Which B players will Guardiola take with him?

It is generally believed that new Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola will take several players he got to know when coaching the Barcelona B team with him to the first team. Both main Catalan sport papers made a list of four players who they think could be promoted in the summer.

El Mundo Deportivo

- centre forward Víctor Vázquez (21)

- polyvalent midfielder Víctor Sánchez (20)

- left wing attacker Gai (17)

- attacking midfielder Thiago Alcántara (17)

Sport

- polyvalent midfielder Víctor Sánchez (20)

- midfielder Abraham (22)

- left winger Jeffrén (20)

- wing attacker Pedrito (20)

Sport claims that Gai Assulin (read more here) and Thiago Alcántara (read more here) will have to wait one more year before they join the first team.

This season, Víctor Sánchez played 60 minutes with the first team in the cup game against Alcoyano and 1 minute in the Liga game against Almería. Pedrito played five minutes against Valladolid and two minutes against Murcía. Víctor Vázquez played 13 minutes against Recreativo. Jeffrén (picture) made his debut for the first team last season in the cup game against Badalona, playing 29 minutes.

Read more:

Youth: Gai Assulin

Youth: Thiago Alcántara

Who will assist Guardiola

Guiza opens Barcelona door

Asked about the rumours linking him with a transfer to Barcelona (read more here), Mallorca forward Dani Güiza (27) has said in an interview with Madrid sports tabloid Marca that he doesn't have any hard feeling towards Barcelona anymore (read more here) and that he would certainly consider an offer: "To play for Barcelona would be somthing impressive for me. A dream."

Güiza, who is a fan of Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o since the time they spend together in Mallorca, also has an excellent relationship with Real Sociedad manager Juan Manuel Lillo, who is one of the candidates to assist future Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola as of next season (read more here) and who coached Güiza when the latter played for Real Murcia.

Asked about the rumours linking Güiza with Italian club Naples, player's agent Ernesto Bronzetti, who described the player as "Inzaghi with more power and more technique", has said in an interview with Italian local radio station Radio Marte that Barcelona is at this moment the main candidate and that Naples probably cannot pay the salary he's asking: "Güiza is now earning one million euro a year. I know his agent well and she has told me that he wants a pay rise to 3 million euro. That would be very difficult for Naples."

Read more:

Guiza agent confirms Barcelona interest

First talks with Guiza

Who will assist Guardiola?

Zambrotta doesn't want to confirm exit

After the Mallorca game yesterday, Barcelona right back defender and Italian international Gianluca Zambrotta (31) again didn't want to pronounce on the rumours linking him with a summer move to AC Milan (read more here) and said that he didn't know if he had played his last game in the Camp Nou: "I only think about finishing and forgetting this season. After that we will see what might happen."

Read more:

New talks with Milan on Zambrotta

How things stand: Right back defender

Zambrotta hasn't packed yet

Wenger wants Touré to replace Vieira

British tabloid The People claims that Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger wants to make a move for Barcelona defensive midfielder and Ivorian international Yaya Touré (24). The French manager thinks that Touré is the player who could finally succeed Patrick Vieira on the Arsenal midfield.

Wenger hopes that the appointment of Josep Guardiola as new Barcelona manager could open the door for the younger brother of Arsenal central defender Kolo Touré. Arsenal would therefore be preparing a 12,5 million euro° bid for the player.

In 2002, when playing for the Belgian club Beveren, Touré had a trial with Arsenal but Wenger decided back then not to offer the Ivorian midfielder a deal.

pep's opinion:

that fee of course is ridiculous, double that and we could be almost there. don't want the player to leave at all, but like i suggested yesterday he might not be the kind of player guardiola is looking for to fill in that position. to me, that position is one of the main question marks in the guardiola scheme: will the 'pivote' return or not?

Read more:

How things stand: Defensive midfielder

Which players are on Guardiola's list

Adebayor new name on centre forward list

Bruno Alves new name on central defender list

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that the Barcelona technical staff is looking at making a bid for Porto central defender and Portuguese international Bruno Alves (26).

Former player Washington, the Brazilian father and manager of Alves, says that he didn't hear anything official from Barcelona but that he's aware of the interest: "It's not a secret that several Barcelona scouts are following my son and have been watching him in several games."

Washington, who confirms the interest of Atlético Madrid, thinks that his son is ready for a transfer to a European top club and is convinced that Porto would let him go if a good offer comes in.

The manager suggests that the buyout fee could well be 30 million euro°: "I am not authorized to reveal this information to the public. But this price has been published by different Portuguese media who are generally well-informed about matters concerning Porto."

Catalan sport paper Sport meanwhile claims that Guardiola is using his contacts in Italy in the search for two central defenders.

Read more:

Looking for a central defender

How things stand: Central defenders

Deal with Coloccini