Chelsea In Talks to Sign £47m Trio as Blues Look to Continue Massive Spending Spree

CHELSEA have not finished spending yet, according to chief executive Ron Gourlay. They have already splashed out nearly £65m since last season, bringing in Eden Hazard, Oscar, Marko Marin and Eden’s brother Thorgan. But the club are now in negotiations to make three more additions.

 “It was clear there were areas where we had to strengthen if the right players became available,” said Gourley. “We’ve done that and are still looking at one or two positions.”

 Indeed it seems that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich means business and is ready to flex his financial muscles further this summer having already brought in three signings this summer.

 Though the West London side did clinch their maiden Champions League triumph the Blues did fall back some 25 points off the Premier League pace and the Chelsea owner will know that in order to make up that gap money must be spent and the three players earmarked by this source all fill areas that could well do with improvement.

 Report believes that Chelsea will launch a £32m bid for Napoli forward Edinson Cavani, a player who the club went up against in European competition last term and a player who has been in a rich vein of form over the past two seasons.

 Perhaps Roberto Di Matteo is looking to find a replacement for Didier Drogba whilst also not being all too sure of how £50m man Fernando Torres will fare in the coming campaign.

 The Uruguayan international has racked up 66 goals over the past two seasons and may well be keen on a move to Stamford Bridge, not least because his Serie A side failed to clinch a Champions League berth and have also offloaded one of his striking team-mates, Ezeqiuel Lavezzi, to PSG.

Read more »

Napoli slaps £78m price-tag on Cavani to ward off Chelsea interest

Edinson Cavani will cost Chelsea £78million if they wish to prise him away from Napoli, club president Aurelio de Laurentiis has announced.

 Cavani is one of the options being considered by Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo as he looks to fill the gaping hole left by Didier Drogba.

 Cavani fits the bill perfectly after he netted 33 goals in 47 games for the second successive campaign.

 But De Laurentiis has warned the Blues they will have to shell-out the huge figure to convince Napoli to part company with their star striker.

 'Cavani is not for sale, but we could let him go for €100m (£78m),' he told reporters. 'This is not his actual value, but his value to me and he won't leave for less.'

 Once the capture of attacking midfielder Oscar is complete, the Blues will look to complete two more deals — expected to be a centre forward and a right back — before the transfer window closes.

 Cavani, 25, who is also on the Juventus wanted list, has been watched by Chelsea for some time and scored against them in the Champions League last season.

Read more »

Messi stars in Masters tour

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez grabbed hat-tricks as the Stars side drew 7-7 with the Masters on Saturday night as part of the World Soccer masters tour. 

 The game saw two sides of top players from the world game take the field under the leadership of managers Fabio Capello and Dunga in an exhibition encounter. 

 Edinson Cavani's 88th minute goal had appeared to give the Stars side the win, but Argentine hero Ariel Ortega popped up to convert a penalty kick in the final minute to restore parity. 

 A crowd of 48,327 turned up in Miami for the final stop of the series, following other similar events in Cancun, Mexico and Bogota, Colombia. 

 Other Stars players amongst the goals were Radamel Falcao, James Rodriguez and Nene, while Didier Drogba and Diego Milito scored for the Masters side. 

USA internationals Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu were also included.

Read more »

Manchester City step up interest in Cavani & Falcao

The Premier League champions have made enquiries for the prolific Napoli and Atletico Madrid centre-forwards as they turn their attentions away from Robin van Persie. 

 Manager Roberto Mancini has placed the South American strikers at the top of his shopping list as the Premier League club try to off-load up to four senior front men this summer and free up £600,000-a-week from the wage bill.

 City’s interest in Robin van Persie has cooled after learning that Arsenal would want more than £25m for the player, who turns 29 in August.

 City have placed a £15m limit on the Dutch spearhead.

 As it stands, the club’s top striker targets are Atletico Madrid’s Falcao and Napoli forward Cavani, with both clubs quoting prices of £40m for their prize assets.

 Mancini tried and failed to land Cavani in the two previous summers but he is also being strongly pursued by Juventus.

 There is believed to be doubt over whether the prolific Uruguayan, 25, is willing to remain at San Paolo after Napoli missed out on Champions League qualification.

 City have received some encouraging signs from Atletico in their pursuit of Falcao, who ended his debut season in Spain with 36 goals, including the opening two in the club’s 3-0 Europa League final win over Athletic Bilbao.

 Atletico still owe Falcao’s former club Porto around half of the initial £34.7m deal that took him to the Spanish capital last summer in a Portuguese record transfer.

