24 June 2011 – The pick of today's transfer rumours

The pick of today's European football transfer rumours for 24 June 2011. Any transfer gossip surrounding Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Roma, Barcelona and Real Madrid will be covered here.

Transfer Gossip

Premier League

In what will no doubt be the longest running transfer saga this summer, Barcelona have officially launched a bid for Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas. Reports in the Sun today claim that Barcelona executive Sandro Rossell launched an official bid worth £27m for the Arsenal midfielder in a verbal conversation with Ivan Gazidis. The offer is said to have been turned down immediately but Barcelona are expected to up their offer to around £30m. The longest running transfer drama of recent years could be at an end this year with the Sun claiming Barcelona are more confident than ever of bringing Fabregas back to Barcelona.

The Mirror leads with an exclusive transfer story that will concern many Liverpool fans. Liverpool are set to snub a £13.5m offer for their highly rated midfielder Raul Meireles. The Portugal international was one of the few summer signings that made a positive impact last season and was voted Liverpool fans player of the season. Juventus are keen on the midfielder and are willing to exchange Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo to make a deal happen. The paper continues, saying that Liverpool are not interested in a player exchange deal and will look for a full cash transfer if they are to sell Raul Meireles.

Sticking with the Mirror, the newspaper claim that Blackburn's Christopher Samba is fed up with fighting relegation campaigns with the Lancashire club and has asked to be sold to Arsenal. Blackburn were confident the defender would stay but this news will be a huge blow to the club's preseason preparations. The newspaper reports that Arsene Wenger is willing to pay £12m for the Congo defender and Samba does not want his opportunity to be blocked by his current club.

The Times report that Joey Barton has a long list of potential admirers looking to tempt the England and Newcastle man away from St. James' Park. The paper suggests that Stoke have made an offer for the midfielder with Aston Villa and Everton monitoring the player's availability. Arsenal still remains the favourites to sign the player with Arsene Wenger confirming that they are seriously considering tabling a bid for the midfielder.

The Mirror suggests that Tottenham could be willing to sell Brazilian midfielder Sandro to Villarreal to finance a deal to bring in a world class forward. The paper reports that Villarreal are very interested in the player and have met with his representatives. A bid of around £12m could be enough to tempt Tottenham into selling the midfielder. The Mirror continues claiming that if Tottenham make more encouraging noises of a potential sale, the Spanish club will make a more concrete offer.

In other news, Marseille are said to be monitoring Emmanuel Adebayor's situation, whilst Arsenal say Carlos Vela is not for sale this summer. Stoke are ready to launch a £6m offer for Daniel Sturridge and Blackburn could be closer to a deal to bring £12m rated Papiss Cissee to Ewood Park.

La Liga

The Sun reports that both Atletico Madrid and Seville are ready to table an offer for Newcastle midfielder Jonas Gutierrez. Newcastle have valued the player at around £6m and although Lazio are keen on the player, the Argetine would prefer a move back to Spain.

Reports in Spanish newspaper Marca claim that Real Madrid manager, Jose Mourinho, could be on the verge of swapping Spanish right back Sergio Ramos for Inter star Maicon. Mourinho has been linked with a move for his former player since his arrival at Madrid and with contracts negations stalling between the club and Ramos, the newspaper claims the time is right for Mourinho to make his move for his preferred right back.

Serie A

Napoli and AC Milan could be one step closer to agreeing a deal for Antonio Cassano. The AC Milan forward has been frozen out at the San Siro and Napoli are ready to make a move for the player. The initial conversations were said to be positive and AC Milan will be prepared to let the striker leave if they receive long term target and Napoli want away Marek Hamsik.

Bundesliga

Hamburg are said to be leading the race to sign Swiss under 21 star Xherdan Shaqiri. The Swiss star has been influential in his teams progression to the Euro under 21 Championship final and Hamburg are willing to make a substantial bid to fend off interest from England and Spain.

Finally, Schalke are ready to make their move for Arsenal's Jens Lehmann. After returning to Arsenal in January Lehmann is now attracting attention from his former club Schalke. With Mauel Neur moving to Bayern Munich this summer the club want an experienced goalkeeper and see Lehmann as an ideal candidate. Lehmann made 274 appearances for Schalke from 1988-1998.