British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Barcelona is preparing a 40 million euro° offer for Arsenal midfielder and Spanish international Cesc Fàbregas (22).
Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola would like to sign Fabregas as soon as possible. The coach knows it will take a lot to convince Arsenal, but he is convinced that if the offer is big enough, Arsenal will be forced to listen.
A Spanish source is quoted by the tabloid as saying: "The club are convinced that Fabregas wants to play for Barcelona, despite what he has been saying about staying at Arsenal. It will all come down to money. Barcelona feel 35 million pounds would be enough to turn Arsenal's heads."
Madrid sports tabloid As nevertheless claims that Cesc already has a deal with former Barcelona vice-president Sandro Rosell, who will take part in next year's presidential elections. Because of that pre-agreement, attempts by Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and Barcelona president Joan Laporta to try to sign Cesc have resulted unsuccesful. Catalan sports paper Sport also claims that Cesc is on the list of Rosell (read more here).
Read more:
Cesc is still an option for this summer
Barcelona presidential candidate working on Cesc transfer
Cesc repeats he wants to stay at Arsenal
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Barcelona preparing bid for Cesc
Monday, 29 June 2009
Eto'o has found a house to live in Manchester
British tabloid The Daily Mirror claims that Barcelona forward and Cameroon international Samuel Eto'o (28) will join Manchester City in the next few days.
The player would already have found a place to live in Hale, a village in Greater Manchester. Eto'o would rent a Georgian style house owned by English cricketer Andrew Flintoff for around 300 000 euro a year. The property reportedly has a pool and gym and has easy access to the airport and City's training ground.
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Barcelona has already accepted the 30 million euro° offer by Manchester City to finance the bid for Valencia forward David Villa. British tabloid The Sun claims that Manchester City has offered Eto'o a year salary of over 15 million euro, which would double his current wages.
Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Manchester City's last bid was 27 million euro° (plus 3 million euro in incentives). Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona has received a formal offer from Manchester City of 25,5 million euro° (plus 2,5 million euro in incentives), of which 15 million euro could go to Eto'o as a transfer bonus as indicated by Barcelona sources. Eto'o would have been offered a five-year contract worth 10 million euro net a year but sources close to the player would have said that Eto'o is not convinced by the sporting project of the English club.
Read more:
Agent Eto'o calls for press conference
Eto'o to sign for Manchester City next week
Laporta comments on the transfer market
Four English clubs interested in Hleb
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that several English Premier League clubs are interested in Barcelona attacker and Belarus international Aleksander Hleb (28).
English clubs would have been alerted by the claims of Hleb that he doesn't want to spend time on the bench and that he wants to come back to England.
Aston Villa, Everton and Manchester City would all be monitoring the situation of the Belarusian player, while Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger might also be interested in taking Hleb back for a lot less than he sold him for last summer.
Read more:
Hleb could be included in Ashley Young bid
Possible pre-agreement between Hleb and Bayern
Hleb doesn't plan to leave this summer
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Gudjohnsen hints at West Ham move
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Barcelona attacker and Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen (30) is likely to return to the English Premier League (read more here).
Barcelona would have put Gudjohnsen for sale and the player is reportedly keen on going back to England. Several English clubs are said to be interested, with Portsmouth eyening him as a possible replacement for Crouch and Fulham being willing to move if the price is right.
Gudjohnsen is nevertheless quoted by the tabloid as hinting that he would like to join West Ham: "Returning to England is probably inevitable. There is a lot of interest from the Premier League. I had a great time with Chelsea and Gianfranco and I know the game inside out. I know I would adapt easily to the football there."
Read more:
Four English clubs ask for Gudjohnsen
Aston Villa wants to sign Gudjohnsen
Gudjohnsen could return to the Premier League
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Hleb could be included in Ashley Young bid
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Barcelona is ready to make a 30 million euro° bid for Aston Villa winger Ashley Young (23) (read more here).
Barcelona's technical has reportedly been following the English player during the past season and would now prepare a concrete offer. Barcelona might try to include Barcelona attacker and Belarusian international Alexander Hleb (28) in the deal.
A Spanish source is quoted by the tabloid as saying: "Young has been impressive all last year with Villa and at times with England. He finished the season well and he is a player that Guardiola likes.
