European transfer news: Walker set for Man City move, Barcelona agree to sign Benfica's Semedo

Walker set for big money Man City moveEngland full-back Kyle Walker is set for a £50m ($64.5m, 56.7m euros) move to Manchester City from Premier League rival Tottenham Hotspur, the BBC and British Press Association reported Thursday. The 27-year-old - who moved along with Kyle Naughton to Spurs from Sheffield United in 2009 for a combined total of £9m - is expected to undergo a medical with City on Friday and go with them on their pre-season tour of the United States. The 27-time capped Walker has made more than 180 Premier League appearances for Spurs but fell out of favour with manager Mauricio Pochettino last season with Kieran Trippier progressively taking over.Walker would be a rather more expensive acquisition than Brazilian defender Dani Alves, who angered City manager Pep Guardiola in preferring a move from Juventus to French giant Paris Saint-Germain to a reunion with his former Barcelona boss. According to the British media, Guardiola is also keen on raiding French champion Monaco for a second time this close season and prepared to pay £40m for left-back Benjamin Mendy.Guardiola is under pressure to deliver a trophy next season after he ended the last campaign empty-handed for the first time in his managerial career. He has already prised Portuguese winger Bernardo Silva away from Monaco for £42.5m.Sven Bender united with twin Lars at LeverkusenGerman international defender Sven Bender joined his twin brother Lars at Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday, after moving from Borussia Dortmund on a four-year contract. German media reported that Leverkusen paid in the region of 15m euros ($17.1m) for the 28-year-old, who started just three Bundesliga games last season and hasn't played a full international since 2013. The brothers were named joint players of the tournament at the under-19 European Championship in 2008 and Lars has also played for the senior national side.The pair played together at club level at 1860 Munich, but not since 2009, when Lars moved to Leverkusen and Sven signed for Dortmund. Sven spent eight seasons at Dortmund, winning the Bundesliga twice in 2011 and 2012.Barcelona agree to sign Benfica full back SemedoBarcelona have reached agreement with Benfica to sign the Lisbon-based team's Portugal right back Nelson Semedo, subject to a medical, the Liga club announced on Thursday. There were no more details on the Cartalan club's website (www.fcbarcelona.com) but Spanish media said the fee was 30m euros ($34.20m) plus five million in add-ons. The deal for the 23-year-old ends Barca's pursuit of Arsenal's Hector Bellerin, who left the club's academy as a teenager and was reported to be their No 1 right-back target although the Premier League do not want to sell. Semedo broke into Benfica's first team in 2015 and made 46 appearances last season as they won a league and cup double. He has six international caps but was sent off in this month's Confederations Cup third-place playoff match.Barca will hope the attack-minded Semedo can fill the void left by the departure of Brazil international Dani Alves for Juventus in 2016, after the limitations of converted midfielder Sergi Roberto in the role were exposed last season. The 27-year-old Aleix Vidal, who can fill in at right back or on the right wing, missed three months of the campaign with an ankle injury suffered in early February. Barca reported for pre-season training on Wednesday although Lionel Messi, Neymar, Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique return on Friday after a promotional tour of Japan. The Liga runners up depart for their pre-season tour of the United States next week, where they will face Juve, arch rival Real Madrid and Manchester United. France defender Rami joins MarseilleMarseille's rebuilding programme continued on Thursday as the ambitious Ligue 1 club signed Adil Rami the France defender on a four-year deal from Sevilla. The 31-year-old has 33 caps for France, won the Ligue 1 title with Lille in 2011, the Europa League in 2016 with Sevilla and had solid spells at Valencia and AC Milan behind him. The defender will be rejoining Rudi Garcia, who was coach at Lille in 2011, and who was brought in by Marseille's new owner American businessman Frank McCourt, who wants to try and rival Ligue 1 big guns Monaco and PSG.Rami's signing is the club's fourth of the close season, following the arrival of striker Valere Germain from champion Monaco, Brazil midfielder Luiz Gustavo from Wolfsburg, and the return of French international goalkeeper Steve Mandanda from Crystal Palace. As with Mandanda and his new Marseille teammates Partice Evra and Dimitri Payet, Rami was part of France's run the the Euro 2016 final.Chalobah switches to Watford from ChelseaChelsea's England under-21 midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah has joined fellow London Premier League club Watford on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee, the clubs said on Thursday. After several loans, including helping Watford reach the Championship playoff final in 2013, Chalobah was a part of Antonio Conte’s title-winning Chelsea squad last season.The 22-year-old made 15 appearances in all competitions to claim a league winner’s medal and was part of England's European Championship under-21 squad that reached the semi-finals. He has had loan spells at Nottingham Forest, Middlesbrough, Burnley, Reading and Napoli, and made 42 appearances at Watford during the 2012/13 season, scoring five goals.Mexico's Tigres recruit West Ham forward ValenciaEcuador forward Enner Valencia has joined Mexican top flight team Tigres UANL from West Ham United for an undisclosed fee, the Premier League club said on Thursday. The 27-year-old joined West Ham in 2014 but struggled to establish himself in his two seasons at the club, scoring eight goals in 54 league appearances after struggling with injuries.He spent last season on loan at Everton, scoring three goals in 23 matches. Valencia has 38 caps for Ecuador and was part of the team that played in the 2014 World Cup.Sidibe, Glik extensions give Monaco boostDefensive duo Djibril Sidibe and Kamil