Marquinhos over the pile for Barca's defensive recruitment

AS Roma starlet Marquinhos looks set to be the subject of a £20m bid from Spanish giants Barcelona, despite strong interest from Manchester City.
The 19-year-old centre-back has been a massive performer for Roma since his transfer from Corinthians last summer and he has gone on to become a key figure in the Roma defence since the move.
 
His performances have not gone unnoticed, with Barcelona and Manchester City both being heavily linked with the Brazilian. And Barcelona's interest has stepped up a gear in recent days, with Marca reporting that the Catalan giants are preparing a £20m bid for the defender.
But Manchester City show no signs of giving up the chase for Marquinhos, despite Barcelona stepping up their interest in the defender.
Former Citizens manager Roberto Mancini was a keen admirer of the 19-year-old, and watched him intensely last season. But Spanish newspaper Marca claim that Barca have jumped the queue in the race to sign Marquinhos, as they ready a big-money move for the Brazilian starlet Roma have publicly stated that it will take a bid of £30m to lure the defender away from the Stadio Olimpico, despite the fact they paid only £4m for the centre-back last summer from Corinthians.
But it remains to be seen whether new Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini will be as keen as former boss Roberto Mancini to sign the highly-rated defender.
With Manchester City due back for pre-season in the coming days, a decision will soon be made by the former champions whether they want to match Barcelona's offer for the Serie A starlet.

Premier League biggies behind Barca starlet

Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are among eight English clubs hoping to sign Barcelona starlet Gerard Deulofeu on a season long loan this summer, reports suggest.
 

The highly-regarded Spanish talent is expected to leave the Nou Camp on a loan deal next season having outgrown the Barcelona B ranks; with the club hierarchy favouring a loan move to a club challenging at the highest possible level.
Reports have suggested a move to the Premier Leaguer or the Bundesliga is favoured by the Barcelona bosses, where Deulofeu can continue his development with a club competing for honours without impacting on the Catalan giants' own domestic challenges.
Liverpool were credited with the strongest interest in the 19-year-old on Wednesday but El Mundo Deportivo now report that they will face competition from Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham United, Everton and Swansea City, with Championship club Brighton having also made audacious contact with the La Liga champions.
Deulofeu, who is currently underlining his credentials as one of Europe's most accomplished young talents at the Under-20 World Cup in Turkey, will have no shortage of options should Tito Vilanova decide the forward will benefit from a loan spell away.

David Villa all set for White Hart Lane

Barcelona striker David Villa has agreed personal terms with Tottenham Hotspur ahead of a proposed move to White Hart Lane.


The 31-year-old, who is currently away at the Confederations Cup with Spain, scored 10 goals in 28 league appearances last season for the Catalan club, but is likely to see less first-team action were he to stay, with the arrival of Brazil starlet Neymar earlier this summer.

Villa is apparently keen to play in the Premier League, and Spurs are likely to offer a fee of around £8m for Spain’s record scorer, hoping Barcelona lower their asking price of £12m. Villa is also likely to have to accept a lower wage than what he is currently earning, to join Spurs.

Manager Andre Villas-Boas sees Villa as his top transfer target to bolster his attack, which currently comprises Jermain Defoe - who’s been linked with a move away - and Emmanuel Adebayor, who struggled for goals last season.

There was competition from Arsenal during the January transfer window, but Barcelona were unwilling to sell midway through the campaign. Now it appears Spurs’ North London rivals have decided against trying to sign Villa, leaving Fiorentina as the other interested party.

