Turkish giants Besiktas have ruled out signing former West Ham United ace Manuel Lanzini and Aston Villa’s Premier League misfit Philippe Coutinho this summer.
After over half a decade at West Ham United, the long-serving Manuel Lanzini hung up his claret-and-blue shirt and walked out of the London Stadium for the very last time.
The Argentina international officially became a free-agent on Saturday.
Aston Villa will not have it quite so easy as they look to get their very own seldom-seen number ten off the wage bill. Coutinho, a £17 million signing from Barcelona last summer, was left out of the matchday squad for 14 of their final 15 Premier League games last season, his hopes of a Villa Park resurgence not helped by the sacking of his former Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard in the autumn.
It is unlikely that Gerrard’s successor, Unai Emery, will stand in Coutinho’s way should the one-time Bayern Munich loanee wish to bring an end to a highly-underwhelming spell in the Midlands.
Besiktas, however, will not be riding to his rescue.
Philippe Coutinho facing uncertain Aston Villa future
“Not Coutinho. His annual salary is 7 million euros. Under these conditions, his transfer will not take place,” the Super Lig club’s sporting director, Ceyhun Kazanci, tells NTV Spor.
“I don’t know if things change in the last days of the transfer window. But it is impossible at the moment.”
Kazanci also ruled out a move to Istanbul for Lanzini.
“Lanzini has never been on our agenda,” the director adds. “(He) not on our transfer list. We won’t be doing anything with Lanzini.”
A UEFA Conference League winner with West Ham in June, Lanzini has also been linked with a return to South America. Reports suggesting he could re-join a Fluminense side he represented on loan a decade ago, however, are wide of the mark.
“There is nothing in (the rumours) regarding Fluminense,” Brazilian reporter Jorge Nicola explained a fortnight ago.
“Before recording this video, I talked to a source from the Tricolor. This person said there are no financial conditions (for signing Manuel Lanzini). The tendency is for him to go to Turkey and not play for any clubs here (in Brazil).”
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