Arsenal and Barcelona’s agreement over Fabregas

Cesc Fabregas will not be Barcelona-bound this summer, or at least he won't if the Spanish club adhere to a gentleman's agreement with Arsenal's patrician chairman, Peter Hill-Wood. "There was a private conversation [with Barcelona] in the boardroom and assurances have been made at the highest level," said Hill-Wood in an interview with ESPN Soccernet. "Arsenal do not expect those to be broken. They [Barcelona]  said they are not interested [this summer]."

The venerable Hill-Wood, whose family connections to the Gunners stretch back 80 years, said that the high-level talks took place when the two clubs met last week in the Champions League. "Subsequent to the conversation, if they are interested at any time in the future, they would come to us direct," said Hill-Wood. "However I'm not sure they are going to do that, because they told us they are pretty happy with what they have got and are pretty happy with their current players."

But is the blue-blooded Hill-Wood – who believes a gentleman's word is his bond – right to trust Barcelona? If the club's president changes during the upcoming elections the new man in charge of the Spanish giants might do to the agreement what Lionel Messi recently did to the Arsenal defence - rip it up.

According to German rag Bild, it's come down to a straight shoot-out between Chelsea and AC Milan to see who secures the services of Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko. The Bosnian beanpole has been linked to a number of clubs this season – including Arsenal and Manchester United – thanks to his prolific form in front of goal. The 6ft 4in striker has scored 24 times in 42 appearances for the German club, leading Dzeko to demand €5m as his salary for next season. That's too much for Juventus, apparently, but not for Chelsea or AC Milan, though if they are set on snapping up Dzeko they'll have to meet Wolfsburg's asking price of €40m. "We will not let him go for a smaller sum," said the club's general manager Dieter Hoeness.

Chelsea are also set to do battle with Real Madrid for the services of highly-rated young striker Alexandre Pato, who is being offloaded by AC Milan - according to Corriere dello Sport. The paper suggests that the bidding for the Brazilian will start at €55m, and AC hope to spend the proceeds on Fernando Torres or Karim Benzema and Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. Presumably in addition to Dzeko.

The Daily Mirror predicts that Manchester United are going to lose out in their attempt to bring David Silva to Old Trafford. According to the paper, Real Madrid are determined to win something this season, and with the Champions League and Spanish title out of their reach, they've decided to set their sights on the 24-year-old Valencia winger. The Mirror says that Real are lining up a £22m offer that will tie Silva to the club before the start of the World Cup, in which he will feature for Spain. Valencia are said to be asking £30m for the player but no club is prepared to fork out that sort of cash for a player who has scored six goals this season. Real's offer is the highest so far so Alex Ferguson will have to dig deep into the Reds' coffers if wants to get the man he's had his eye for a number of months.

Finally, the Guardian reports that Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery will be announcing imminently his plans for next season. The 27-year-old French winger has been the subject of fevered speculation recently as to his intentions – with Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona all mentioned in despatches. But in an interview on German television Ribery said  nothing was finalised.

"There is at this time no club who say I will come or to whom I am going. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Chelsea are interested in me and they want me to play for them. We have still some games to play and little recovery time. Therefore I believe that I will determine in the very near future... I hope in the next week or in the next 10 days." ·