Van der Vaart to lift up midfield scoring

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Hamburg midfielder and Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart (25) is high on the Barcelona list and could become the offensive and scoring midfielder the club is looking for. Barcelona is already following Van der Vaart for several years and he was already close to joining Barcelona in 2006.

Over the last months Hamburg has declined several offers from European top clubs for Van der Vaart but the player, whose mother is Spanish and comes from a 'culé' family, would like to set another step in his career and prefers to leave for the Liga. Van der Vaart's contract with Hamburg, the club he joined in the summer of 2005, expires in 2010 and the Dutchman is rejecting all renewal proposals.

Hamburg would be holding on to a transfer price of 20 million euro°, although it has been rumoured that a clause in his contract allows Van der Vaart to leave in the summer of 2009 for only 1,5 million euro°, which could lead the German club to try selling the player this summer. Van der Vaart is represented by Turkish player's agent and intermediary Bayram Tutumlu who has a good relationship with Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain.

Madrid sports tabloid As says that the transfer of Van der Vaart is strongly supported by Barcelona unofficial adviser Johan Cruijff and that Getafe manager Michael Laudrup, who is one of the candidates to replace Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard, would have asked to sign Van der Vaart.

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The Poulsen problem: Bayram Tutumlu

Meeting with Poulsen

Spanish local radio station Radio Sevilla claims that Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain met on Wednesday at the 'El Boticaria' hotel in Alcalá de Guadaira (near Sevilla) with Sevilla midfielder Christian Poulsen (28) and Bayram Tutumlu, the Turkish go-between who brought Poulsen to Sevilla (read more here).

Poulsen, whose contract expires in 2009, would be one of the main candidates to strengthen the Barcelona midfield. The Danish international, who has a tense relationship with his club because the player is rejecting all offers to renew his contract, has a buyout clause of 10 million euro°.

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Deal with Poulsen
Bigger club but lower salary for Poulsen

The Poulsen problem

Catalan sports paper Sport reports that the negotiations with Sevilla on the transfer fee that Barcelona will have to pay for Sevilla midfielder Christian Poulsen (28) could get complicated because of the tense relationship between Sevilla president José María del Nido and Turkish player's agent Bayram Tutumlu. Barcelona would like to lower the buyout clause of 10 million euro.

Tutumlu, who resides in Barcelona, acted as go-between during the negotiations between Barcelona and Poulsen. Together with the Danish lawyer Jorn Bonnesen, he closed the deal with Barcelona (read more here). Another player who is advised by Tutumlu, Fiorentina defender Tomas Ujfalusi would now have signed for Atlético Madrid, while he already had an agreement with Sevilla. Before the Champions League game in the beginning of March, Del Nido and Tutumlu were caught by television camera's holding an agitated conversation. Tutumlu is no longer welcome in Sevilla.

Earlier this season, Tutumlu, who is also the agent of Getafe manager Michael Laudrup and who acted as go-between in the transfer of manager Ronald Koeman from PSV Eindhoven to Valencia last October, had a unpleasant dispute with Real Madrid sports director Pedrag Mijatovic before the league game Sevilla-Real Madrid. This incident was also captured by television camera's (see the incident here). Madrid would also be interested in signing Christian Poulsen.

Meanwhile, Spanish news site El Confidencial claims that the relations between Bayram Tutumlu and Christian Poulsen, who was brought to Sevilla with the help of the Turk, would have deteriorated cause Tutumlu would talk too much without the consent of the player. The player would have refused to meet with the Turkish agent earlier this month.

(read more on the Poulsen transfer story here)