The highly-rated duo have been linked with a switch to Barcelona in recent weeks and could finalise expensive moves to the La Liga champions in just two days' time

Barcelona plan to announce the arrivals of Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas and Udinese forward Alexis Sanchez before the weekend, according to a report from Ona FM.

The Catalan club have been tracking the duo for several weeks now, but their reluctance to meet the players' price-tags have so far prevented a deal from happening.

However, Spanish sources suggest that significant progress in the negotiations has been made in the last days, which could see both Fabregas and Sanchez seal switches to Barcelona in the next 48 hours.

After having an initial offer of €30 million for Fabregas rejected by Arsenal, Barcelona reportedly decided to up the stakes and add in €5m more, and it is believed the Premier League side have agreed with the new proposal.

Meanwhile, the Champions League holders appeared to have strong competition from Manchester City for Sanchez's signature, but with the Citizens deciding not to follow up their interest in the Chilean, the road is now clear for the La Liga champions to land the 22-year-old.

Sir Alex Ferguson appears to be convinced he can overcome Arsène Wenger's resistance to losing Samir Nasri and capitalise on the French midfielder's contractual impasse with a speculative £20m offer.


As far as Wenger is concerned Nasri is not for sale and ostensibly his price is the same £40m that Arsenal would want for Cesc Fabregas – because the Arsenal manager wants him out of Ferguson's reach. But United, whom The Independent revealed three weeks have held initial discussions through intermediaries of Nasri, have yet to test how Arsenal will respond to a £20m offer for a player who is out of contract next summer and thus worth probably half that sum. United's only option now is to make an offer.

United chief executive David Gill has admitted that comments made by Wayne Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson amid the club's disciplinary storms of last season were not "helpful" but has also suggested that the Football Association has victimised his club to promote its Respect agenda.

midfielder Ricky Alvarez has revealed on Twitter tonight that signing for Arsenal would be a dream for him, and he ‘prays to God’ that recent rumours linking him with a move to Emirates Stadium ‘become true’.

The Gunners were believed to be closing in on the acquisition of the highly-rated 23-year-old after Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini last week claimed that the Argentine had snubbed a move to the Serie A side as he had already agreed to join Arsene Wenger’s side.

However, those claims were quickly quashed by the player himself on Twitter last week, when he promised to tell his fans that they would be ‘the first to know’ if he genuniely signed for a new club.

“I would love to play for Arsenal, it would be a dream for me! I pray to God that this becomes true”, Alvarez said on Twitter.

Doubts over the legibility of Alvarez’ Twitter account were also rebuffed by respected Argentine journalist Gustavo Cima earlier in the week when he confirmed that it belongs to Velez Sarsfield star. Arsenal are yet to make a formal offer for Alvarez.

Transfer movement is expected to begin for Arsene Wenger’s men when the window formally opens on Friday, with Gervinho already being touted as the first major signing of the summer.

The "Samir Nasri to Manchester United" story started off looking like just another unrealistic piece of speculative gossip to be thrown on the enormous pile of transfer rumours which end up not to be true. It looked destined for that large, disappointing, ill-informed pile which raise many hopes only to be let down miserably. However, it has, like all good summer transfer stories, built up a lot of momentum - so much so, that reports are emerging that Manchester United are set to bid an impressive £20 million for the Arsenal play maker, as well as meet his wage demands of £130,000 a week in an attempt to persuade the Frenchman out of Arsenal.

With only a year left on his contract, talks between Nasri and Arsenal were said to be ongoing, but Manchester United's interest has remained throughout those talks, and now it seems Sir Alex Ferguson will turn that initial interest into a genuine bid.

I have previously evaluated the likelihood of Nasri leaving Arsenal for Manchester Untied, concluding that despite Nasri's ambition and United's success compared to Arsenal's drought, he would continue talks with Arsenal and decide to stay. This was of course, guesswork mixed with pessimism, but it seems every day that goes by, a deal seems more likely. Perhaps this is why a Nasri move away from Arsenal is made more likely?

Naturally, there is talk on Twitter about this, with Nasri having apparently already had a medical, or one booked for next week at Bridgewater Medical centre, depending on where you look and what you read. Others say, that despite Arsene Wenger's insistence that he would not sell Nasri to United whatever the circumstances, the Arsenal board has over ruled the Arsenal manager because of the amount of money in the prospective Manchester United bid.

Jun 30, 2011 - Arsenal left-back Gael Clichy is close to wrapping up a move to Manchester City, according to the Guardian.

The Frenchman has only a year left to run on his contract, and a move to Liverpool had been rumoured, but it appears Roberto Mancini has chosen to seal the deal to give more competition to a position where Aleksandr Kolarov and Wayne Bridge have failed to shine.

The deal for the 25-year-old is expected to be around £7m, and will allegedly be completed when personal terms and a medical are finalised. The move will be another setback for Wenger, as Clichy may be one of several Arsenal players to leave the club this summer as their contracts wind down, with the Fabregas and Nasri sagas continuing to rumble on. For Wenger, he will now have another difficult replacement to find in what will be a hugely important transfer window for The Gunners.