(at the end of the season, Barça Transfer Zone looks forward to the coming transfer summer making an analysis for each position, in part 6 we look at the attacking midfielders)
2007-2008
Looking at the numbers, Xavi was clearly the central figure in this department over the almost past season. The three pairs who played the most this years in official games are Xavi-Iniesta (17 starts), Xavi-Deco (16 starts) and Xavi-Gudjohnsen (15 starts).
Out
Iniesta (24) will certainly stay and although Xavi (28) has recently been linked with Chelsea, it can be expected that he won't leave either. Depending on the tactical choices of new Barcelona manager Guardiola, both players could be pulled back a line.
Deco (30) and Gudjohnsen (29) look like they're on their way out, although both players don't seem very enthusiastic about the idea. Especially Deco could play it hard and only leave under his conditions. Deco has been linked with Bayern, Milan, Inter, Juventus, Newcastle and Atlético Madrid. Gudjohnsen is rumoured to be on the lists of Portsmouth and Newcastle.
In
Many names are circling around for these positions but none of them is really sticking out at this moment. Players that have been mentioned are, amongst others, Cesc (Arsenal - 20), Diego (Bremen - 23), Aquilani (Roma - 23), Lampard (Chelsea - 29), Hleb (Arsenal - 27), Van der Vaart (Hamburg - 25) and Lucho (Porto - 27).
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
Goal keeper - Right back defender - Central defenders - Left back defender - Defensive midfielder - Attacking midfielders - Wing attackers - Centre forward
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