ousmane Dembele, Paul Pogba, Gareth Bale, Ronaldo, Neymar (again) and Romelu Lukaku.

Van Dijk has already passed a medical and will officially link up with the Reds when the January transfer window opens. Liverpool have made some clever signings in past January transfer windows, with the likes of Luis Suarez, Martin Skrtel, Javier Mascherano and Philippe Coutinho all joining the Reds in the winter market, and Reds fans will hope that Van Dijk will be a similar success.

Read more