 Given the parlous state of Atletico’s finances and the good relationship the two clubs struck up last summer when City paid the £38m for Sergio Aguero up front, the Premier League champions are hopeful they can negotiate a deal for the 26-year-old Colombian, who has scored 108 goals in three seasons in Europe since leaving Argentine giants River Plate in 2009.

 City’s plan is to break even in the transfer market this summer while, at the same time, substantially trimming the wage bill.

 Some of the club’s biggest earners have been put up for sale as the club attempt to utilise their salary budget more effectively.

 City will listen to offers for Carlos Tevez, who earns £198,000-a-week, Edin Dzeko, who gets £130,000-a-week.

 Emmanuel Adebayor (£170,000-a-week), Wayne Bridge and Roque Santa Cruz (who both earn £90,000-a-week), who all spent last season on loan, can also leave.

Read more »

Edinson Cavani is worth €70m

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has revealed that he is willing to sell star striker Edinson Cavani, but only if a €70 million bid comes in for him.

 The Uruguay international has been strongly with Juventus in recent times as the Bianconeri look to strengthen their attack in the summer.

 De Laurentiis has admitted that he is prepared to part company with Cavani, but warned all interested parties that they must be ready to break the bank to land the 25-year-old.

 "Cavani? I would like to say that my intention is to sell him," he told reporters. "Sure, if someone comes up with €70m for him..." Cavani, who joined Napoli from Palermo in 2010, scored 33 goals in all competitions in 2011-12.

Read more »

Player Profile: Edinson Cavani

Full Name: Edinson Cavani

Squad No: 7

Position: Forward

Age: 25

Birth Date: Feb 14, 1987

Birth Place: Salto, Uruguay

Height: 6' 2'' (1.88m)

Weight: 71 kg

Napoli secured the services of Edinson Roberto Cavani Gomez on a one-season loan deal from Palermo on the eve of the 2010 World Cup, but importantly also secured a right-to-buy option set at around €12 million.

The Salto-born striker began his a career with Montevideo side Danubio FC in 2006 and made an instant impact, scoring nine goals in his debut season as the Uruguayan club won the Primera Division Apertura. His exploits in the domestic game earned him a call-up to the Uruguay Under-20 side for the 2007 South American Youth Championship in Paraguay, where he was scouted by a number of European clubs, including Juventus and AC Milan.

However, it was Palermo who moved quickest to snap up the youngster. The deal was officially completed in January 2007, but El Matador had to wait until March to make a memorable debut against Fiorentina as he hit a volleyed equaliser that was reminiscent of Marco van Basten's legendary strike against Soviet Union in the final of Euro '88.

Following the departure of Amauri to Juventus in June 2008, Cavani quickly established himself as a regular at Palermo, scoring 35 goals in 114 appearances, but was forced to play in a wide role rather than in his preferred position as a central striker. In April 2010, he penned a new contract with Palermo that ran until June 2014, but the prospect of playing a more central role in Walter Mazzarri's Napoli proved too difficult to resist and Cavani swapped Scilly for the Italian mainland in a move that established his credentials as a top quality goalscorer.

He started life at the Stadio San Paolo in emphatic fashion and ended the season with 26 goals in a league campaign that culminated with qualification for the Champions League. Cavani was just two goals behind Udinese's Antonio Di Natale and would have been the first Napoli player to top the scoring charts since Diego Maradona in 1988, although the Argentine did it with just 15 goals.

Cavani's star continued to rise as he won the 2011 Copa America with Uruguay and he has since been linked with big money moves to the likes of Chelsea and Real Madrid, with some reports putting the transfer fee as high as £50 million.

Strengths: Powerful and strong, he is a commanding presence up front who can hold onto the ball and is not afraid to get his head on a cross, but most importantly he is a natural finsher when in front of goal.

Weaknesses: His eagerness to work defensively for the team can draw him too deep and his passing is not on a par with his finishing.

Career high: Winning the 2011 Copa America to make Uruguay the most successful team in the competition's history, with 15 triumphs, one ahead of Argentina.

Career low: It's a tough to call for a player who is on a meteroic rise. Perhaps the fact he only scored two goals in his first six months at Palermo.

Style: Agile, powerful, a real handful in the box who loves to play on the counter-attack.

Quotes: "He's an important player for us. He fights hard, he tries to play and when he doesn't manage to do so, he still fights and that's important." Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez, November 2011

Trivia: Cavani comes from a footballing family and his older brother Walter Guglielmone plays as a forward for Brazilian Serie D side Pelotas.

Read more »