He has been following him for a while and we hope that he will want to come to a club as big as Barca and move to Spain. There has been no contact yet but the club are firming up their plans at the moment."
Read more:
Ashley Young another option for the left wing
Hleb does not want to leave
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Hleb does not want to leave
Although Barcelona sports papers Sport and El Mundo Deportivo claim that Barcelona wants to sell Barcelona attacker and Belarusian international Alexander Hleb (28) this summer, representatives of the player have said this week that Hleb wants to continue next season.
Asked about the transfer rumours, Hleb's agent Uli Ferber said in an interview with British sports site Sky Sports that the player is not thinking of leaving: "Even though he is not playing regularly he is not thinking about changing teams. He wants to stay at Barcelona and fight for his place."
Oliver Mintzlaff, a collaborator of Ferber, had earlier said the same in an interview with Catalan sports paper Sport: "Hleb isn't satisfied with the chances he has got... He wanted to play more, but he's convinced that he can prove to Guardiola that he's a quality player. With Barça, he has found a club where he can win trophies and his only option is to continue. Despite that, I can confirm that several very important English and German club have asked for him."
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Aston Villa is interested in bringing Hleb back to the English Premier League. Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill is believed to be interested in buying Hleb as a striker or wide midfielder, while Barcelona would be prepared to let the player go for a transfer fee of around 11,5 million euro°.
Ferber nevertheless denied the interest to Sky Sports: "We don't know anything about any requests from Aston Villa." And El Mundo Deportivo claims that Bayern Munich is no longer interested in Hleb after Louis van Gaal was appointed as the new coach of the German club.
Italian sports paper La Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Barcelona president Joan Laporta tried to include Hleb in a deal on Inter Milan striker Ibrahimovic (read more here). Olympique Lyon sports director Bernard Lacombe meanwhile confirmed in an interview with his club's official television channel that the French club is following Hleb: "Hleb is a good player, we'll see what we can do."
Read more:
Lyon interested in Hleb
Hleb will leave if asked by Barcelona
Possible pre-agreement between Hleb and Bayern
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Barcelona monitoring Walcott renewal talks
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Barcelona is interested in Arsenal winger and English international Theo Walcott (20).
Barcelona would be among the clubs that are monitoring the renewal talks between Arsenal and Walcott, whose contract expires at the end of next season. Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Real Madrid would also be watching developments.
Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger has postponed all contract renewal talks until the summer, which has increasingly frustrated the player’s advisers. Arsenal would run the risk of losing Walcott for less than 450 000 euro° because new FIFA rules state that any buying club would just have to pay 100 000 training costs for every year that the English striker has been at Arsenal.
Read more:
Arsenal confident about keeping Cesc
Bayern rejects offer for Ribery
Barcelona preparing bid for Van Persie
Thursday, 19 February 2009
New bid for Adebayor being planned
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Barcelona is planning a new bid for Arsenal forward and Togo international Emmanuel Adebayor (24).
Although Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger blocked a move last summer, the Frenchman could now be willing to let the Togolese player leave and replace him by Real Madrid forward Huntelaar.
Arsenal players Cesc and Van Persie are also expected to be summer targets for Barcelona (read more here) but Adebayor is first choice. Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola has been a long-time admirer of Adebayor and with Eto’o and Henry possibly moving on this summer, the team will need a new striker. Arsenal could be willing to accept a bid of 22,5 million euro°.
Read more:
Barcelona considers buying top striker
Ultimate offer for Adebayor
Barcelona moving for Arsenal trio
Friday, 9 January 2009
Toure leaves all future options open
Asked about the rumours linking him with a move to Manchester City or Arsenal (read more here), Barcelona defensive midfielder and Ivory Coast international Yaya Touré (25) has said to journalists after the cup game against Atlético Madrid that he doesn't think about a move now but that nothing can be excluded for the future:
"I play for Barcelona now and I don't think about these things. But I have a manager who works for me and thinks about all these things because for me the most important thing is the football. The important thing is I want to play. I want to tell you that I play football. My friend and manager sorts these things out for me. I'm more concentrated on the football.
When a big club call you it's very good for me because I'm an African player and when a big team like Arsenal and Manchester City call me I'm very happy because all African players want to go to a big club. But right now I play for Barcelona and I want to make everything work and then after I will see.
