The Bianconeri have given up on Rafinha to focus on the Italian international...

25 Aug 2009 10:00:00

Juventus have abandoned their chase of Schalke's Rafinha and have focused their efforts on landing Fabio Grosso from Olympique Lyonnais.

According to Il Corriere Dello Sport, the Bianconeri are trying to reconcile requirements with budgetary constraints, leading them to give up on €12 million-rated Rafinha.

Coach Ciro Ferrara is working on adding strength to his defence, and Grosso has, once again, popped up on his shortlist. The Italian has been linked with Juve on numerous occasions.

The report suggests La Vecchia Signora cannot stretch to meet Schalke's asking price, and thus Rafinha no longer seems like an option.

Grosso, on the other hand, costs less. Lyon want around €2m, but the Italian side want to bargain and get that price down. However, the French are in no mood to comply.

It is said Juve will try to meet with Lyon's directors at next week's Champions League draw in Monaco in order to discuss Grosso further.

The Serbian stopper dismisses claims he is set to leave Old Trafford...

25 Aug 2009 08:24:49

Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic has broke his silence amidst speculation surrounding his future, declaring himself happy at the club.

According to Sky Sport Italia, Real Madrid midfielder Wesley Sneijder is in Milan, and a deal to join Inter is on the verge of being reached...

 Wesley Sneijder's move from Real Madrid to Inter is about to be rubber-stamped after the player touched down in Milan to finalise the move, according to the latest reports in Italy.

Sky Sport Italia claims the Dutch international has been summoned by the Italian club and a deal that will see him play there is on the verge of being agreed.

Earlier reports this morning claimed the Beneamata had reached a transfer fee agreement with Real Madrid believed to be around €15million. But the player's wage demands were holding up the deal.

Sneijder is said to be adamant on earning €4m per season, but Inter were only willing to stretch to €3.5m. It now appears a deal over the wage question has been reached, and voices suggest the move could make further ground within the next few hours.

Negotiations have been rumbling on and an official announcement is expected soon.

Despite Sky Italia's report, Real Madrid, Inter or Sneijder have not confirmed the latest developments just yet.

Despite having a vast catalogue of top European sides chasing his signature, the man dubbed the next Zinedine Zidane, Sofaine Feghouli, appears destined to stay loyal to Grenoble until the end of the season.

Comparisons with the great Zinedine Zidane may be a little premature for 18 year-old attacking midfielder Sofiane Feghouli, however, the Grenoble player already has a lengthy list of clubs chasing him that even the great Zizou would be proud of.

The majority of Europe’s elite sides are represented in the hunt for the French U-21 international, with Liverpool, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Barcelona amongst a clutch of clubs chasing the highly regarded young talent.

It seems that these teams will have to wait until the summer before a bidding war begins for the Paris-born star as he revealed to 10Sport that he is not prepared to leave the south-east of France before the summer.

“I want to finish the season with Grenoble and do my best to help the club continue in Ligue 1,” he explained. “Personally, I’d like to stay in France. That is my priority. I don’t want to go abroad to be regarded as a player well down the order and rarely play. I need game time and I will leave my advisor to handle these things. For the moment, nothing is concrete.”

The news that Feghouli is receptive to a move to one of Ligue 1’s bigger sides is sure to alert the likes of Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique de Marseille and even hometown club Paris Saint-Germain, all of whom would surely like an additional player of Feghouli’s quality amongst their ranks.

Arshavin is the most likely player to sign for real madrid this summer transfer window.He has declared his decision of moving to a big club as soon as possible.Crespo is also an another candidate but this reamins unlikely ,especially considering Nerazurri coach Jose Mourinho's unwillingness to let hin go.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar's agent Arnold Oosterveer has denied the rumors that Huntelaar is on the verge of signing a new deal at Ajax...

