Negredo cools Liverpool transfer talk

Liverpool are reportedly planning a surprise swoop for former Manchester City striker Alvaro Negredo. The Metro state that they will have to pay City a further £10m in 2016, and that the club wants to spend their money on a player that will be more prolific in front of goal.

Rumours surrounding Negredo’s future started after he was an unused substitute in Valencia’s 1-0 friendly win over PSG last week, and certain media outlets in England are claiming that he has been offered to Arsenal for £20m.

That deal is odd in more ways than one, but it ultimately leaves Valencia with a player who struggled that they could sell despite only just signing. “The majority of the things said are not true, I read that I was absent and that I wasn’t happy”.

“I want to work and continue developing”. Valencia are keen to sell the 29-year-old in order to raise funds for the £20m they owe Manchester City.

Valencia took the 21-cap Spaniard on loan last September and, somewhat bizarrely, agreed to sign him for good at the end of the campaign for somewhere near the £20 million City paid for him 12 months previously. “They’ve just exercised the purchase option and it would be odd, but in football anything can happen”. Cartabia scored four goals in 30 appearances for Cordoba this past season while on loan from Valencia but could not help the club avoid the drop to the Segunda Division.

Negredo may have suffered a poor turn of form last season, but he is a proven goalscorer at the top level. Valencia finished fourth in La Liga in the 2014-15 campaign and will play in next season’s Champions League.