Top deals that appear to be very close to being sewn up.
Ezequiel Garay – Benfica to Manchester United
The 26-year-old has found himself in demand this summer with both Manchester United and Chelsea sending scouts to watch him numerous times during the previous campaign.
However, it is United who are thought to be leading the charge to land his signature as new boss David Moyes looks set to follow up on the initial interest shown by predecessor Sir Alex Ferguson and bring him to Old Trafford.
It wasn’t long ago that Garay was at Real Madrid being lauded as the next defensive colossus who would take the world by storm. However, the fierce competition in the Spanish capital saw him shipped out back on loan to Racing Santander before joining Benfica.
Garay is quick, clever and comfortable with the ball at his feet bringing it out from defence. He is a key man for pressing whenever the side lose the ball, and is adept at making the right tackle at the right time.
Like a young Rio Ferdinand, Garay is quick, clever and comfortable with the ball at his feet bringing it out from defense. He is a key man for pressing whenever the side lose the ball and is adept at making the right tackle at the right time.
Moyes has been given the green light to press ahead with an official move for Garay as the Portuguese giants have lined up Lisandro Ezequiel Lopez from Argentinian club Arsenal de Sarandi, to replace him and will make their move once they have received the cash from United.
Gonzalo Higuain – Real Madrid to Arsenal
It was touch and go for a while as to whether Higuain would even consider joining Arsenal as Italian giants Juventus looked set to sweep away the competition hoping to take him from the Santiago Bernabeau.
However, with Juve bagging Fernando Llorente from Athletico Madrid and Carlos Tevez from Manchester City the path has been cleared for Arsene Winger to make his move and bring in a goal scorer truly capable of replacing the void left by Robin Van Persie last summer.
The deal had the potential to be one of the summer’s most drawn out transfer sagas until last week when the player’s agent and brother, Nicolas Higuain, admitted that a deal is close.
I think that Higuain is now close to Arsenal,” he said.
The wheels can now but put into motion a little quicker now that Real Madrid have finally appointed former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti as their new coach, and the new chief has already spoke of his plans to remodel the squad to compete more closely with Barcelona.
Arsenal have reportedly already agreed personal terms with the player, and a transfer fee believed to be in the region of £22 million, and now that Ancelotti is in place he can sanction the deal to go ahead.
Henrikh Mkhitarayan – Shakhtar Donetsk to Liverpool
The Reds have been linked with Shakhtar’s Armenian international for some time now and the 24-year-old has been on the verge of a move to Merseyside for what feels like forever.
With doubts over Luis Suarez’s future, Brendan Rodgers has been keen to bring in more attacking options to the club and Mkhitaryan certainly has the right credentials with 42 goals in 103 appearances from just behind the strikers in the Ukraine.
His £22 million fee had been seen as a slight problem, but following the £17 million sale of flop striker Andy Carroll to West Ham United recently has freed up the necessary funds required to take him away from the Ukrainian champions.
Rodger’s had faced competition from the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund as they continue to look for a replacement for the Bayern Munich bound Mario Gotze, but sources close to the player suggest that he would favour a move to the northwest of England.
Shakhtar had moved to play down the links between themselves and Liverpool, with chief executive, Sergey Palkin, even claiming that there had been no approach from Brendan Rodgers’ men, though sources at the Premier League side have confirmed that they are working on a deal.
Last week Mkhitaryan failed to report to training with Donetsk, sparking fears that he had gone AWOL over the club’s insistence that he stay with them and Rodgers could look to exploit that over the coming weeks with a stronger bargaining position.
David Villa – Barcelona to Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs had been in direct competition with their north London rivals Arsenal for the signature of the unfancied Barcelona striker but now appear to have a clear path to his signature now that Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain appears to be on his way to the Emirates.
Villa has fallen down the pecking order at the Nou Camp after managing to return from a broken leg, and with the impending arrival of Santos wonder kid Neymar soon, his days in the Catalan capital now appear to be numbered.
