Rijkaard prefers Marquez over Garay

Catalan sports paper Sport says that reports coming from Santander suggest that the negotiations on the transfer of Racing Santander central defender Ezequiel Garay (21) have not been paralyzed cause of financial reasons like had been rumoured (read more here).

While Barcelona intended to bring in Garay to replace central defender Rafael Márquez (29), for whom the club received several interesting offers (one of them coming from Atlético Madrid), Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard has now vetoed the exit of the Mexican considering him a key player.

Earlier this year Barcelona reached an agreement with Santander, giving Barcelona the first option to sign the Argentinian defender. The talks with the player's agents were expected to follow shortly but haven't yet taken place.

(read more on the Garay transfer story here)