Athletic Bilbao: both Javi Martinez and Fernando Llorente were left out of the squad at San Mames before their first league match against Real Betis in effect setting up the expected Summer sales of both players. Bayern Munich are expected to pay the escape clause for Martinez, Franz Beckenbauer has intimated as much, and Juventus are front-runners for Llorente although Arsenal are also in the running and both would be doing as much without reaching the clause. Who then for the notoriously picky Athletic? Nacho Monreal from Malaga would be a very good pick for defense as would Cesar Azpilicueta from Marseille. Midfielders Beñat from Betis, Mikel Rico from Granada and Raul Garcia of Atleti have also been mentioned. Another option is the controversial one of raiding neighbors Real Sociedad for half their squad: central-defender Iñigo Martínez, center-mid Rubén Pardo and winger Antoine Griezmann or striker Imanol Agirretxe.
Atletico de Madrid: the operation of allowing Álvaro Domínguez, Eduardo Salvio, Fran Mérida, Luis Amaranto Perea and Antonio López is about to be finalized. There are still some youth teamers that will find no slots. Cata Díaz, Diego Costa, and Emre from Fenerbahçe amongst others have been signed. The only other possibility is trying to fit Diego Ribas back in the equation. The Brazilian does not want to be held hostage by Felix Magath at Wolfsburg. Atléti are in Germany negotiating.
Betis: are Wolfsburg then looking for an investment if the Diego money comes in? Athletic want Beñat but Betis is looking to sell to Wolfsburg at around €15 million. Coach Pepe Mel is not looking to sell such an important player: ¨I´ve been told that Beñat might leave. Obviously I don´t want him to, but if the best thing is for him to leave for Germany, then I wish him success because he is a player who will grow. That said, anything less then €15 million would be bad business.¨ Betis have inquired about signing signing forward Dani Guiza from Getafe.
Celta Vigo: coach Paco Herrera, who was onboard at the beginning of Rafa Benitez´s revolution at Liverpool, has inquired about former Liverpool player Ryan Babel who has spent the last year and a half at Hoffenheim in Germany. Herrera is also looking at Malaga´s Portuguese winger Duda.
Deportivo La Coruña: Olympic gold-medal winning striker Oribe Peralta from Mexican side Santos Laguna is attracting interest from Depor. At 28 his window for moving to Europe is shrinking but he might stand to make more money in Mexico right now. Depor have also signed midfielder Javier Camuñas on loan from Villarreal.
Espanyol: castoffs and retreads are what the market holds for a club like mine that continually sells its best players. So Joan Capdevila signs to shore up the wing on one extreme and now 32 year old Simao Sabrosa returns to La Liga after a time in Turkey with Besiktas. They are also looking at bringing in Eduardo Vargas on-loan from Napoli.
Getafe: The main story is the fate of Espanyol´s Álvaro Vasquez. With a firm offer from Getafe of Adrian Colunga plus cash, the young U-21 Spain striker is still deciding whether the cards tell him to take it or wait for firm offers from other clubs like Sevilla, Atléti or even Sunderland.
Granada: the Andalusian side have finalized the transfer of Senegalese central-defender Pape Diakhaté.
Levante: Polish midfielder Dudka has taken less money to come to Spain from French side Auxerre after receiving offers from Russia and Turkey.
Malaga: after losing Cazorla to Arsenal, the club financially bleeding from within, it looked like an Exodus would occur, and yet the club are looking to bring in evergreen forward Javier Saviola from Benfica. The Argentine is not playing in Portugal and wants out. After being one of the most active clubs in Spain last year, Malaga are the only club in Spain not to sign a player as of yet. You know things are bad also when the club is actually considering bringing in Nicola Zigic from Championship side Birmingham.
Mallorca: coach Joaquin Caparros has also been offered Zigic, but are actually looking to signdefensive midfielder Anderson Conceição from Brazilian side Juventude.
Osasuna: remember Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations? His cousin´s son Anthony Annan who plays currently for German side Schalke 04 could be signing for Osasuna. The Ghanian central midfielder is surplus for Schalke. One side-note: if the sale of Javi Martinez goes through to Bayern, Osasuna are likely to recoup just over €1 million in the sale.
Rayo Vallecano: Valencia´s Argentine striker Chori Dominguez is about to sign with Rayo. He refused to enter in a return to Russian side Rubin Kazan in the signing of Nelson Haedo Valdez so apparently he is off to Rayo. Left-back Domingo Cisma is also in the equation from Racing, as is goalkeeper David Cobeño and also Ghanaian midfielder Mohammed Abu from Manchester City.
Real Sociedad: the speculation over buying Honduran forward Carlo Costly who has played as much recently in Club Atlás in Guadalajara and also in the MLS for the Houston Dynamo. The club have also made assurances that they will not be selling any of their highly rated youth-team players like Antoine Griezmann.
Sevilla: with the signing of Alex Song for Barcelona, another La Masia graduate is apparently leaving the fold. Johnathan Dos Santos is likely to sign and confirms my speculation that when Sandro Roselle too the reigns of Barcelona from Joan Laporta that the famous training facility would be gutted of its players and expensive foreigners would be brought in. That continues to be the case. Sporting´s Albert Botía, another La Masía castoff, has also been brought in to shore up the defense in his case.
Valencia: the club would love to spend some of the Jordi Alba cash on a replacement left-back but they will not go crazy. Pablo Hernandez on the other hand, who looks likely not to fit under new coach Pellegrino´s regime, is on Michale Laudrup´s radar at Swansea. The exodus of Spanish league players continues.
Valladolid: two Portuguese players who have not fit in with coach Vitor Pereira´s FC Porto side are in the sights of Real Valladolid: 24 year old forward André Monteiro (Ukra) and 27 year old central defender Henrique Serreno.
Zaragoza: Apoño has resigned and Romaric, who has played over the last few years in Sevilla and Espanyol, comes to shore up the side.
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