Barcelona To Offer 4m For Celta's Angel
Barcelona are chasing Celta Vigo's Spanish international right-back Angel Lopez.
Barcelona are looking for a back-up for Gianluca Zambrotta in the light of Juliano Belletti's possible departure.
The Catalans are keen to offload the Brazilian, and Benfica have emerged as the latest destination, but Barca's unwillingness to hand him a free transfer and the player's refusal to lower his wage demands has been creating a few roadblocks.
Barcelona are still confident they will manage to sell him, in which case they will need a quality back-up for Zambrotta.
Celta Vigo's Angel Lopez is tha man they have zeroed in on. The Galicians find themselves in the Second Division, which means that they need to sell a few players to bring down their wage bill.
Fernando Baiano is already off to Murcia, and Angel could also be available for around 4 millions euros, something Barcelona consider to be a cut-price deal.
Frank Rijkaard has given his nod to the operation, and the player himself is ready to jump at the chance to join a top club following Celta's relegation.
That coach Hristo Stoichkov is a former Barcelona man, and a friend and former teammate of Barca sporting director Txiki Begiristain, is set to make matters easy.
Of course, he, in turn, will be able to land Celta some Barcelona youngsters on loan for their La Segunda campaign, and the names of Marc Crosas and Marc Bravo have been mentioned.
Barça Set To Make Makélélé Move
FC Barcelona are preparing to make a formal offer to sign Claude Makélélé from Chelsea and the London club are unlikely to stand in his way, according to L'Equipe.
The Blaugrana's squad looked to have been finalised after their capture of four players last month, but they are now keen to add a central defender to their ranks.
With Thiago Motta being told that he can leave and Edmílson set to follow him out of the club when he recovers from injury, Barça want back-up for the position.
Touré Yaya is seen as the long-term option to play in front of the back four after his arrival from Monaco and Makélélé would be used a mentor figure.
Chelsea would have few problems allowing the former Real Madrid midfielder leaving after he fell out of favour last term for critcising the Abramovich regime.
Makélélé has played just 45 minutes in the Blues' pre-season run so far this summer and is keen to find a new club, with PSG and Juventus also said to be monitoring the situation.
Any transfer fee would be minimal for the 34-year-old, who is behind Job Obi Mikel, Mickaël Essien and Lassana Diarra for the position at Stamford Bridge.
Despite Barça set to ask the French veteran to take a pay cut to join them, the chance to team up with Thierry Henry, Éric Abidal and Lilian Thuram at Camp Nou could be too good to turn down.