Dutch midfielder Kevin Strootman will move from PSV to Roma after a deal was agreed on Tuesday, the Dutch club said.
The 23-year-old, a regular in the Dutch national team, is their second sale to Italy this summer after the move of Belgian Dries Mertens to Napoli.
No details of the transfer fee were given by both clubs.
Technical manager Marcel Barends said it had been “an offer that was impossible to turn down, one of the biggest fees in the history of PSV”.
Rafael hits backs
Manchester United defender Rafael has been stung by suggestions he is not interested in playing for Brazil.
Rafael was blamed for a key error in Brazil’s Olympics final defeat by Mexico at Wembley, since when he has disappeared from the squad completely.
“People think I don’t want to play for Brazil because I left at such a young age,” he said.
“That is not true at all. My brother and I left because life for any young Brazilian player is full of uncertainty.
“We do care about the national team. I would love the chance to play for my country again.”
Negredo seals move to Man. City
Sevilla have agreed to sell their Spain striker Alvaro Negredo to Manchester City.
“It’s now official,” Sevilla said in a statement yesterday.
“Alvaro Negredo is a new Manchester City player pending medical checks.”
Spanish media reported City would pay around €28 million for the 27-year-old Negredo, who will rejoin compatriot Jesus Navas, the Spain winger who sealed his move from Sevilla to Manchester last month.
Known as “the beast of Vallecas” after the Madrid neighbourhood where he was born, Negredo came through the youth ranks at Rayo Valle-cano and then Real Madrid where he played a handful of games for the first team.
Blatter in favour of winter World Cup
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said yesterday the 2022 World Cup should be switched to the winter months because of the blistering heat in Qatar during the summer.
Blatter admitted he had to take his share of the blame for not taking the heat problem sufficiently into consideration when awarding the tournament to Qatar in 2010.
“The World Cup must be a festival. But for it to be such a festival, you can’t play football in the summer,” Blatter said.
“You can cool down the stadiums but you can’t cool down the whole country and you can’t simply cool down the ambience of a World Cup. The players must be able to play in the best conditions to play a good World Cup.”
Norwich make Quagliarella offer
Juventus have reportedly rejected a €10m offer from Norwich City for striker Fabio Quagliarella.
The English club submitted their bid for the Italian on Tuesday, but Sky Sport reported that it was rejected.
Although the 30-year-old is not in coach Antonio Conte’s plans, the Bianconeri’s valua-tion of Quagliarella is signifi-cantly higher than €10m.
Juve are looking to sell the former Sampdoria, Udinese and Napoli ace after signing Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente.
Quagliarella has also been linked with Southampton and West Bromwich.
Allardyce won’t rush Carroll
West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce remains hopeful Andy Carroll could be in contention for a first-team return before the international break.
Carroll – who joined West Ham in a £15 million deal from Liverpool following a suc-cessful loan spell last season – did not feature in the end-of-season England friendlies because of a heel injury, but will join up with the rest of the Hammers squad as his rehabi-litation continues.
“Andy is still recovering. He has got four weeks or more to go before he starts full training,” Allardyce said.
“His rehab is going pretty well at the moment and will be joining us in Germany.”
Napoli have big cash to spend
Napoli have a transfer kitty of €124.5m for new players, according to club president Aurelio De Laurentiis.
The Serie A outfit are in a position to spend big this summer after netting over €60 million from Edinson Cavani’s transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.
“If we add that €64.5m to the €60m we had in our budget already then we get €124.5m that Napoli will invest with diligence and experience,” De Laurentiis said during a Q&A session on social network Twitter..
Replacing Cavani is now a top priority and De Laurentiis confirmed that Napoli are keen to sign Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain and Leandro Damiao of Internacional.