Glik have handed French champion Monaco a major boost by signing contract extensions on Thursday to commit their futures to the principality side. Full-back Sidibe, who has won 10 caps and had been heavily linked with a move to the English Premier League, has signed a new deal tying him to the club until 2022 on improved terms. That announcement came hours after Poland international centre-back Glik extended his contract until 2021. Glik had also been linked with several European clubs, including English Premier League runners-up Tottenham. The 29-year-old joined from Italian side Torino at the start of last season. Sidibe had arrived last year from Lille.Both men played a key part last season as Monaco won a first Ligue 1 title in 17 years and also reached the Champions League semi-finals. Captain Radamel Falcao has also signed a new contract since the title win. However, Monaco have sold Bernardo Silva to City for around 50m euros ($57m) and have also allowed Valere Germain and Nabil Dirar to leave. In addition, France midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko is on the verge of signing for Chelsea and several other stars of Leonardo Jardim's squad are being targeted by Europe's giants, notably teenage sensation Kylian Mbappe.The forward has been heavily linked with Real Madrid in particular, but Monaco have expressed hope that they will persuade the player to stay. Mbappe, Sidibe and Falcao are among the players who have been included in the Monaco squad that will travel to Switzerland for a pre-season training camp, where they will play friendly matches against Stoke City, PSV Eindhoven and Fenerbahce over the next week.Capello lures Cameroon skipper Moukandjo to ChinaCameroon striker Benjamin Moukandjo has joined Fabio Capello's struggling Chinese Super League outfit Jiangsu Suning after two seasons at Lorient, the French club said on Thursday. The 28-year-old who captained Cameroon to the African Cup of Nations title in 2017 has signed a two-years deal with the club coached by former AC Milan, Real Madrid and England boss Capello since June.Moukandjo scored 26 goals in 61 games for Lorient over two seasons, but was tempted away after the club were relegated to the second tier at the end of the 2016-17 campaign. Jiangsu, who signed Brazilian duo Ramires and Alex Teixeira last year, are second from bottom in the Chinese top flight with just 10 points from 16 matches.Brighton buy defender Suttner on three-year dealBrighton and Hove Albion have signed Austria international defender Markus Suttner from Germany's FC Ingolstadt 04 on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee, the Premier League club said on Thursday.The 30-year-old left back began his career at Austria Vienna and made more than 250 senior appearances there in eight seasons before moving to Ingolstadt in 2015. He played 31 Bundesliga matches last season but the club were relegated. Suttner is Brighton's third signing since gaining promotion as they prepare for their first top flight season after a 34-year absence.Denmark forward Braithwaite heads to MiddlesbroughDanish international forward Martin Braithwaite has swapped French top-flight side Toulouse for Middlesbrough, the English club announced on Thursday. The 26-year-old has signed a four-year deal with Middlesbrough for a fee of just over 11m euros (£9.7m, $12.5m), sources in the French city told AFP.Braithwaite was the captain of the Ligue 1 outfit and scored 11 league goals for them in each of the last two seasons. He had a year left to run on his contract but has opted to join Boro, despite their relegation from the English Premier League at the end of last season.Chelsea set to secure French midfielder BakayokoChelsea look set to put the disappointment of losing out on Romelu Lukaku by signing French midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, according to the British media on Thursday. The 22-year-old - who played a pivotal role in Monaco winning the French title and reaching the Champions League semi-finals last season - will cost the English champion up to 39.7m pounds (45m euros, $51.2m), according to The Guardian. The deal is conditional on him passing a medical - Bakayoko underwent keyhole surgery on his knee after the season ended and is likely to miss the Community Shield match with Arsenal and the first three Premier League games. There had been speculation Manchester United might try and stymie the bid for Bakayoko - who made his senior international debut earlier this year - just as they did with Lukaku, as they broke the record for a deal between British clubs of £75m to prise him away from Everton on Monday. However, Bakayoko - whom Monaco will make a tidy profit on having signed him from Rennes for £7m in 2014 - had always made clear that Chelsea was his preferred destination.Bakayoko's arrival - which Chelsea hope to conclude by the time they leave for Asia for a pre-season tour next Monday - should see Serbian midfielder Nemanja Matic leave for a similar fee to that of the Frenchman. However, Chelsea are not keen to sell him to the original suitor United, as relations between the two rivals have cooled considerably since the Lukaku affair. Bakayoko's signing - joining veteran Argentinian goalkeeper Willy Caballero and German defender Antonio Rudiger as new recruits - would not be the last for manager Antonio Conte. The 47-year-old Italian, who along with his coaching staff are yet to sign new contracts offered at the end of last term, is hoping to conclude deals for Juventus' Alex Sandro and Spanish international striker Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid. Morata is Italian Conte's preferred fallback option for Lukaku, having lured him to Juve in 2014 before leaving to take over as national team coach, and would replace temperamental Spanish striker Diego Costa. Morata told The Guardian earlier this year that he dreamt of playing under Conte because he was a man who had bet on him and understood him. Costa, whom Conte told was not part of his plans, is likely to rejoin Atletico Madrid even though he would not be able to play for them until January because of the club's transfer ban.

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