Chelsea’s plans to land Croatian defender Dejan Lovren could be foiled by Atletico Madrid as the La Liga side look for defensive reinforcements to prepare for Champions League football next term. The Lyon centre half was being viewed by the Blues as a long-term successor to ageing skipper John Terry but Atletico are poised for an early summer swoop.

The 23 year-old is a youth product of Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb, which has turned out Premier League players like Luka Modric, Vedran Corluka and Niko Kranjcar over the past couple of years. Lovren has been with French giants Lyon since 2010 and has established his place in their first team, making 24 appearances for the Ligue 1 side this season.

The Daily Mail reports that European Champions Chelsea are interested in 23 year old Lyon centreback, Dejan Lovren. The Croatian international has come on by leaps and bounds since joining French giants Lyon in 2010 and made 64 appearances in all competitions for them since. He has impressed with his composure at the heart of the defence in his stint at the French club and has attracted attention from quite a few big clubs in Europe in the past.

At just 23 years of age, Lovren has demonstrated promising qualities and has already earned 16 caps for his national side. While Chelsea’s interest in the defender comes as no big surprise given their eye for young talent of late, it will be interesting to see how and where he is expected to fit into the scheme of things at Stamford Bridge.

Arsene Wenger is known to favour the development of young talent at the Emirates and this time the Frenchman has identified Croatia Under-17 player Ante Roguljic. The Gunners boss has received glowing reports from scouts and is understood to be mounting a £1.5 million attempt to sign the youth star.

The youngster plays as an attacking midfielder for Croatian club NK Adriatic Split. The 16 year-old has drawn comparisons to Lionel Messi and local hero Luka Modric for his style of play. The starlet shot to prominence representing Croatia U-17 at the 2013 U-17 European Championships, scoring twice as Croatia won each of their three games so far.

It is that time of the season again, when players, pundits and fans all catapult Gareth Bale into the upper echelons of world football. Harry Redknapp recently claimed that his former player can now be bracketed along with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo while Welsh manager deemed the flying winger ‘indispensable’. Bale’s former Tottenham team-mate Luka Modric has now joined the chorus by inviting the 23 year old to join him at Real Madrid.

In footballing terms, Ronaldo and Messi are currently on a plane higher than the stratospheric leap taken by Austrian Felix Baumgartner and Bale has a long way to go before he can even be mentioned in the same breadth as those two legends.

The 2014 World Cup qualifiers continued to produce fireworks across Europe as the continental giants took the field for the last round of qualifiers for the calendar year. England will still have to turn out later tonight as their clash against Poland in Warsaw was abandoned due to a water-logged pitch caused by heavy rainfall, with the players unable to even conduct their pre-match training routine.

Events at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin more than made up for the dampener at Warsaw as Sweden produced one of the greatest comebacks in recent times as they clawed back from being 4-0 down to draw 4-4 against a shell-shocked Germany. Miroslav Klose’s early brace combined with Per Mertesacker’s goal before half-time gave the home side a commanding 3-0 lead, which was further consolidated by Mesut Ozil’s strike ten minutes into the 2^nd half.

Croatian wonderkid Alen Halilovic is remaining rooted to the ground amid string interest from the continent’s biggest clubs as the Mirror reports that Manchester United have stepped up their bid to lure the 16 year old to Old Trafford. The prodigiously talented Dinamo Zagreb midfielder has had live with lofty expectations in recent times as he has been compared to a certain Lionel Messi.

Halilovic, son of former Croatian International Sajed Halilovic, spent four days on trial at Real Madrid two years ago, with the Spanish giants immensely impressed by his talents. Madrid tried hard to pry him away from Dinamo’s clutches, but with the Croatian FA getting involved with regards to the youngster’s future Los Blancos had to back away.

Real Madrid are willing to go up to £33m for Luka Modric claim ESPN as Tottenham's stubborn stance seems to be working in their favour. Spurs have stood firm over their £40m demand for the Croatian star and Madrid's desperation has increased with every passing day as a result. The 26 year old's ploy of agitating for a move by flying back to his country backfired as Spurs fined him whilst also strengthening their resolve over their star player.

Initially, Madrid were not keen on going beyond £27m for Modric but the report claims that although the Spanish giants aren't willing to meet Tottenham's price tag, chairman Daniel Levy would do business if the offer is in excess of £35m.