he odds on Tottenham beating rivals Arsenal and Liverpool to the signing of David Villa have tumbled after reports from Spain suggested the Londoners are closing in on the Barcelona striker.
Click here to bet on our Villa transfer odds
Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas has apparently instructed new technical director Franco Baldini to secure the 31-year-old’s signature as he looks to bolster his front line ahead of the new campaign.
Mundo Deportivo, the Barcelona-based newspaper which is closest to the Spanish champions’ board, has indicated that a fee of £8.6 million may already have been agreed between the clubs and that it is now up to Villa to decide whether he wants to move to White Hart Lane.
- See more at: http://bwinbetting.com/leagues/premier-league/odds-slashed-spurs-signing-spanish-superstar-fee-agreed,41847.html#sthash.k1oINlGu.dpuf

he odds on Tottenham beating rivals Arsenal and Liverpool to the signing of David Villa have tumbled after reports from Spain suggested the Londoners are closing in on the Barcelona striker.
Click here to bet on our Villa transfer odds
Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas has apparently instructed new technical director Franco Baldini to secure the 31-year-old’s signature as he looks to bolster his front line ahead of the new campaign.
Mundo Deportivo, the Barcelona-based newspaper which is closest to the Spanish champions’ board, has indicated that a fee of £8.6 million may already have been agreed between the clubs and that it is now up to Villa to decide whether he wants to move to White Hart Lane.
- See more at: http://bwinbetting.com/leagues/premier-league/odds-slashed-spurs-signing-spanish-superstar-fee-agreed,41847.html#sthash.k1oINlGu.dpuf

Tottenham are believed to be closing in on the capture of Barcelona striker David Villa, with some reports suggesting a £8.6 million deal has been struck between the two clubs. - See more at: http://bwinbetting.com/leagues/premier-league/odds-slashed-spurs-signing-spanish-superstar-fee-agreed,41847.html#sthash.k1oINlGu.dpuf

Tottenham are believed to be closing in on the capture of Barcelona striker David Villa, with some reports suggesting a £8.6 million deal has been struck between the two clubs. - See more at: http://bwinbetting.com/leagues/premier-league/odds-slashed-spurs-signing-spanish-superstar-fee-agreed,41847.html#sthash.k1oINlGu.dpuf

Tottenham are believed to be closing in on the capture of Barcelona striker David Villa, with some reports suggesting a £8.6 million deal has been struck between the two clubs. - See more at: http://bwinbetting.com/leagues/premier-league/odds-slashed-spurs-signing-spanish-superstar-fee-agreed,41847.html#sthash.k1oINlGu.dpuf

Iniesta the saviour of masses

The Segunda Division B outfit would have been demoted had their former youth team player not bailed them out at the 11th hour

Barcelona and Spain star Andres Iniesta has rescued Albacete from relegation by stumping up £205,000 owed to the club's players.


The cash-strapped Segunda Division B outfit would have been demoted to the fourth tier of Spanish football on administrative grounds had they not settled the debt by noon on Friday.

However, Iniesta, the largest shareholder in the club at which he began his career, came to their aid, paying the outstanding wage bill out of his own pocket.

It is not the first time the 29-year-old has come to the rescue of Albacete as he injected £360,000 into the club in 2011.

Iniesta, who lined up for Spain in Thursday night's Confederations Cup semi-final clash with Italy, spent two years at Albacete before joining Barcelona's youth academy as a 12-year-old in 1996.

New appointment for coaching team

The former Girona boss will serve as an assistant to both Tito Vilanova and Jordi Roura and will link up with the squad for the first time on July 15

Barcelona have announced Joan Francesc Ferrer Sicilia, or 'Rubi' as he is more commonly known, has joined Tito Vilanova's backroom team.

The former Girona boss has signed a one-year contract with the Blaugrana, with the option of a further season.

"The full coaching team [for the 2013-14 season] will consist of Tito Vilanova as head coach; Jordi Roura as second coach, and ‘Rubi’ as their assistant," read a statement on Barcelona's official website.

"[He] will join Tito and the rest of the staff on July 15, the day that the first team is due to report back to start preparing for the new season."

Rubi last season led Girona into the Segunda Division play-offs, where their hopes of playing in La Liga for the first time were dashed by Almeria.

