Spain
Spanish daily Marca are reporting that Atletico Madrid may move for Birmingham’s Jesper Gronkjaer if a deal to sign Andy van der Meyde falls through.
The Spanish outfit offered to take van der Meyde on loan from Inter for the rest of the season and are still waiting for a response from the Italians. The deal would include an option to purchase in the summer.
Gronkjaer almost joined Sevilla in the summer and may be seen as a suitable alternative for the right side of midfield.
It now seems just a question of when Real Madrid’s Santiago Solari will become a Milan player.
The Argentine has little intention of renewing his contract at the Bernabeu where he has had limited action this season.
He could join the Rossoneri in January although the more likely alternative is that he will make the move for free in June when his contract expires.
Solari’s Argentinian colleague Javier Saviola could be on his way back to Barcelona less then four months after joining Monaco on a one-year loan.
Talks to bring ‘El Conejo’ back to the Nou Camp began yesterday in Monaco where Barcelona chairman Laporta was invited by his Monaco counterpart to watch the French side’s Champions League match against Liverpool.
He will have been impressed with Saviola’s performance as the on-loan player scored the winning goal.
The main obstacle to a premature return is that Monaco want to ensure they will be able to find a suitable replacement for him in January’s transfer window. The only player they think satisfied their needs is Real Madrid’s Fernando Morientes.
Morientes is unable to command a regular starting place with the Merengues and would love a return to Monaco where he played the best football of his career last year.
However, Real Madrid have already stated they want to keep ‘El Moro’ until the end of the season and Barcelona must now convince their archrivals to change their minds.
Saviola, 22, earns a net annual salary of £1.75m in Spain and is under contract at Barcelona until 2007.
Italy
The Control and Disciplinary Body of the Italian Football Association has handed Brescia midfielder Jonathan Bachini a suspension of 9 months after the player failed a drug test.
The 29-year-old midfielder tested positive for cocaine on 22 September after his side’s league game against Lazio.
He had been serving a provisionary suspension since 13 October and an appeal is unlikely to be launched by the player.
