Finally. Finally! Manchester United supporters can wave goodbye to the back of Enzo Perez as he's signing for Valencia. The Premier League club appear to have been repeatedly used by people on all sides of the potential transfer and it's been something of a saga.
Manchester United's repeated scouting of Benfica led to claims in both the British and Portuguese press that a deal for Perez was simply a matter of time and there even recent claims that Perez would be signed as part of a double deal including fellow Argentine Nico Gaitan. The Daily Star said on December 19th 'Midfield delight! LVG close to landing SENSATIONAL £51m double deal for Manchester United - MANCHESTER UNITED are planning to raid Benfica for midfield pair Enzo Perez and Nicolas Gaitan in January.'
Then on December 20th, the same newspaper claimed 'Manchester United plot £80m TRIPLE swoop in January', both stories claimed a transfer for Perez to Manchester United was on the cards.
During the summer, the transfer games between Valencia and Benfica didn't help calm rumours, each side appeared to have been playing off the other in a battle to get the best transfer fee and timing of a deal. Perez to Valencia broke down during the summer partly due to Benfica insisting on keeping the player until the end of the window to compete in important matches for them. That encouraged Manchester United reports and it was in Benfica's interest to keep the idea of interest from Old Trafford in the media.
Both Benfica and Perez have now agreed the transfer to Valencia and Gaitan will have a medical today and then can sign his new contract, confirming a move costing Valencia €25m - which represents a €5m discount on the midfielder's buyout clause with Benfica. Perez has been pictured at the airport holding a Valencia scarf aloft so it would be unlikely for anything to go wrong now, although given the saga it's been so far it would be little shock to hear of Manchester United sending a helicopter to pick up the midfielder and scupper his move.
Super Deporte have quoted Perez as saying "I'm very happy to come to Valencia."
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