Football transfer news

EXCLUSIVE
By Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

Arsenal have abandoned their pursuit of Barcelona striker David Villa, Goal.com can reveal.

Arsene Wenger had made a formal approach for Spain’s all-time leading goalscorer but has reluctantly accepted that he will not be able to sign him this month.

Arsenal have made bolstering their strikeforce a top priority in the window and are now expected to centre their attention firmly on capturing Atletico Madrid’s Adrian Lopez, who they have targeted for a number of weeks.

Goal.com understands that a delegation from the London club had been set to fly out to Spain last week to hold talks with Barcelona over Villa.

However, the runaway Spanish league leaders made it clear in private discussions that the 31-year-old is not available either for a loan or permanent transfer this month even though the player had personally told Wenger he was keen to move to Emirates Stadium.

Villa has grown frustrated with his lack of opportunities at Camp Nou but the Blaugrana are playing hardball and are not willing to offload such a valuable asset ahead of a twin assault on the Champions League and La Liga titles.

Publicly, Barca have consistently dismissed suggestions that Villa could leave in the January window.

Head coach Tito Vilanova reiterated this stance following his team’s 3-1 win league win over Malaga on Sunday night.

“David is not going to leave,” Vilanova said. “We are very happy with him.”

Only Lionel Messi (37) has scored more goals than Villa (10) for Barcelona in all competitions this season, but the forward has started just 11 of the club’s 31 matches, including only six out of a possible 19 in La Liga.

Villa, who missed much of last season after breaking his leg, scored two goals in last week’s 5-0 Copa del Rey win over Cordoba but limped out of the match late on and then picked up a hamstring injury in training on Saturday which ruled him out of the trip to Malaga.

“We know how important he is to the team,” added Vilanova. “He scored twice the other day. He is still coming back from a long injury, and each time he gets more minutes. But he had some more problems. Last year we missed him a lot in the second half of the season.”

Wenger could make another move for Villa in the summer, when the player will have only a year remaining on his Barca contract.

Arsenal are expected to set their sights once again on Adrian after tabling an opening offer of around €12 million, which was revealed by Goal.com earlier this month.

Wenger wants to sign a mobile, orthodox centre-forward this month who can play anywhere across his forward line and dovetail with his current first-choice spearheads Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud.

It is understood that a fee of €14.4m could be enough to push through the Adrian deal, which is lower than the €17.7m release clause in the forward’s contract.

Goal.com understands that Arsenal initially opened negotiations with Atletico to sign the 24-year-old before Christmas. As revealed by Goal.com in October, Arsene Wenger has been closely pursuing Adrian, as he is known in his homeland, for months after failing to sign him last summer.

Inter president Massimo Moratti has urged Wesley Sneijder to make a decision on his future by the end of Monday as Galatasaray are desperate to add the Netherlands international to their squad.

The Istanbul giants announced at the weekend that they have agreed terms with the Nerazzurri over a winter move, but added that they are still in talks with the creative midfielder himself.

Sneijder stated on Saturday evening that he is in no rush to make a final decision on his future, but Moratti is now running out of patience and has told the Dutchman to make up his mind.

“We want an answer by the end of the day. It would be professional from him if he made a decision shortly,” the Inter boss told reporters.

Nevertheless, despite Moratti’s latest comments, Sneijder is unlikely to make a decision on his future any time soon.

The 28-year-old is reportedly having doubts about a move to the Turkish league, and would prefer a transfer to one of Europe’s top league competitions.

Giuseppe Marotta has made it clear that Juventus do not plan to make any big signings in the January transfer window.

The Turin side have been linked with a number of strikers in the past few weeks as they aim to add some more firepower to their squad, but Marotta has stressed that the right opportunity has yet to come along this winter.

“I expect the January window to close without any big signings. The right opportunity has not presented itself to Juventus,” the club’s general director told Sky Sport Italia.

“We are obviously looking around and evaluating the situation of certain players, but our main objective at the moment is to recuperate injured players and those who will play at the AFCON.”

Marotta also took the time to discuss Juventus’ title chances following their recent loss against Sampdoria and draw versus Parma, and stressed that it’s impossible to win all games.

“There’s no reason to be pessimistic. We should remain realistic. Serie A is a bit like the Giro d’Italia. You simply cannot win every stage. It’s the final standings that really matter.”

Juventus currently hold a three-point lead over second-placed Lazio.

Roberto Martinez wants to keep Franco Di Santo at Wigan despite growing uncertainty over the Argentina international’s future at the club.

The former Chelsea man’s contract runs out at the end of the season and Martinez has previously insisted that the club would rather lose him in the summer than cash in on him.

Di Santo netted in Wigan’s draw with Fulham on Saturday, and the Spanish boss also admitted he “hates” the frantic nature of the January window.

The manager told reporters: “All I’m focusing on with Franco is that he keeps developing, that he keeps fulfilling his potential and just having the impact that he has today.

“We will lose players and have to move players on but we also want to keep players.

“I think the window is fantastic for the fans, for the media. It brings great speculation.

“All the fans get excited. It gives you the opportunity to have a second life if you want, in the season. What I hate is that the window is open while the games are going on and I always found it impossible for the players.

“We forget that players are human beings and if you’re going to consider the next move in your career, you’re allowed to do that because as a human being in any job you need to do that.

“The problem is that when you do that while the games are going on, it’s disrespectful to the club, it’s disrespectful to the fans and disrespectful to the competition itself.”

The Lancashire club have been involved in a string of relegation battles in the past few years, staying in the Premier League last year following a late run of form, but the manager believes the club should aim higher.

“I think changing the mentality of us as a football club is important. Slowly we need to move our aims and try to finish in the top 10,” he continued.

“We finished top of the form league in the last nine games of last season and in the summer the pundits were quick to mention Wigan are favourites for relegation. We need to change that perception.”

Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta has stressed that Victor Valdes has not told the club that he wants to leave the Primera Division leaders.

The Blaugrana have informed the goalkeeper that they are keen to open talks over a contract extension, but Valdes recently stated that he would be interested in playing in another league at some point in the future.

However, the shot stopper has yet to make a final decision on his future, and Zubizarreta remains hopeful that he will stay at his current club.

“Victor Valdes has not told us that he wants to leave the club. We have not discussed a contract renewal yet with his agent, but we sat down to talk about some other things,” Zubizarreta told reporters.

“We will open talks when the time is right. We have a lot of love for Victor Valdes and we want him to stay at this club.”

The 31-year-old’s current deal with Barca runs until June 2014.