YEPES COMPLETES GENOA SWITCH

ARGENTINE club River Plate have confirmed the transfer of Colombian defender Mario Alberto Yepes to Serie B side Genoa.

The directors of River met on Monday night and with a vote of 19-2 in favour of selling Yepes, with one abstention. 

River will receive $3 million (£2. 05 million) for the sale of 50 percent of the player, with the other half owned by the Mascardi group.  Yepes wants to remain in Argentina until next Monday, after his former club take on Boca Juniors, although naturally Genoa want him as soon as possible.

"I dream about saying goodbye to River, by winning the game against Boca.  It would be ideal, because I do not drain myself in these games," said Yepes.

"I am thankful to the directors of Genoa, because often it was said that several clubs wanted me but there was never a concrete offer made.  It is a club that was in the first division for many years and has an important plan to go up and to put itself back amongst the great ones of Italy," added Yepes.

Once River announced their decision to sell Yepes, French club Nantes stated they had lost interest in the player, saying: "In July we were interested in Mario Yepes, as he represented the future being just 25-years-old, but we are no longer interested at the present time."

Yepes arrived at River in 1999 coming from Deportivo Cali, since then he has been a regular starter at both club and country level.