Manchester City are set to sign Atletico Madrid’s Rodrigo Hernandez for a club-record 70mn euros after activating the midfielder’s release clause yesterday. Atletico confirmed that City have paid the $79mn fee which automatically terminates Rodrigo’s contract with the Spanish club.
Rodrigo’s departure had been expected and one hour after announcing City’s move yesterday, Atletico confirmed the signing of Hector Herrera from Porto. A club statement described Herrera as a “strong, talented and skilful midfielder,” adding that the Mexican will finalise a three-year contract today.
Atletico had already bolstered their midfield options with the addition of the 24-year-old Marcos Llorente, bought for 45mn euros from Real Madrid. Rodrigo’s departure will secure a considerable profit too for Atletico, who spent around 20mn euros last summer to re-sign the 23-year-old from Villarreal.
But another key player leaving means more upheaval for Diego Simeone and his team. Club captain Diego Godin has already joined Inter Milan while Lucas Hernandez has been sold to Bayern Munich. Antoine Griezmann and Juanfran have also bid farewell, with Griezmann expected to join Barcelona after his own release clause dropped to 120mn euros on Monday. 
City’s previous club record signing was the £60mn they paid Leicester for Riyad Mahrez in 2018.  
Rodrigo has been tipped to succeed Sergio Busquets as Spain’s leading defensive midfielder and will give Pep Guardiola a strong alternative to the 34-year-old Fernandinho next season.

Lyon sign Mendes, 
Kone from Lille 
French club Lyon completed the signing of Brazilian midfielder Thiago Mendes from Lille, reinvesting some of the 70mn euros ($79mn) they received from Tottenham for French international midfielder Tanguy Ndombele.
Mendes, 27, was signed for a fee reported to be 25mn euros, before Lyon announced they had also agreed a nine-million-euro deal for Lille left-back Youssouf Kone. Mendes is Lyon’s second Brazilian recruit of the summer after Jean Lucas was signed for eight mn euros from Flamengo in a transfer negotiated by Juninho Pernambucano, the Brazilian former Lyon player who has returned to the club as sporting director, and new coach Sylvinho.
Malian international Kone and Mendes made 55 Ligue 1 appearances between them last season as Lille finished second, three points clear of third-placed Lyon. On Tuesday, Ndombele finalised his move to Champions League finalists Tottenham, who smashed their transfer record to sign the highly-coveted 22-year-old.
Lyon have also sold defender Ferland Mendy to Real Madrid in a deal worth up to 53mn euros and in total their transfer receipts this summer amount to 113mn euros.

Sevilla sign defender Kounde from Bordeaux
Sevilla announced the club-record signing of French defender Jules Kounde from Bordeaux. Kounde has agreed a five-year contract with Sevilla, who will pay 25mn euros ($28.2mn), according to reports in Spain.
The 20-year-old, who can also play at full-back, played 55 Ligue 1 matches for Bordeaux after making his first-team debut in January last year and has represented France at under-20 level. His arrival also continues a busy summer for Sevilla, who have now signed five players since the return of Monchi as sporting director and ahead of Julen Lopetegui’s first season as coach.
The club, who finished sixth in Liga last season, had already bought Luuk de Jong as well as Munas Dabbur, Diego Carlos and Joan Jordan.

Toure signs for Chinese 
second tier club Qingdaota
Former Barcelona and Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has joined Chinese second tier club Qingdao Huanghai, the League One leaders announced on social media. 
The former Ivory Coast international, who has not played since December following a three-month stint with Olympiakos in Greece, is expected to make his debut on Saturday when Qingdao host Zhejiang Greentown.
The 36-year-old was reported to have been on trial with the Chinese club soon after shooting down claims made by his agent in May that he was planning to retire. “There has been a lot of confusion about my future recently,” the three-times England Premier League winner posted on Twitter.
“I want to make it clear here that I love football and I’m still in contention to play for a few more years. Yes, I’m starting to prepare myself for coaching badges but full-time coaching is not what I’m thinking now. I am now ready and focused to take new challenges in playing football.”
Qingdao currently lead the 16-team China League One by four points from Guizhou Zhicheng with the campaign at the halfway stage. The top two teams will be promoted to the Chinese Super League at the end of the season.

Leicester on verge of 
signing Perez from Newcastle
Leicester are on the verge of signing Ayoze Perez from Newcastle for around £30mn, Guardian reported. It is understood the 25-year-old striker has been granted permission to speak to Leicester, who are confident of completing a deal that will make the Spaniard their second signing of the summer after they triggered a buyout clause in his contract.  
Perez scored 12 Premier League goals last season, with his excellent partnership with Salomon Rondon helping Newcastle to pull away from the relegation zone. Newcastle will make a large profit on a player signed from Tenerife for £1.5mn in 2014, but his departure also leaves a sizeable hole to fill. Perez has been Newcastle’s top scorer in all competitions in each of the past two seasons, getting 13 goals in the last campaign.