If I went to Arsenal I would of course go and play with my brother and I've thought about this for a long time. Two or three years ago I went there, but I didn't sign. Arsenal are a great team and that time when I went there they had Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, great players... I think now I'm playing at a big club with Barcelona, who are one of the best clubs in the world."
Asked about the rumour about Manchester City preparing an offer (read more here), Touré's agent Dimitri Seluk said in an interview with Catalan radio station Ràdio Kanal Barcelona that there hasn't been any contact with the English Premier League club:
"As Touré is one of the best players of the world at his position, it's normal that some clubs are interested in him. Manchester City is an ambitious club and they have money to spend but I didn't talk with them. They should first talk with Barça anyway. But Touré is happy at Barça, at this moment the best club in Europe, and he doesn't have the intention to leave."
British tabloid The Daily Star meanwhile claims that Touré could be used as part of an exchange deal with Arsenal, with Barcelona possibly planning to make a 50 million euro package bid for Arsenal players Cesc and Van Persie during next summer's transfer window (read more here).
Read more:
Bid from Manchester City for Toure
Toure is again an option for Arsenal
Touré considers transfer if he doesn't play more
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Bid for Cesc and Van Persie being planned
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Barcelona is interested in signing Arsenal midfielder and Spanish international Cesc Fàbregas (21) and Arsenal winger and Dutch international Robin van Persie (25).
Barcelona would be confident that they can sign the two Arsenal players after having successfully completed the transfer of their former team-mate Alexander Hleb earlier this year.
While Fabregas has always been on Barcelona's wish list, the tabloid now claims that Van Persie has been added following a meeting between Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola and Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain over the weekend, with a Barcelona source being quoted as saying: "This is not the first time that Barça have looked at Van Persie, but there is a feeling that he has now matured and is ready for the move."
Barcelona would be planning to make a 50 million euro° package bid for the two players during next summer's transfer window. Barcelona defensive midfielder and Ivory Coast international Yaya Touré (25) could be used as part of an exchange deal with Arsenal.
Read more:
Van Persie to replace Henry next summer
Arsenal renewal or Barcelona move for Cesc
Do we buy? Fabregas.
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Xavi is top target for Manchester United
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Manchester United have made Barcelona attacking midfielder and Spanish international Xavi (28) their top transfer target.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson considers the Catalan player to be the perfect replacement for Paul Scholes, whose career at the club is coming to an end. With major doubts over the future of Owen Hargreaves as well, United needs to start moving to sign an experienced central midfielder.
With Xavi, whose contract expires in 2010, still in talks with Barcelona on a contract renewal (read more here), the English Premier League club will wait to see whether the contract situation is resolved before making a concrete move. Manchester United could make a bid of 25 million euro°.
Xavi’s agent Iván Corretja is quoted by the tabloid as admitting the difficult renewal negotiations: "We have not been able to solve the situation at Barcelona, despite some months of negotiations. We feel he should be offered a deal which reflects his performances on the pitch. Everybody at Barcelona knows that there are some big European clubs interested in Xavi, particularly in England at the moment, and we will not allow this to go on forever."
Read more:
Xavi wants to climb up in Barcelona salary rank
Friday, 7 November 2008
Barcelona preparing January bid for Cesc
British tabloid Daily Star claims that Barcelona will make a bid for Arsenal midfielder and Spanish international Cesc Fàbregas (21) during the winter transfer period next January.
Although Barcelona would initially have made Cesc the top target for next summer, after a board meeting earlier this week, the club is now ready to start the process of trying to sign the Catalan midfielder immediately.
A Barcelona official is quoted as saying that the fans don't care anymore about the fact Cesc left Barcelona being a youth player: "His departure for England has been completely forgotten. Pique returned to Barcelona and now we want Fabregas back. Barcelona know that he loves the club and they will do whatever they can to use the emotional ties he has with Barca to get him to return. It will take a lot of money, but he will be the No.1 priority."
Barcelona, that plans to use Cesc's close friend Alexander Hleb and other friends and family of the player to try to convince him, would be prepared to pay a transfer fee of more than 37,5 million euro°, which probably won't be enough for Arsenal, but Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain would have have told coach Josep Guardiola that they will pay what it takes to sign Cesc.
