The only problem is that until any of the players are sold, not many clubs have enough money to risk buying.
Unless, obviously your name is PSG. The Parisian team has a list as long as a book from where they would love to buy players.
Between clubs secrecy and lack of targets, this ligue 1 research was a little disappointing for us, but we wil share what we found out.
We have concentrated on 6 of the top teams, where most of the important transfers will be happening, now don’t get excited, as 4 of those clubs have only one target, and another has made not known targets until they sell.
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.
PSG:
Easy to start with the only team in France actively seeking top class players.
Ancelotti has a few of his old Chelsea players in mind:
Didier Drogba We think he may end up in China, unless he wants one last pop at the Champions League.
Frank Lampard: Ancelotti is a known admirer of Frank, and has stated that if he ever wants to leave Chelsea, PSG will welcome him with arms wide open.
Ashley Cole: Ancelotti thinks he can convince Cole to make the move to Paris. Chelsea’s clearout is likely to find Ashley amongst the transferable players.
Salomon Kalou: Chelsea wants him to stay, but he has remained coy about his future and PSG has understood that as an invitation to negotiate with him.
Florent Malouda: Chelsea and the player are interested on continuing together, but PSG are monitoring the situation closely.
Others linked with the club are: Pato (we think he may end up at PSG next season), Luis Suarez (the Liverpool striker can end up earning more money, getting out of England and playing alongside his country’s captain Diego Lugano), David Beckham (Like Leonardo and Ancelotti did when they were at AC Milan, they have sounded out Beckham for next season), Demba Ba (he has been in excellent form and PSG’s Italian Manager has become a firm admirer of the Newcastle player), Stephane Sessegnon (not at the top of the list, but it is a player that has caught the eye of PSG’s Management team), Chamakh (Leonardo strongly believes that he has talent and will be able to shine if given the opportunity to play regular football), Adel taarbat (Has lost momentum with the Parisian club, but still not out of their list), Kolo Toure (Ancelotti has described him as the hardest defender he knows, and if we want to win things, we need players like him at PSG), Alex Song (one of Ancelotti’s favourite players, and the club are ready to test Arsenal’s resolve to keep him), Edison Cavani (the in form Uruguayan could not be absent from any top team wish list), Keisuke Honda (the Japanese midfielder, also wanted by Lazio, will have a few suitors this summer)
Montpellier:
The club have been busier trying to tie up some of their star players to new contracts than attempting to make wish lists for next season.
Saihi, Camara and Marveaux have renewed their contracts and will remain with the club.
Who comes in will depend on anybody going out.
Giroud is the most wanted man from the team, and will be very difficult to keep him one more season.
Lille:
They are interested in Marvin Martin (Socheaux), and they are considering whether or not to try to sign Joe Cole on permanent basis.
Olympic Lyon and Marseille
The clubs are going to perform clear outs, and depending who and how many of the current squads leave, a decision will be made on how many are needed. Their only target at the moment is Olivier Giroud, but there are so many clubs after him with bigger projects that we don’t think he will end up at Lyon or Marseille anyway.
Bordeaux:
Chamakh is their one and only target at the moment, but more names will be added to the list once the season has finished.