Euro 2008: The most wanted men in Europe
9 Spanish players have made the UEFA team of the tournament list and unsurprisingly, they and many of their teammates are wanted men now that the transfer window opens today.
| 9 Spanish players have made the UEFA team of the tournament list and unsurprisingly, they and many of their teammates are wanted men now that the transfer window opens today. |
Villa has been being linked with Chelsea, Tottenham, Barcelona and Real Madrid and is valued around £20 million (RM127 million).
He was heavily linked with Spurs before Euro 2008, but the London club may lose out as they are not in the Champions League.
Chelsea are also interested and have the financial means to secure his signature, although there is a possibility he will stay put in Spain as giants Barcelona and Real Madrid are said to be interested.
Another Valencia player Carlos Marchena, put behind his shaky league performances to emerge as one of Spain’s stars to make the UEFA squad.
He could well be on his way to Newcastle, who have already approached Valencia for his services.
Villarreal’s Brazil-born holding midfielder Marcos Senna, is wanted by Arsenal and Juventus.
Russia and CSKA Moscow defender Yuri Zhirkov who was one of their influential figures in their success of reaching the semi-finals is being linked with Chelsea and Italian champions Inter Milan.
Russia’s star attacker Andrei Arshavin, has been linked with Barcelona and Chelsea.
His club Zenit St Petersburg have come out with an outlandish idea of a swap with Lionel Messi plus £20 million cash for him to be at Nou Camp.
The Catalans are not going to sell Messi who has a £100 million buy-out clause.
So Chelsea, whose owner is Russian billionaire Roman Abramovic, seem to Arshavin’s likeliest destination.
Germany’s Lukas Podolsski has attracted attention from Spurs, Manchester City and Juventus.
It looks like the Italian giants may win his signature as he wants to be involved in the Champions League.
UEFA’S SQUAD OF 23 (Spain), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Edwin van der Sar (Portugal), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Carlos Marchena (Spain), Pepe (Portugal), Carlos Puyol (Spain), Yuri Zhirkov (Russia) Midfi elders: Hamit Altintop (Turkey), Luka Modric (Croatia), Marcos Senna (Spain), Xavi (Spain), Konstantin Zyryanov (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Lukas Podolski (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland) Strikers: Andrei Arshaviin (Russia), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Fernando Torres (Spain), David Villa (Spain)