Barca's defensive dilemma continues

Barcelona's transfer plans around March looked to be all set out, the priority for the club was a top CB and they were prepared to pay whatever it took to get one. The names being floated about were people like Mats Hummels, Thiago Silva and David Luiz and all of those purchases would cost Barcelona well in excess of €20m. They also need to replace David Villa, who has one year left on his contract and there is the question of when goalkeeper Victor Valdes will actually depart and whether they want to bring someone in this summer to prepare for that, or replace him straightaway.
After the Neymar purchase they've looked at the cupboard and it's a little empty, the club simply don't have the spending power to be able to go out and get whoever they want as first choice, especially when the incoming player will be used as mainly back-up.
This is the situation with a stand-in for Puyol, they want a tough defender who can play the ball too and today's edition of Sport has picked out Liverpool's Daniel Agger as a man who fits the bill. They say Barcelona have been considering his signing for several summers, but that his price has always seemed a little on the high side for someone they would use mainly as a substitute. However, with Puyol getting injuries more frequently, the player they bring in needs to be capable and Sport claim Barcelona think Agger fits into that category.
Agger's contract runs until the summer of 2016 and Liverpool will be in no hurry to sell the 28 year old but Barcelona reckon a fee around €15m would be enough to prise him away and that he'd like the opportunity to play for a team at the highest level who can truly challenge for titles on both the domestic and European fronts.
If they can't get Agger, then they go further down their choice tree to Jeremy Mathieu who they think would be available for just €8m given this contract situation. 
There is more and more speculation surrounding Agger at the moment. The defender, who shares an agent with Wayne Rooney, was in the news again a week ago when French newspaper L'Equipe said he was close to agreeing a four year deal to join Monaco. It could be that his potential availability is being pushed around to see if Liverpool respond with a contract extension or if a club like Barcelona will truly make a move.

Thiago all set for Man Utd

Today's edition of Catalan newspaper Sport has gone a bit transfer crazy. The front two pages are all about Barcelona wanting Fernando Torres and then they go on to fret about funds for a central defender, meaning their first choices of people like Thiago Silva and Mats Hummels are being replaced by players such as Daniel Agger, because they've spent so much on Neymar, with perhaps the full cost of that deal not truly known at this stage.
They need to raise funds and after talking of Barcelona's defensive woes, Sport go on to say that they are about to lose Thiago to an 'insisntant' Manchester United because the club have been careless on the technical side. There's anger that a situation has developed which could see the player leave for just €18m because of a clause in his contract. Sport don't seem to think the clause should have existed in the first place, and that once it was there then Barcelona should have made sure the terms were fulfilled, meaning he wouldn't be able to leave for such a cheap fee.
Thiago hasn't played the required number of games and such was Barcelona's La Liga dominace, they could have started him in nearly every match for the second half of the season with little worry, but he only got 15 league starts for the whole season and just one in the Champions League. Barcelona say that Manchester United will need to complete a deal by August 1st, or his buy-out clause will go up again to €90m and the club will resist any attempts to buy him.
None of this sounds like anything new, but the way they are reporting him as almost gone does. The English press caught up on the stories properly over the last few days but they've been in Spain for a few weeks now, Sport say that Barcelona stand to lose both Thiago and his brother Rafinha, who could be going to Celta Vigo. It's far more realistic than the Cesc Fabregas claims, with the Spain midfielder insisting he doesn't want to go and the club not wanting to sell him. They'd rather not sell Thiago either but due to the 'carelessness' of Barcelona with his contract, they may not have a choice in that.
Manchester United will need to add in midfield this summer and the capture of Thiago would be a welcome boost for Manchester United fans, who are still not sure what a future under David Moyes will look like. The signing of an exciting young attacking midfielder will certainly help to ease those doubts and it would be a nice scenario if the club were able to 'unveil' both men at the same time. Moyes is currently on holiday and doesn't officially start his job until July 1st, which is when he'll be presented at Old Trafford, that doesn't leave the club long to sort out a Thiago deal if they fancy wheeling him out at the same time.