Inter wants to include Adriano in Eto'o deal

Italian sports paper Il Corriere Dello Sport claims that Inter Milan is preparing a bid for Barcelona forward and Cameroon international Samuel Eto'o (28) at the end of the season.

To lower the expected asking price of 35-40 million euro°, Inter would be considering to include Inter Milan forward Adriano (27) in the deal and offer Barcelona a transfer fee of 20-25 million euro° plus the Brazilian striker.

Read more:
Ronaldinho and Adriano: The trouble kids exchange
Maxwell could be included in Eto’o deal
Inter and Juventus rival for Deco

How things stand: Centre forward

(at the end of the season, Barça Transfer Zone looks forward to the coming transfer summer making an analysis for each position, in part 8 we look at the centre forward)

2007-2008

Due to the injury of Samuel Eto'o (27), who kept him away from playing until December, Thierry Henry (30) initially took the place in the centre. Since Henry had to move regularly to the left cause of the troubles Ronaldinho was facing, Bojan (17) got his chance up front.

Out

Bojan will certainly stay and will probably sign a renewal this summer (read more here). At this moment it looks like Henry will also stay, although he has been linked with a return to the Premier League (Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Newcastle, West Ham, Aston Villa), with a move to the Major League Soccer (Seattle, New York) and with clubs like Inter Milan and Fenerbahçe.

Since he declared one month ago that he would leave Barcelona if the team does not win a trophy next season (read more here), Samuel Eto'o is in the middle of a transfer storm. Tottenham would have been pushing hard for the striker but it seems for now difficult he'll end up with the club, both for economic and sports reasons. Clubs like AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Fenerbahçe, Chelsea and Arsenal could also be following the Cameroonian.

In

Karim Benzema (Lyon - 20) is the dream candidate but will not leave Lyon in the summer. Since Guardiola was named as manager, there are rumours about him wanting to bring in a strong, tall striker, with Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal - 24) apparently being the back-up for Benzema.

Other names that were mentioned include Adriano (São Paulo/Inter - 26), Jozy Altidore (New York - 18), Amauri (Palermo - 27), Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham - 27), Diego Milito (Zaragoza - 28), Didier Drogba (Chelsea - 30), Dani Güiza (Mallorca -27), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Ajax - 24), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter - 26), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke - 26), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla - 27), Rodrigo Palacio (Boca Juniors - 26) and David Trezeguet (Juventus - 30).

Read all How things stand contributions here or read the contribution about:

Goal keeper - Right back defender - Central defenders - Left back defender - Defensive midfielder - Attacking midfielders - Wing attackers - Centre forward

Giovani close to Manchester City loan deal

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona and Manchester City are holding talks on Barcelona right wing attacker and Mexican international Giovani Dos Santos (18). Due to the friendship between Manchester City manager Sven-Göran Eriksson and Pini Zahavi, the agent of the player, the English club has been following Giovani for a while now.

The negotiations are well-advanced and there seems to remain only one major obstacle: while Barcelona just wants to loan the player out for one season, Manchester City wants to include an option to buy the at the end of next season. The Mexican youngster would be aware that he needs more playing time to keep making progress and would therefore be ready to accept a loan deal and move for one year to the English Premier League.

Giovani Dos Santos would be one of the Barcelona players for whom the club is receiving the most offers. Inter Milan would be one of the other clubs interested in the Mexican winger. Italian football site Il Reca claims that the Italian champion would be willing to let São Paulo forward and Inter loan out Adriano (26) join Barcelona on loan to make a transfer of Giovani possible.

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo reports that Barcelona wants to keep Giovani and would only consider to let him go if that would be necessary to make an incoming transfer financially more attainable (read more here).

Read more:
Father Giovani confirms Manchester City
Giovani four more years
Inter willing to pay Giovani buyout clause

Inter and Juventus rival for Deco

With Barcelona midfielder and Portuguese international Deco (30) probably on his way out in the summer, a tough battle for the player between Italian top clubs could be upcoming. Italian sports paper Tuttosport claims that both Inter Milan and Juventus have set their eyes on Deco since both clubs are aiming to strengthen their midfield in the next transfer window.

