Wednesday 8 August 2012

Mour Mour Mour! PSG beat Manchester United to Lucas Moura signature & other stories

As we reported (with some glee) last week, Carlo Ancelotti had said that PSG's business this transfer window was finished.

But that cheeky little Italian scamp was pulling the wool over our eyes, as today the club have announced they've reached an agreement to sign Sao Paolo's Lucas Moura.

The Brazilian winger, who is currently at the Olympics with the Selecao, had been the subject of one of the summer's slowest and most boring transfer stories, with Manchester United seeming to be perpetually on the brink of signing him from Sao Paulo.

Inter Milan were also heavily interested, but it appears that PSG stole a march on their rivals by offering more money impressing the player with their exciting project. Now it has been confirmed he will be joining us in the January transfer window, once the Brazilian season ends, with a fee of €35-40million being banded about.

The statement on the club website is pretty brief, but the player himself has been widely quoted in the media over the last couple of days.

"I cannot talk about it [joining PSG], I'm focused on the Brazil team," said Moura, before proceeding to, er, talk about it.

"I spoke to Thiago Silva and Leonardo and they spoke very well. I know they are building a wonderful project at this club, with a fantastic structure and major players. That is what they said.

"No doubt it would be better if I can help Sao Paulo a little bit more, though. I said before I want to win a title before leaving and qualify for the Copa Libertadores."

The first thing to say is well done to the club for doing their business in private for once. We hadn't heard much about any PSG interest until a couple of days ago, but they've closed the deal quickly, in stark contrast to our other fumbles in the transfer market.

I've never seen Lucas play, so can't offer any informed opinions, but it seems likely that we've overpaid - is any teenager who has never played any football in Europe worth quite so much money? He could be the next Ronaldinho, but equally he could be the next Denilson. Either way, there are lots of videos on YouTube of him doing some fancy tricks:


Elsewhere Inter and AC Milan are both casting admiring glances at grumpy old Nene, who is also, to use the French expression, in the visor of Ruben Kazan. Poor old Inter seem to be becoming what Chelsea are to us, as they have also been linked with Jezza Menezza.

And, in an event more rare than an Australian gold medal at the Olympics (tehe), PSG look set to acquire a player already plying his trade in Ligue 1. The player in question is Lyon right-back Anthony Reveillere, who could be arriving in Paris along with €2.5million as part of a swap deal for Milan Bisevac.

This seems a remarkably sensible move on behalf of the club. We need another proper right-back, and though Reveillere is 32, he has played over 70 matches in the Champions League and his experience could be vital to have around the place. It would be a shame to see Bisevac go though, perhaps we can persuade Lyon to take Lugano instead.

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