Andre Villa-Boas is already known to be looking into adding more fire power to the Spurs front line after Emmanuel Adebayor failed to meet the expectations set on him following his successful loan spell the year before and not only that, the former Porto coach is looking to switch to a 4-3-3 and he has apparently identified the Spanish international as a key figure to making the new system work.
However, there has been a bump in the road in the form of Barca’s asking price. With just one year left on his current deal and at 31-years of age, the Spanish champions are still hoping to command a fee in the region of £12 million.
Italian side Fiorentina had been hoping to take advantage of this, but Spurs are confident that a deal can be agreed, especially after the player himself declared that he would rather head to the Premier League and help Spurs mount a fresh challenge to reach the Champions League.
Paulinho – Corinthians to Tottenham Hotspur
Summer international tournaments are often key reasons for certain transfer deals stalling and this year’s Confederations Cup has been the main culprit this time around.
The edging of Paulinho from Corinthians to Tottenham Hotspur has been gradual, but the end of the tournament this weekend has meant that a deal can now be completed over the next couple of weeks.
At the beginning of the tournament the player had insisted that he wasn’t going anywhere, and not even the mighty Real Madrid could convince him to change his mind. “All I am hearing is blah, blah, blah. My agent is in London right now, but he is not discussing me – he has other clients,” he had said.
A week later he’d changed his tune; “It’s not true about Real Madrid, the only offer that has come is from Tottenham,” he claimed, each time suffixed with the phrase ‘only after the Confederations Cup.’
However, he has now admitted that a move to Tottenham would be a ‘dream come true,’ “It is important for the team and for the Brazilian fans that at the moment all my focus is on winning the Confederations Cup,” he said, according to the Daily Mirror. “But after the tournament is finished I hope it is a deal that can get finalised quickly.”
“To play in England for a great team like Tottenham is a dream,” he added. “What I respect about Tottenham is the ambition they have shown.
“This summer there has been interest in their coach [Villas Boas] and their best player [Gareth Bale] – and they have been clear they are both not going anywhere.”
Yohan Cabaye – Newcastle United to Monaco
If you believe what Newcastle’s director of football, Joe Kinnear says, which admittedly is hard to do, then French midfielder Yohan Cabaye won’t be going anywhere.
However, ask the player himself and you may get a very different story. Last month the highly rated 27-year-old admitted that a return home could be on the cards with Ligue 1 new boys Monaco said to be interested in bringing him back to France as they look to continue to add an impressive list of names flocking to the principality.
“Monaco have the means to build a strong team. It might interest everyone,” he’d said.
French newspaper L’Equipe had suggested that he had flown into France for a medical shortly after news of their interest broke, but a fortnight later and those rumours proved to be unfounded, however, they still haven’t gone away completely.
With the new season fast approaching and money no issue, a move could be on the cards very soon, which could be disastrous for the Magpies as their season quickly unraveled following an injury to their star man last season saw them plunge toward the relegation zone.
He has been unhappy with the club’s fall, believing that he was joining a Champions League chasing side when he arrived from Lille two years ago, though Monaco have been rivaled recently by fellow big spenders Paris St Germain, though Manchester United have also been credited with an interest.
But Monaco are still in pole position, as their owner, Dmitry Rybolovlev, is keen to add more star names to his roster, whatever the cost.
Edinson Cavani – Napoli to Chelsea
Cavani has found himself a little spoiled for choice this summer. He has been yet another player who’s future has been held up by the Confederations Cup, though the choices on offer to him are literally the things dreams are made of.
Real Madrid, Manchester City and Chelsea have all been making offers left, right and centre, though lately, after appearing to be out of the running, it is the latter who now seemingly have the edge.
Cavani is due to fly back to Napoli this week for talks with owner Aurelio De Laurentiis over his future, though he has insisted that he does not need to meet with the striker as nobody has yet met the release clause installed in the Uruguayan’s contract.