With Inter sports director Marco Branca eyeing Deco for a while now, Juventus would recently also have contacted Barcelona to inform the club about their interest. Inter is nevertheless said to be the favourites to land the Portuguese since the club would be most willing to accept the high economic demands of the player. To reduce the cash spending, Inter could well try to offer Barcelona an exchange with São Paulo forward and Inter loan out Adriano (26).

Italian television channel Italia 1 claims that a transfer price of around 10 million euro° could be enough to close the deal with Barcelona, where Deco has a contract until 2010. Despite the player's age, Inter manager Roberto Mancini considers the money a good investment, also because the Portuguese can play different positions and systems. The good relationship between Jorge Mendes, the agent of Deco, and Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti would be an advantage to keep off other interested clubs.

Read more:
Deco denies Juventus
Who could go?
Deco thinks about England or Atletico

Everybody wants Ronaldinho

It becomes more and more clear that Barcelona playmaker Ronaldinho (28) will be the centre of the coming transfer summer, with all kinds of speculation, rumours and comments. It also seems that Barcelona's fear that no club would be interested anymore in Ronaldinho, was somewhat besides the truth. The usual suspects - AC Milan and Chelsea - are back (read more here and here), but also other clubs are keeping an eye on the player. An overview:

- Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Atlético Madrid defensive midfielder and former Barcelona player Thiago Motta, a close friend of Ronaldinho, called the Brazilian a week ago and tried to convince him to join Atlético. Ronaldinho kindly rejected the offer saying that Barcelona will have to move first. Atlético Madrid president Enrique Cerezo said this week in an interview with Spanish radio station Cadena COPE that his club could sign a player like Ronaldinho: "We have enough money to pay what would be needed for that."

- São Paulo striker and Inter Milan loan out Adriano (26) reacted cautious to the rumours about a possible summer move to Barcelona in a kind of swap deal including Ronaldinho (read more here). In an interview with Italian sports paper Tuttosport the Brazilian said: "Of course it would be nice to play for a club like Barcelona, but it is not something I'm thinking about now. After I have returned to Italy, I will see what will happen."

- Asked about the rumours linking Ronaldinho with his club (read more here), Fenerbahçe manager Zico said in an interview with Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio that, if possible, he would without any doubt sign his compatriot: "I'm an admirer of Ronaldinho and the Fenerbahçe president is too. Notwithstanding his current situation, every team would like to have him, including us. He would make our team better, like Roberto Carlos has done."

- Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said on Thursday in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Corriere dello Sport that if he could bring one player to Juventus, it would be Ronaldinho: "I would take a player like him straight away if the price would be accessible, which I don't think is the case." Roberto de Assís yesterday thanked the Italian international today in the same paper for his kind words in this difficult times: "His words prove that the great football players still admire Ronaldinho and want to play with him." For the paper this is enough to conclude that Juventus has now also officially joined the race for Ronaldinho.

- British tabloid The Daily Mail claims today that Manchester City has joined the race for Ronaldinho. Manchester City president and Thai billionnaire Thaksin Shinawatra would have been contacted by intermediaries and alerted to contact Barcelona and the player's agent about a possible deal. Although it's unclear how much money Manchester City manager Sven-Göran Eriksson will be able to spend in the summer, sources in Italy report that Milan believes the City interest is serious and that the club has therefore increased their efforts to close the deal shortly.

(read everything on the Ronaldinho transfer story here)

Ronaldinho and Adriano: The trouble kids exchange

Italian sports paper Il Corriere dello Sport claims that Inter Milan's interest in signing Barcelona playmaker Ronaldinho (28) is back on (read more here and here). Inter is closely monitoring the situation of the player and believes that Barcelona would be ready to would be ready to let go the Brazilian go if a fair bid comes in. Inter doens't want to play things hard by using Article 17 of the Fifa transfers regulation (read more here) and is ready to make an offer that would include São Paulo striker and Inter loan out Adriano (26).

The transaction will nevertheless not go true if former Chelsea manager José Mourinho would replace at the end of this season current Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini. While the latter is a known admirer of Ronaldinho, Mourinho does not think the player can add something to his team.

(read more on the Ronaldinho transfer story here)