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

The search of Txiki (5) : Attack

On Thursday Catalan sports paper Sport gave a global analysis of the Barcelona transfer activity for next summer. In five episodes we bring this story to you.

Up front Barcelona is looking for a winger and a scorer. Last november Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and Barcelona sports vice president Marc Ingla met in Lisbon with the agent of Manchester United right winger Cristiano Ronaldo (23). No chance. Bayern Munich right winger Franck Ribéry (24) has been sounded. Sevilla left winger Diego Capel (20) and AS Roma left winger Mancini (27) are also on the Barcelona list. With Mancini there would be a pre-agreement.

For the center forward position, the transfer price of the first choice, Olympique Lyon striker Karim Benzema (20), is unattainable, so the club has to look at other options. Sevilla forward Luis Fabiano (27) is an alternative who would cost far less, although the problem is that the rights of the player are divided between Sevilla and investment group GSI. Chelsea striker Didier Drogba (30) will only come if his former manager José Mourinho will become the next Barcelona manager.

(this is the fifth and last part of this story, the first part and the second part were published on Thursday, the third part and the fourth part were published yesterday. The five episodes are: 1. Defence, 2. How it works, 3. Midfield, 4. Marital status, 5. Attack)

Sevilla's end-of-season sales

In an interview with Spanish financial newspaper Expansión, Sevilla president José María Del Nido has said last week that his club will have to sell if they aren't able to qualify for next season's Champions League: "Twenty per cent of our budget depends on the Champions League. If we cannot qualify, we'll have to sell assests, meaning players, to compensate the money we don't receive."

With still fourteen games to go, Sevilla is currently 6th in the Spanish league, 5 points behind the last Champions League spot. Since Barcelona is rumoured to be interested in players like Dani Alves, Christian Poulsen or even Luis Fabiano, some Catalans probably wouldn't mind Sevila not entering the Liga top four this season...

Transfer history: Luis Fabiano (Sevilla)

During the presentation of a new football shoes line by Adidas, Sevilla forward Luis Fabiano (27) told that former Barcelona vice president Sandro Rosell was one of the first persons trying to get him to Europe when he played for São Paulo and that he was close to signing for Barcelona: "We had everything agreed upon, but in the end it didn't go through. Sandro even came to look for me in Hungary, but São Paulo didn't want to let me go."

In the summer of 2004 Luis Fabiano signed with Porto. One year later he was transferred to Sevilla.

Luis Fabiano (Sevilla)

During the presentation of a new football shoes line by Adidas, Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano (27) was asked about his contract expiring in 2009. He said he thought there would be an exodus when Sevilla wouldn't be able to qualify for next season's Champions League.

On the rumours linking him again with Barcelona, the player explained his particular situation: "The transfer rights are divided between several persons. There's an investment group who holds 65% of the rights. This makes everything more complicated since no one can tell me exactly what my current market value is."