Monday, 28 July 2008
Manchester United considering Henry bid
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Manchester United is weighing up a bid for Barcelona centre forward and French international Thierry Henry (30).
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has been forced to look at other strikers after being blocked so far in his attempts to sign Tottenham forward Dimitar Berbatov and Henry is one of those on top of his list.
Much will depend on whether Ferguson wants a player to make an immediate impact, or a signing to build for the future. In Henry, Ferguson knows he would be getting a player already adept at the demands of Premier League and Champions League football.
Ferguson believes that the Barcelona forward could do a similar job to Berbatov, assisting Wayne Rooney up front. There are few players in Europe with the qualities to fulfil the role, which has led Ferguson to check out Henry’s situation at Barcelona.
Though new Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola has indicated that he wants Henry to stay, the fact that Samuel Eto’o is still at the club means the Frenchman could be available. The Champions League winners could offer Barcelona 20 million euro° for the striker.
Read more:
Henry was close to Manchester United
Guardiola holds on to Henry
Henry contacts Chelsea
Saturday, 19 July 2008
Drogba wants to move to Barcelona
Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Chelsea forward and Ivory Coast international Didier Drogba (30) would really like to join Barcelona this summer.
Drogba wants to start a new and last football adventure and thinks that the new project at Barcelona, where he would team up with his compatriot and close friend Yaya Touré, would be the ideal opportunity to do that.
Certainly with Inter manager and former Chelsea coach José Mourinho apparently holding on to Ibrahimovich and not going after Drogba, Barcelona is without any doubt the preferred destination of the Ivorian striker.
New Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari nevertheless made clear that he's counting on Drogba, which has caused the English club to offer the striker a renewal. Drogba is looking at the proposal but hopes at the same time that Barcelona will start to push hard for him in the coming days.
The offer of a swap deal including Drogba and Eto'o, that was made by then Barcelona sports vice president Marc Ingla but was rejected by Chelsea a few weeks ago (read more here), could again be put on the table and would be the fastest way to a transfer.
Thierry Seydi, Drogba's agent said on Tuesday in an interview with French football weekly paper France Football that Drogba will take a decision before next weekend: "Didier has given himself ten days to make a decision. If nothing has happened by that time, he'll stay with Chelsea and renew his contract with two more years."
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Chelsea would be willing to let Drogba go for 25 million euro° but that it looks as if negotiations will drag on, both between Drogba and Barcelona and between Chelsea and Barcelona.
Read more:
Drogba could bring more strength up front
How things stand: Centre forward
Negotiations with Drogba
Friday, 4 July 2008
Shevchenko prefers to stay with Chelsea
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that the first option of Chelsea forward and Ukrainian international Andriy Shevchenko (31) is to keep on playing at Chelsea next season.
Thursday, 3 July 2008
Final offensive for Arshavin
Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona will launch today a final 15 million euro° offensive for Zenit Saint Petersburg forward and Russian international Andrei Arshavin (27). If everything goes like planned, the transfer could be closed before the end of this week.
Barcelona had already found an pre-agreement with Zenit before the European championships but the excellent performances of the player during the tournament and the interest of other clubs, have made the Russian club take a step back.
Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that because of the pre-agreement and the will of the player to join Barcelona (read more here), Barcelona is not willing to enter a bid race with other clubs. A few days ago, a deal seemed to be very close but the interference of Chelsea would have avoided that a deal was finalized.
The paper claims that Metallurg Donetsk vice president Dimitri Sellyuk, who is also the agent of Barcelona player Yaya Touré, has been appointed by Barcelona to act as intermediary between the clubs.
Asked about the negotiations, Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain didn't really want to enter the issue at a press conference today: "The club is working on several options. Arshavin is one of them but I don't want to say more about it, I prefer to talk about facts."
Zenit sports director Konstantin Sarsania is quoted by British tabloid The Daily Star as saying that Arshavin and his agent will meet with Zenit officials today: "On Thursday, players from the national team return to our training camp. Arshavin and his agent Pavel Andreev are to clarify their position with us then. We do not want to sell Arshavin. That’s exactly why we need Andrei to meet the bosses of the club: to understand what he is really after.
