To clarify a few things before going into the team by team situation, if we do not mention a player here, does not mean that it is not going to happen, it means that we may have heard it as a rumour or not heard it at all.
On the other hand, unless we classify here a player as signed already, the players we mention here are those who we know for a fact, that the clubs involved have registered an interest for, which does not mean that they are going to happen. For example if a club are looking for a goalkeeper, they may be negotiating with 3 or 4, of which they will only sign 1, but same applies to other positions.
We don’t work with rumours, not because they are bad or anything like that, only that if we were to chase all the rumours we hear, we would be working on this subject forever.
We will work in no particular order, trying to explain what players are targets and what we know about it.
You may not want to read all the teams, so in order to save you time, we have divided the blog in 6 different parts.
Today (part 2) we will look at Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona
Tomorrow we will look at Manchester United, Manchester City and Real Madrid
The day after we will look at: Spurs, Liverpool, Inter
Monday AC Milan, Juventus
Tuesday: which players on these teams are to make room for the new arrivals?
Barcelona:
Believe it or not, they are not intending to spend much money. They are convinced that there are not many players in the world that will be an automatic selection for their starting XI. However they will try to get a LB and are on the search of a future replacement for Puyol, whose contract finishes in 2013.
Gareth Bale: The Welshman is highly admired by the Catalan club, and they have made it known to Spurs that they may bid for him in the summer. However their contact was received with a lot of disinterest by the London club.
Jordi Alba: left back playing for Valencia, but he was a product of La Masia, the famous Barcelona academy. There has been contact between the clubs, and it is believed that an agreement exists for Alba to return “home”.
David Luiz: The Chelsea defender is wanted as a long term replacement for Puyol. It is not hair style related, despite the similarities, but it is a general feeling that he can become even better with time, but he is not their first choice. If their most wanted option was to fail they would be prepared to offer €40m (Euros) offer for the Brazilian.
Thiago Silva: He is the man Guardiola sees as a natural in Puyol’s position. He is quick, reads the game well, and can play with the ball at his feet. Indications are that Mascherano + cash could be an alternative for the transfer to go through.
Robin Van Persie: Not a necessity, but a treat the club dreams of giving their fans. If RVP decides to leave Arsenal, Barcelona will try to lure him towards Cataluña.
Neymar: The young Brazilian, who is the most expensive under 21 player in the world, is believed to have already been signed by Barcelona for the 2014/15 season. A €14m down payment has allegedly been paid and after the World Cup in Brazil, he could make his move to Europe.
Chelsea:
Tim Krul: As Roman Abramovich prepares to do a change of the old guard, the Newcastle goalkeeper appears as one of the candidates to move to Chelsea, as a future competition and replacement for Petr Cech.
Cheik Tiote: The Ivorian player has impressed this season at Newcastle and that has attracted the attention of Chelsea. He is not a priority, but more of a back up plan if others fail to materialise.
Demba Ba: Another Newcastle player, but this is a more serious target, as a big revamp is expected on the team’s frontline.
Hulk: The Brazilian forward that plays for Porto is one of the obsessions of Abramovich. He has an €83 million release clause, that it is very unrealistic. Chelsea are hoping that an offer of around €45 million will be enough to tempt the Portuguese club to sell the player.
William: They nearly got him in January, but could not agree on the fee with Shakhtar. Now they are in secret talks trying to narrow the gap in order to get the Brazilian to sign and play at the Bridge.
Cavani: He is the kind of player that the owner loves. He will cost a lot of money but Roman is prepared to spend it on him. Napoli really would rather hold on to the Uruguayan for 1 more season.
Radamel Falcao: The Colombian striker who plays for Atletico Madrid could be an option. The London club would love to involve Torres on the deal, but we don’t think Atletico can afford his salary.
Javi Garcia: The Benfica defensive midfielder is being watched by a few teams in Europe. Real Madrid put a buy back clause when they sold him to the Portuguese outfit, but are not looking to invoke that clause. It could end up in a bidding war, meaning his price may get out of control.
