How things stand: Right back defender

(a few weeks before the end of the season, Barça Transfer Zone looks forward to the coming transfer summer making an analysis for each position, in part 2 we look at the right back defender)

2007-2008
With Belletti joining Chelsea in late August, everything was clear at the start of the season: Gianluca Zambrotta (31) would act as regular with Oleguer Presas (28) as his back-up.

Consecutive injuries of Oleguer caused the return of captain Carles Puyol (30) for more than ten official games to the place where he started his first team career. It even looked for a while like Puyol would become the first-choice right back, with Márquez replacing him in the centre. An injury of the Mexican could have prevented this from happening.

Out
Italian international Zambrotta, whose contract expires in 2010, is almost certainly returning to his home country in the summer. A deal with AC Milan seemed close (read more here and here), but the difficult negotiations on a transfer of Ronaldinho could postpone the final agreement. Milan seems to offer between 5 and 7 million euro° for the player. There have also been rumours about Juventus and Inter Milan.

Being a good team player, Oleguer is probably not very high on the Barcelona exit list. But if the player would like to leave to have more playing time, the club would not prevent that from happening. After being linked with Lazio Roma and Wolfsburg during the January transfer window, a few weeks ago there were claims about Ajax wanting to sign the Catalan defender on loan.

In
With Zambrotta on his way out, one of the main tasks in the coming transfer window is the transfer of a top right back defender. The first choice for this position is undoubtedly Dani Alves (Sevilla - 24). If Sevilla wants to sell this time, the player is not expected to leave for less than 30 or even 35 million euro°.

Second choice is Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich - 24), whose contract with Bayern expires in 2009 and who is not planning to sign a renewal. If Bayern accepts the full back to leave, the transfer price is expected to be between 9 and 15 million euro°. Lahm can also play as left back defender.

Other players that have been mentioned are David Cortés (Getafe - 28), Rafinha (Schalke 04 - 22), Emmanuel Eboué (Arsenal - 24), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich - 31) and Maicon (Inter Milan - 26). Central defenders Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo - 26) and Gerard Piqué (Manchester United - 21) and defensive midfielder Stéphane Mbia (Rennes - 21) have also experience on the right back position.


Read all How things stand contributions here in the coming weeks 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 (1) : Defence

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

At the back, Barcelona is looking to replace Italian full back Gianluca Zambrotta (31), who will leave for AC Milan, and French central defender Lilian Thuram (36), whose contract expires in June and won't be renewed.

For the right back positon, three names are on the Barcelona list: Sevilla right back Daniel Alves (24), Bayern Munich full back Philipp Lahm (24) and Bayern Munich right back Willy Sagnol (30). While Barcelona doesn't seem willing to pay up to 30-35 million euro for the Brazilian, they would already have found a pre-agreement with the two Bayern defenders.

For the centre defence position, Barcelona is mainly considering two options: Racing Santander defender Ezequiel Garay (21) and Recreativo Huelva defender Martín Cáceres (20). The Uruguayan central defender is only playing on loan with Recreativo and is owned by Villareal. Espanyol defender Daniel Jarque (25) has also been followed.

(you can read the second part of this story later today, the third and fourth part will be published tomorrow, the last part on Saturday. The five episodes are: 1. Defence, 2. How it works, 3. Midfield, 4. Marital status, 5. Attack)