Prolific hit man Klaas Jan Huntelaar will not sign a new deal at Amsterdam giants Ajax in the near future. His current deal at Ajax expires in 2010 and both parties were reportedly on the verge of discussing a new deal in the upcoming weeks. "We opted to stall negotiations about a new deal earlier this year to create a little more rest around Klaas Jan [Huntelaar]. Nevertheless, we'll re-open the negotiations in the next couple of weeks," stated Ajax director Henri van der Aat to De Telegraaf. However, Huntelaar's agent Arnold Oosterveer has now moved to deny the report. "I can guarantee that there are no appointments planned between Ajax and Klaas Jan Huntelaar to discuss a new deal. Not in this week and not in the near future," stated Oosterveer to Voetbal International. Furthermore, he refused to reply to Van der Aat's remark that Huntelaar insisted on a limited fee release clause of seventeen million euros when they were negotiating a new deal in August. "No comment," was the short answer when Oosterveer was confronted with the Ajax director's statements in his De Telegraaf interview. Huntelaar's reluctance to discuss a new deal at the Amsterdam side feeds speculation that Huntelaar's planning to stay at Ajax until 2010 and walk out the door for free when his contract expires.

Milan vice president Adriano Galliani has confirmed that LA Galaxy and England star David Beckham will join the club in January on loan until the end of the season. In a quite sensational announcement, Galliani has also hinted that the deal could then become permanent.

Milan is making the world's oldest team... 

Highly rated Ajax forward Luis Suarez has revealed that he has rejected moves to Turkish side Fenerbahçe and Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg. Both sides were interested in adding the Uruguayan attacker to their squad last summer...

Luis Suarez has been in a superb form ever since he left Eredivisie side Groningen for Dutch giants Ajax in the summer of 2007. His good performances haven't gone unnoticed and the talented youngster was targeted by Fenerbahçe and Zenit St Petersburg.

However, the 21-year-old winger opted to turn down the big money offers to stay at Eredivisie giants Ajax for at least another year.

"A transfer is always an option if an interesting offer comes in. However, I only want to leave Ajax for big teams like Liverpool, AC Milan, Real Madrid and Barcelona," explained the explosive forward to Sportweek.

"It's really difficult to adapt to a new club when you arrive in the middle of the season. Therefore, I don't want to leave Ajax halfway the season, meaning that I'll stay here at least until the summer. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that I want to leave in the summer," concluded Suarez.

Suarez is a product of the Nacional youth academy and left the Uruguayan side for Groningen in 2006. His impressive performances at Groningen resulted in a move to Ajax one year later and he immediately impressed at the Amsterdam giants, too.

He has scored 19 goals in 39 league appearances so far for Ajax. Additionally, the tricky attacker has made several international appearances for the national side of Uruguay.

Juan Villalonga believes that the best players in the world should be playing for Real Madrid and plans to reintroduce the Galácticos scheme if he wins the club presidency next year.

The impresario is set to stand for the top job at the Bernabéu against current incumbent, Ramón Calderón, and is planning to copy the plan laid down by previous chief Florentino Pérez.

Under Pérez, Madrid signed such star names as Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo and Villalonga believes that Madrid should once again be looking to sign stars of a similar stature.

"Players such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaká should be at Real Madrid," he told COPE radio. "I will copy the model that Florentino used.

"I have called Florentino and I expressed my desire to stand and use his ideas, but it will be on my own terms.

"I have a lot of respect and admiration for Florentino and I think we should continue the good work that he did."

While Pérez coined the phrase Zidanes and Pavónes to describe his idea of combining star names with homegrown players, Villalonga has tweaked that idea.

"If I do win then I would like to introduce a system of Zidanes and Butragueños. We have to call upon the talent from the youth teams and combine them with world class players," he added.

Demy de Zeeuw could finally make his move away from AZ in the winter transfer window after Valencia made an official enquiry about his services, according to De Telegraaf.

The 25-year-old came close to leaving the Alkmaar-based outfit in the summer when he appeared to be set to join Ajax, but that transfer fell through.

Valencia have been monitoring De Zeeuw since last term and are now ready to test AZ's resolve with a bid if they are encouraged after initial contact has been made.

Los Che coach Unai Emery is hoping to add a number of his own signings to a squad that he was unable to influence when taking over at the end of last season.

While the summer months were spent trying to hold on to David Villa and David Silva amid an off-field power struggle at boardroom level, only goalkeeper Renan was signed.

The rest of the incoming players returned to the club because their loan deals had finished or the club opted to repurchase them, as in Pablo's case when he moved from Getafe.

De Zeeuw would be Emery's first out-field signing and he is keen to wrap up a deal as quickly as possible and it appears that AZ tainer Louis van Gaal is resigned to losing the Dutch international.