Everton signs Dele Alli; Liverpool misses out on Fabio Carvalho

Sports Desk, Jan 31 (EFE).- Everton have completed the signing of midfielder Dele Alli from Tottenham Hotspur, but Liverpool were unable to seal a deal Monday with Fulham for highly touted 19-year-old Brazilian Fabio Carvalho by the close of the European winter transfer window.

The Toffees said they had signed the 25-year-old Alli, a key figure in England’s run to the 2018 World Cup semifinals, to a two-and-a-half-year contract through the end of 2024.

The transfer that will eventually be worth 10 million pounds ($13 million) came just hours after Everton had announced that Frank Lampard would take over as head coach from Rafael Benitez, who was sacked two weeks ago.

“I’m delighted to have signed for Everton, a huge club with a great fanbase and history,” Alli said. “I’m eager to get started and can’t wait for my first game in an Everton shirt. I’m looking forward to helping the team and the opportunity to work with the new manager Frank Lampard.”

The shake-up at the 16th-placed Premier League side gives Lampard his third job as a manager, following Derby County and Chelsea, who fired him after a year-and-a-half spell.

“It is a huge honor for me to represent and manage a club the size and tradition of Everton Football Club,” the 43-year-old said after signing a contract that expires June 2024.

Liverpool, meanwhile, had planned to pay 8 million pounds ($10.8 million) for Carvalho – one of the sensations of the Championship (England’s second tier) this season – and then loan him out to Fulham until the end of the season.

But the two clubs were unable to complete the paperwork by the time the transfer window closed at 11 pm.

Ousmane Dembele, for his part, will stay at FC Barcelona until the end of the season after the French international turned down the opportunity to move to a Premier League side.

After the Catalans had been unable to agree to an extension with Dembele, the club had urged him to seek a move to another club.

Barcelona now must decide how to use the talented forward over the coming months.

Separately, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will reportedly move from Arsenal to Barcelona on a free transfer, with that transaction to be formally announced on Tuesday.

A host of other deals also were sealed on Monday, with Premier League clubs playing a prominent role in many of the day’s transfers.

Manchester City signed Argentine forward Julián Alvarez, who will remain at River Plate on loan until at least June depending on how far the Argentine club advances in Copa Libertadores.

The signing of the 22-year-old, who has collected 36 goals and 25 assists in 96 matches he has played with River, reportedly cost the Premier League club some 22 million euros.

“Julian is a player we have monitored for some time,” City’s Director of Football Txiki Begiristain said of the forward who was part of Argentina’s squad that hoisted Copa America last summer.

“He is capable of operating in a number of attacking roles, and we firmly believe he’s one of the best young attacking players in South America,” he added.

His first game will be on 5 February in the FA Cup fourth round against Brentford, who brought Denmark’s Christian Eriksen back to elite football months after the attacking midfielder suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed at Euro 2020 (played in 2021).

Eriksen signed a deal that ties him to the club, which is playing its maiden Premier League season, until the end of the current campaign after “completing a medical assessment,” Brentford said in a statement.

The 29-year-old began his career at Ajax, where he won three league titles, a Cup and a Super Cup, before excelling at Tottenham and Inter Milan, helping the latter win the Serie A last season.