Gonzalo Higuain: El Pipita feels undervalued at Real Madrid and is looking for new horizons. Chelsea had a €40m offer rejected in January and may come back for the striker if their other option fail.
Arsenal:
With Matias Suarez and Lewis Holtby already pre-signed here is an update on the rest.
Before going into the rest, let me remind you that one of the clauses on Matias Suarez’ pre-contract is that the buying club can pull out of the agreement if a long term injury means the player would arrive unfit or not at the top condition as per when the agreement was signed.
Matias is at the moment with a problem in one of his knees that may require surgery. He has missed the last 2 games and is scheduled to miss some more.
Long term injury is regarded as any injury taking 12 weeks or more to heal.
In any case, does not mean that the deal is automatically anulled, but that the buying club has the right to review the player’s fitness and then decide if they wish to continue with the signed papers or break the deal.
Podolski: I have been saying for a while now that the deal is not as done and dusted as the media made us believed. There are many reasons behind this belief.
One and most important is that Koln has not have a chairman or a sporting director at the moment, so my questions are: Who was the deal signed by? And: On who’s authority?
Another clue is the fact that Lazio has entered talks with the player.
I am not saying that Podolski will not end up signing for Arsenal, I am saying the deal has not been finalised just yet.
Jan Vertonghen: After talks in January, where he told Arsenal that he wanted to finish the season at Ajax, he has now come back stating that he is ready for the move and the North London club is his priority. Jan is one of AW’s favourite players, and they are locked in talks trying to agree personal terms. Once they feel that they got that, then a fee will have to be agreed with Ajax.
M’Vila: The French defensive midfielder is one Arsene Wenger wants to join the club. He is an emerging force as a DM, while at the same time has experienced from having played international football. Talks with the player are ongoing, but there is interest from another 2 EPL clubs that could play a part.
Gotze: Arsenal have tried and failed to get Mario in the past with a huge bid. Now that the player has one more season of experience behind him, and a very successful one, we believe any club wanting his services will have to part with a large sum of money in order to get him. Also Dortmund has bought Reus, not as his replacement as many think, but as his future partner. They have played together before and are best friends. The intentions were trying to convince him to stay. However as Arsenal people are in Dortmund at the moment, they are also expecting an envoy from another EPL club to arrive and declare their interest next week.
Andryi Yarmolenko: The Ukrainian striker is a player Wenger admires a lot and could be in contention if the Podolski deal falls through.
Del Piero: The player has held telephone talks one on one with Arsene Wenger, and has been told that the plan is to get him in, get some games, but not as a regular, and help the youngsters with his experience. His salary could be partially sponsored by the sales of shirts that his arrival will generate, not from the British market, but from the abroad one. He said, he has other offers, and that when he has made a decision, he will let Wenger know.
Junior Hoilett: Much has been said about this young Blackburn player, but Arsenal are looking second in the run for his signature behind Bayern Munich.
Claudio Marchisio: DM will become an option if M’Villa fails to materialise.
Marvin Martin: There is a chance that if Arsenal manages to bring the asking price (€13.5m) to under €10m they may go for the Sochaux creative midfielder. But not as a priority, just a player that Wenger has been following for a while and would like to have.
Jack Butland: Birmingham’s young goalkeeper has caught the eye of Arsene Wenger and he has entered negotiations with the midlands club to try and sign him ASAP.
There are also back up plans but not even reasonable to consider them as contenders at this stage: Klaas Huntelaar, Abdennour, Dzeko, Giroud, Sahin, Gourcouf and Balhanda.
Many of the other names you hear are mainly rumours and we don’t want to be drawn into that.
Off course the lists for all these clubs could be more exhaustive if any name linked to all clubs would be taken seriously.
Any questions regarding the players we have mentioned here, we will be more than happy to answer. If we have not mentioned them, the answer will be we don’t know.
Any questions regarding players, who will make room for the new arrivals, please wait until the last part in order to get answers.
Please be respectful on your comments and I will try to answer them the best I can.