Alario, De Ligt and Balde


TRANSFER TALK


Bayer Leverkusen are still determined to replace Javier Hernandez, who joined West Ham three weeks ago, with 24-year-old (25 in October) Argentinian international striker Lucas Alario.

The River Plate attacker has been scouted by Spurs and was considered before signing Dutch international striker Vincent Janssen.  The German club bid £14.76 million (€16m - AUS$23.93m - US$18.89m). He is of particular interest to Italian clubs, both Inter Milan and Fiorentina have been following him, because he holds an Italian passport and is thus classified as an EU player.


Tracked by Spurs, 18-year-old (19 next August) Dutch international centre-back Matthijs De Ligt has signed a new contract taking him until 2021 at Dutch champions Ajax.

The situation with Keita Balde is similar to that of Ross Barkley. Balde only wants Juventus, Lazio owner and president Claudio Lotito confirmed and ignores all other offers, while Barkley only wants Spurs. Both are in the last year of their contracts.

“There were three formal offers, all of them I can prove with documentation. Milan would’ve given us €35m, West Ham €32m and Napoli €30m. 
“Keita and his agent replied they were not interested in any of the three, that the destination they wanted was Juventus. The player confirmed it to me in the pre-season training camp."

I see on some forums that Juventus have their quota of non-EU players which is correct they do, however he was brought through the Spanish (he was born in Spain) and Italian systems and is therefore classified as an EU player. people are assuming this would have pushed him towards Spurs but clearly it doesn't.