AFR Transfers

By Eric Beard, writing from Barcelona

Spanish paper MARCA reported today that Chelsea are preparing to place a 59 million euro bid for the Arsenal captain this summer. The article states that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich believes Barcelona cannot match the wages he is ready to offer Cesc.

This is not going to happen, of course. Let’s get that out of the way. But Arsenal fans, don’t be upset by some Madrid-based banter, this is brilliant news. We all know that there will come a time in Cesc’s career, whether it be this summer or the next, when Spain’s number 10 returns to Catalunya. Competition in the transfer market is never a bad thing is it?

Last summer, with the media buzzing every day about Cesc’s move to his homeland, the bids from the Blaugrana were nothing short of a disgrace. They started with a 29 million euro bid and eventually worked their way up to 40 million euros. If it didn’t appear a completely disgraceful valuation then, it certainly does now after this winter’s transfer window (i.e. Fernando Torres for £50m and Andy Carroll for £35m).

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Patrice Evra is undoubtedly one of the world’s most complete left-backs and a leading figure in the Manchester United team. The Frenchman’s contract expires in 18 months and exit rumours are intensifying as he has yet to sign a new deal. It’s reported that Evra wants to play for Real Madrid before retiring; how many players say no to this opportunity?

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Premier League super spenders Manchester City announced the capture of 19 year old Gai Assulin for an undisclosed fee. The former Barcelona player has been training with the English club since his summer release but was unable to complete the deal earlier due to injury. Despite being labelled as a free agent, the Spanish giants were legally paid compensation due to developing the winger through their elite youth ranks.

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Barcelona’s desperation to lure back Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas to Camp Nou may have hit the rocks as the club turn their attention to another Premier League star, Luka Modric. The 25 year old is one of the most talented, entertaining and complete midfielders plying their trade in England. He’s a player who Guardiola appreciates greatly and one which the financially restricted club can afford. A transfer in the region of €35m should be suficient to pize him away from White Hart Lane.

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By Darshan Joshi, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We are sixteen days from Christmas, and a whole three weeks away from the commencement of the winter transfer window. These very lines are usually blessed with some convoluted, fabricated story regarding the whereabouts and goings-on in the life of one Santa Claus, but we have gotten past that. Like the adults we are, we have realised that Santa indeed doesn’t exist, and that those men, who for one day every year have no problem with their incredible fatness, sitting in shopping malls amongst presents and little children are no more than paedophiles. Instead, this article will swiftly move along to this week’s transfer topic: Francesc Fabregas.

If you are a devoted follower of AFR, you might just have treated your ears to a soothing forty minutes of podcast action earlier this week, and whilst doing so listened to about ten minutes worth of debate regarding Cesc’s future in London. Or perhaps, you may have had a little look at an article written by our resident Gooner Ulysse Pasquier, which also touched on the future of the Arsenal captain.

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FC Barcelona are on the verge of completing a January move for PSV’s Ibrahim Afellay, who’s contract expires next summer. According to MARCA a €3m deal has been agreed and all that remains for the transaction to materialise is an agreement between the player and La Liga champions. Several rumours suggested that the Dutch winger was Pep Guardiola’s second choice after the club board informed him they lacked funds for Valencia’s Juan Mata.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic has returned to Italy where he made a name for himself in the Juventus and Inter Milan strips. The Swedish forward joined his third Serie A club after agreeing a season-long loan move with AC Milan. The club possesses the option to sign Zlatan for €24m (£19.75m) at any point throughout the year. Barcelona made Ibrahimovic their record signing last summer when they paid €66m plus Samuel Eto’o for his services and it’s highly debatable whether he was a flop or not.

The player’s agent had been the centre of attention throughout the deal and Mino Raiola made sure he left a comment about the transaction: “Galliani has done really well to drop Barcelona’s price tag from €70m to €24m.”

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Sevilla have re-enforced their defensive sector signing Barcelona’s Caceres on a season-long loan deal and Alexis from Valencia for €5m (£4.1m). Squillaci’s departure to Arsenal created a hole in the back of the defence which was clear in their 4-3 defeat to Braga in the Champions League. The two acquisitions will solve the problem at the back.

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Liverpool have struck a deal with Barcelona for the transfer of wantaway Argentina captain Javier Mascherano. Since the departure of Rafael Benitez, the manager who transformed Mascherano from a reserve player at West Ham Utd to the captain of his country, and since returning from the World Cup, Mascherano has has made no secret of his desire to leave Merseyside, for apparent ‘personal reasons’.

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31-year-old Mexico national team captain Rafael Márquez has joined the New York Red Bulls from FC Barcelona. The imposing centre-back has become the MLS side’s third designated player after signing onto a multi-year contract just weeks after former-Barcelona teammate Thierry Henry made the move across the pond. Although rumours surrounding a possible move to NYRB have been circulating for quite some time, the transfer seemed implausible as Barcelona were thought to value Márquez at more than €6 million.

Márquez, who had two years remaining on his contract with the Catalan champions, was released by the Spanish club on July 31st, allowing him to move to the Red Bulls on a free transfer. It’s puzzling that Barcelona, a club in 442 million euros (£369.5m) of debt, would sacrifice a multi-million dollar transfer fee, to get on good terms with a budding league by practically gifting it a veteran defender. But Barcelona do have many motives for seeking such a relationship, after all they tried to establish a MLS team before succumbing to economic actuality last year.

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According to ESPN Deportes and UnivisionFutbol, the Mexican captain and current Barcelona defender could be joining Thierry Henry and Juan Pablo Angel in the Big Apple in the coming days…

Really?

Kinda tough to pull this one off if you ask me, here is why:

The Red Bulls would have to pony up roughly about $9 Million over to Barcelona (which by the way would be the first time an MLS team pays a transfer fee), along with a nice $250K to the league for the purchase of a 3rd DP slot.

But do the Red Bulls even have that much money to spend??

Well, I am pretty sure they still have some of that “Jozy Altidore” transfer sale cash somewhere under the mattress, though I am not sure they are ready to spend it on Captain Rafa.

But if they did… how awesome would having Rafa, Thierry, and Juan Pablo Angel in one team be?

Barcelona, who recently announced that they had a 50 million euro transfer budget for the rest of the summer, have gone out and spent 13.5 million of it on Sevilla’s wing-back Adriano. The 25-year-old Brazilian, who plays at left-back as well as left midfield, just needs to discuss personal terms with the Spanish champions and is set to become the second new arrival at Camp Nou this summer following David Villa’s high-profile switch from Valencia that cost the Catalans 40 million euros.

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