Soccer:Andre Villas-Boas has made Gylfi Sigurdsson his first signing as Tottenham head coach. The former Chelsea boss was only appointed as Harry Redknapp's successor yesterday, but has moved quickly to bring the Hoffenheim midfielder to White Hart Lane.
The move secures Sigurdsson's return to the Barclays Premier League, where he impressed so much during the second half of last season on loan at Swansea. The 22-year-old netted seven times in 19 appearances for the Welsh side and picked up March's Player of the Month award.
Sigurdsson had looked to turn his successful loan spell into a permanent move after Swansea settled on a record-breaking €8 million fee with Hoffenheim.
The Swans also announced that personal terms had been agreed, but manager Brendan Rodgers's move to Liverpool saw the move falter.
Sigurdsson had been linked with a move to the Reds to rejoin his former manager, but Spurs have swooped to compete the signing of the in-demand midfielder.
Rodgers, meanwhile, has been asked by Alberto Aquilani's agent to make his plans for the midfielder clear, sooner rather than later. Pre-season training begins today for those players who were not involved internationally this summer, and with no interest from other sides the Italian, who has spent the last two seasons out on loan in Serie A, is expected back at Melwood.
AC Milan declined to take up their option to buy Aquilani after he failed to play the necessary number of matches to trigger his compulsory purchase.
Rodgers will take time to assess all his available players but Aquilani's agent Franco Zavaglia would prefer to know quickly whether the midfielder, 28 on Saturday, has a future there.
"At the moment Aquilani is a Liverpool player and will certainly start pre-season training with them, then we'll see what happens," he told Tutto Mercato Web. "The new manager will decide whether to keep him or not.
"I don't think he's coming back to Italy and he hasn't expressed any particular preference, but this time I hope Liverpool can tell us in time if he's not part of their plans so we can find him the right club."
Aquilani, who has two years remaining on his contract, has played just 28 matches for Liverpool as he arrived in August 2009 with injury problems which delayed his debut and then made it difficult to get into the team.
However, Zavaglia insists fitness issues are a thing of the past.
"Recently, apart from a slight ankle sprain, Aquilani has had no major fitness problems," he added. "The real problems were when he had ankle surgery at Liverpool."