My understanding was that he would like to go and play abroad. But he isn’t only interested in moving to Barcelona. There’s also Chelsea. Andrei never rejected the idea of moving there. The Chelsea managers know the situation and have already talked to his agent."
British tabloid The Daily Mirror meanwhile claims today that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has found last night a deal with Zenit and that Arshavin will now fly into London for talks with the English Premier League club.
A source at Zenit is quoted by the tabloid as saying: "Chelsea have been in contact, a deal has been agreed and Arshavin will fly to London to discuss terms. He was very attracted by playing in Spain but feels English football would suit his style better. And with Roman Abramovich involved there is another link and reason."
Arshavin said yesterday to journalists that he wishes to leave Russia this summer: "I've been very happy at Zenit and I will always be grateful for the chances they've given me, but I would like to leave for another big club in Europe. There's nothing concrete yet, it depends on many things, but I hope a deal can be closed soon."
Read more:
Formal offer for Arshavin
Arshavin confirms that he is a Barcelona fan
Arshavin scouting report
Monday, 23 June 2008
Deco could be a Chelsea player this week
British tabloid The Sun claims that Barcelona midfielder and Portuguese international Deco (30) is set to become Luiz Felipe Scolari’s first signing for Chelsea this week. Barcelona would receive a transfer fee of 15 million euro° for the player.
Deco has already agreed terms with Chelsea (read more here) and an agreement between Chelsea and Barcelona is expected to be finalised soon. A source close to the deal is quoted as saying: "It’s just a matter of time to conclude the affair and it should be before the end of this week."
British tabloid The Daily Star nevertheless claims that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has made it known to Scolari he favours bringing in Arshavin. Scolari, a fan of Deco, told the Barcelona player that he would try to take him to Chelsea this summer.
Deco had also been Abramovich' favourite, but the latest performance of Arshavin at the European championship and the age advantage of the Russian player could change Chelsea's plans.
Read more:
Deco agrees personal terms with Chelsea
Could Barcelona pick up a player from Zaragoza?
Chelsea or Inter for Deco
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Difficult negotiations with Arsenal on Hleb
Several sources in England and Spain report that the negotiations, started on Tuesday, between Arsenal and Barcelona on the transfer of Arsenal midfielder and Belarussian international Alexander Hleb (27) are not advancing as well as expected before by Barcelona.
British tabloid The Daily Mirror claims that Barcelona launched a first bid of 10 million euro° which is far below what Arsenal would want to receive for Hleb.
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Arsenal is asking at this moment 25 million euro° and more concretely translated this in demanding 5 million euro° plus Barcelona defensive midfielder and Ivory Coast international Yaya Touré (25) in exchange.
Barcelona would have rejected the option to include Touré in the deal (read more here). Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain is quoted by the tabloid as saying: "We want Yaya to stay with us and he is not on the market. Guardiola considers him to be an important player in his new project." Catalan sports paper Sport confirms that this plan has clearly been rejected by Barcelona.
Although Bayern Munich would be preparing a 20 million euro° bid, Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo says that Barcelona is calm and patient because they already have a personal deal with Hleb (read more here). And the experience shows that a player normally ends up playing with the team of his choice.
Hleb said earlier this week in an interview with German sports magazine Kicker that the rumours about his future are making him nervous: "All that paper talk is annoying. I have not signed anything with Bayern or Barcelona or any other club for that matter. There's so much speculation and so much talking. While I just want some peace and time to sit down with my closest friend and agent Niki Spilevski to make up my mind about my future."
Read more:
Hleb looks to be next
Swap deal including Toure and Hleb looked at
Deal with Arsenal on Hleb close
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Swap deal including Toure and Hleb looked at
British tabloid The Daily Star claims that Barcelona defensive midfielder and Ivory Coast international Yaya Touré (25) could be joining Arsenal as part of the deal that takes Arsenal midfielder Alexander and Belarus international Alexander Hleb (27) to Barcelona.
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Favourite Tottenham might have landed Giovani
British television channel Sky Sports claims that Tottenham has emerged as the favourites to sign Barcelona right wing attacker and Mexican international Giovani dos Santos (19) (read more here). The English Premier League club would be willing to spend 14 million euro° on the player.
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