Manchester City have been reluctant to meet the £54 million asking price even though they are in desperate need of a new striker, whilst Real Madrid have become victims of their own ambition after declaring an interest in the likes of Tottenham’s Gareth Bale and Liverpool menace Luis Suarez.
Chelsea’s latest bid is still £11 million short of the asking price, but new boss Jose Mourinho is said to be keen on bringing the 26-year-old on board and will look to increase his offer after testing the water with a preliminary bid.
Cavani has admitted that he has found the speculation difficult to deal with; “At the beginning of the Confederations Cup, I did not believe the market rumours would have given me trouble. But, at the end, I admit they have disturbed me a little.”
Thiago Alcantara – Barcelona to Manchester United
There are times when a certain player becomes available that is would be a sin to turn the opportunity down.
Manchester United have been linked with a summer move for Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara for several weeks now and though there has been much flip-flopping, both from the Spanish champions and the player himself, a move now finally looks as if it is about to go ahead.
There are no concerns that he will turn out to be another Giovani Dos Santos, he has proved that he is more than capable of holding his own in an extended run in the Barcelona first team, and there will certainly be no danger of him turning out for Ipswich Town at any point either!
New boss David Moyes looks set to secure his man for a fee of around £17 million – showing just how highly Barcelona rate him even if he can’t break into the team and nail down a regular spot (hard to do when Xavi and Andres Iniesta are in front of you) and he will be earning himself a reported £5.5 million a year in salary.
Barcelona are still hoping to convince him that his long term future still lies at the Nou Camp, but the 22-year-old is reported to be keen on moving on elsewhere to play regular first team football and develop himself whilst he still can.
He has told the club that he wants to join United and a deal can be expected to go ahead over the next ten days.
Marco Van Ginkel – Vitesse Arnhem to Chelsea
Marco Van Ginkel has been a key figure in Vitesse Arnhem’s rise to prominence this season. The Eredivisie side managed to secure a fourth placed finish this season with the 20-year-old midfielder bagging eight goals in 38 appearances.
Chelsea of course aren’t the only side to take a closer look at the newly capped Dutch international, but they hold the distinct advantage for landing his signature thanks to the fact that they have a partnership agreement in place with the Arnhem side.
This has largely been utilised by Chelsea sending players out with the likes of Patrick Van Aanholt, Tomas Kalas and Ulises Davila all making appearances in yellow and black this season.
However, Van Ginkel is the first player to be linked in the opposite direction and has spoke of his desire to complete the move as he believes Jose Mourinho is the man to help him fast track his dream of playing in next year’s World Cup in Brazil.
The move had hit a stumbling block with Van Ginkel wanting assurances over a first team spot at Stamford Bridge before he agrees to sign off an a £9 million move, as he feels that he is good enough to command a regular spot after the season he has just had, or else Chelsea could lose out on his services to Ajax who are also strongly rumoured to be interested.
Van Ginkel won the Dutch Talent of the Year award last season – a regular award given to the most outstanding homegrown player in the Eredivise each season.
After being linked with a player like Victor Valdes all summer, many would see Arsenal’s pursuit of QPR’s Julio Cesar as a step backwards, especially since he went from being a Champions League player to a Championship player in the space of three years.
However, his performances during the Confederations Cup, particularly the final against Spain, have suggested that the 33-year-old is still a world class custodian worthy of taking his place amongst the elite in north London.
A poor season with QPR may have dented his credentials a little, but there’s no doubt that he can still perform to the highest-level if needs be. He is not the only goalkeeper to be linked with a move to the Gunners, but as the new season approaches the switch appears to be getting closer and closer after he admitted that he would be interested in staying in London.
“I love the city and I’m enjoying living there,” he said.
He had previously been mentioned as a potential replacement for Maarten Stekelenburg at Roma, a move which the player said that he would consider, but those links appear to have dried up now and with the transfer window now officially open Arsene Wenger is set to spring into action and finally put his plan to end the club’s silverware drought into practice by bringing in a group of players capable of doing so.
First port of call: Goalkeeper – Julio Cesar.