Victor Valdes might be leaving Barcelona in the near future but the La Liga leaders are playing hardball until the day the keeper becomes a free agent. The Metro reports that Barca are prepared to let the veteran keeper run out the remaining year in his contract rather than selling him at the end of the current season, thus dealing a blow to the plans of Arsenal and possibly Liverpool too.

Arsenal have been linked with the 31 year old from the moment he turned down a new contract and declared his desire to leave the Nou Camp. Arsene Wenger’s reluctance to sign an experienced stopper since the departure of Jens Lehmann has been criticized by most pundits and with young Wojciech Szczesny falling out of favour, a summer move for a new stopper is on the cards.

Arsene Wenger has ruled out the possibility of saving Alex Song’s career by throwing him a lifeline with the promise of an Arsenal return, advising the midfielder to stick with Barcelona for a few more seasons. Song left the Emirates along with Robin van Persie last summer but unlike his former team-mate Song has found life hard at Barcelona, making just 12 La Liga appearances all season.

Barca paid £17m for the Cameroonian, who was a direct replacement for Seydou Keita. But the 25 year old hasn’t won the confidence of his new employers, often being played out of position in central defence due to the sheer lack of numbers in Barca’s squad. The player’s cousin recently declared that Song was extremely disillusioned at the Nou Camp, thus prompting rumours of a very quick return to his old home in North-London.

Next Chelsea manager to decide Thibaut Courtois’ future

The revolving managerial door at Chelsea has meant that young players in the squad are never sure of their position at the club and 20 year old stopper Thibaut Courtois is caught in a similar position as the Belgian has spent the last 2 years on loan at Atletico Madrid and is unsure whether he will ever play for the Blues. There is no shortage of interest in Courtois, within La Liga and across Europe, but the suitors have to wait a while longer as the 2011 Europa League winner is quoted by ESPN saying: “It was thought there would be some news around now, at the start of April, but Chelsea have asked for a bit more time. They are in the process of signing a new manager. They want to consult with him about next season.”

Chelsea plan audacious bid for Yaya Toure

Chelsea are warming up to the FA Cup semi-final against Man City by tracking their most important player as the Express report that the Blues have their eye son Yaya Toure. The Ivorian’s contrast battle with City is well-documented and Chelsea have now joined Anzhi in the hope of enticing the highly-paid midfielder to ditch the Etihad. City want to trim the excess fat in their squad over the summer but Toure definitely doesn’t fall under the liposuction category.

Roman Abramovich’s dream of Chelsea playing sexy football hasn’t truly been achieved yet and the Russian owner intends to spend further millions to ensure his dream is finally realized. Last summer’s splurge on Eden Hazard, Victor Moses, Marko Marin and Oscar hasn’t brought Chelsea a great deal of success, causing Abramovich to return to Bayer Leverkusen for Andre Scurrle according to the Metro. The German International has been on Chelsea’s radar for a long time now, with the Blues even placing three bids for the 22 year old last summer.

Leverkusen rejected all three offers though and Chelsea intend to sweeten the deal this time around by offering Kevin De Bruyne as makeweight. De Bruyne has never featured for Chelsea since his January 2012 move from Genk and has been on loan at Werder Bremen since last summer. Chelsea hope that £10m plus the Belgian winger will be enough to tempt Leverkusen into parting with Schurrle, who has £25m release clause on his contract which expires in 2016.

Roman Abramovich’s love for Chelsea was rekindled last summer after his team finally lifted the Champions League, which resulted in the Russian owner splashing millions on fresh talent in the off-season. One among them was Cesar Azpilicueta, for whom Chelsea fought tooth and nail to bring in from Marseille for £7m. But the Blues aren’t happy with one rising defender and the experienced Branislav Ivanovic marshalling the right-back role and they seemingly feel the need to pursue Southampton’s Nathaniel Clyne.

Clyne isn’t new to being linked with the Premier League’s biggest clubs as his time at Crystal Palace was filled with such rumours. But he eventually decided to move to Southampton last summer and has since been a regular for the Saints in their battle to retain their Premiership status.

John Terry has endured a frustrating time since comically lifting the Champions League trophy last May as a troublesome knee has restricted the Chelsea captain’s appearances this season. Rafa Benitez still doesn’t trust the centre-back completely, playing him only in the cup competitions. Terry only has a year left on his contract with the Blues and there is no guarantee that Roman Abramovich will offer the 32 year a new deal.

That is where the clubs in UAE come into the picture as the Mirror claims that a host of outfits in the Mid-eastern country want to take the former England captain. Well established clubs in the region including Al-Nasr, Al-Ain and Al Jazira are all prepared to offer lucrative deals for the veteran, similar to the one Al-Ahly used to lure Fabio Cannavaro a few years back.

Arsene Wenger will finally be able to spend millions from Arsenal’s transfer kitty according to the Daily Mail and the veteran manager wants to make Fiorentina’s Stevan Jovetic his biggest signing of the summer. The 23 year old attacker has been one of Europe’s most highly-courted youngsters in recent years, with Arsenal one among a big group of admirers. The Montenegrin will cost the Gunners a minimum of £20m, which would necessitate Arsenal to make a club record bid.

But Wenger considers Jovetic a huge talent capable of vastly improving the Arsenal side and has placed the attacker under the special attention of his scouts, who have been tracking him all season long. Man City tied in vain to lure the player from Fiorentina last summer while Juventus have also been hovering around the player.