More like this
Cesc Fabregas ‘pawn’ in battle to run Barcelona
Transfer Talk: Arsenal captain wanted by Alfons Godall – but does he have £50m Gunners will want?
It looks like Cesc Fabregas could be used as a pawn in the war between two men to become the next president of Barcelona football club. As reported by The First Post yesterday, the Arsenal skipper is wanted by the Spanish giants and vice-president Alfons Godall aims to be the man to bring Fabregas back to the club he left when he was 16.
Godall is vying with Sandro Rossell to become the next president and with polling day on June 13 he's wasted little time in laying down a marker as far as Fabregas is concerned. "Sooner or later Cesc will end up coming back," Godall said, before taking a cheap shot at, presumably, Manchester United and Liverpool. "We are a club that can sign players because we are respected and solvent." How solvent, however, remains to be seen. Barcelona are reportedly lining up a €40m summer bid but the Gunners want €50m.
Somebody tell Arsene Wenger that the transfer window has closed. Probably the Gunners' boss was in such a state of shock following the Manchester United mauling on Sunday that he forgot Deadline Day had come and gone because, according to the Daily Mirror, Wenger "is keen to secure a deal" for Serbian centre-half Stefan Savic.
The paper says the 19-year-old BSK Borca central defender has just completed a 10-day trial at the Emirates and, incredibly, despite seeing the Gunners hammered by United, Savic is still keen to join the London club. But the Mirror reports that one potential sticking point is Borca's demand of £2.25 million, "which Arsenal believe is too high".
However the 6ft 1in Serbian stopper is confident he will soon be an Arsenal man, telling the paper: "A pre-contract will be signed on Thursday and then I will return to Belgrade and join BSK for their preparations. I will be staying with BSK until May."
If the move does go through and Savic joins the Gunners he might be asked to exercise more discretion in talking to the Fourth Estate. Asked what he thought of the 3-1 defeat to United, he replied: "United had a terrific game... Wenger was extremely mad during the training session on Monday. This defeat means the league title will be extremely hard to reach now."
Like Wenger, Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez seems to have got in a muddle over the transfer window, though in his case perhaps he was so busy dreaming of warm days in Juventus he forgot it had closed. Barely 24 hours after Deadline Day expired, Benitez has "struck gold" and landed striker Milan Jovanovic. The Sun reports that the Standard Liege star – who is out of contract at the Belgian club – has agreed with Liverpool "to a three-year contract... worth around £10 million".
The 28-year-old Serbian international had been linked with Real Madrid but opted for Anfield instead, and will arrive after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa in which Jovanovic is expected to star. He scored 52 goals in 109 league games for Liege. ·
