According to reports from The Daily Mail this morning, Atletico Madrid midfielder Arda Turan is set to snub interest from Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United to join Barcelona.
Despite playing an important role in the Mattress Makers claiming a Europa League title, a Copa del Rey and a La Liga title since his Vincente Calderon arrival in summer 2011, the Turkey skipper hasn’t always been a guaranteed starter under Diego Simeone and agent Ahmet Bulut confirmed the 28 year-old’s intentions to leave the Spanish capital outfit last week.
He claimed ‘three teams…the best in English and European football’, are courting in his services, believed to be Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. He followed up on Tuesday, declaring Turan would decide his future within the next four days.
But Barcelona have also been linked and according to reports yesterday, the Nou Camp outfit are already in ‘advanced talks’ with the former Galatasaray Star.
The Daily Mail now claim Turan is certain to snub his Premier League suitors in favour of joining the Catalan outfit – with manager Luis Enrique making a personal request to sign the attacking midfielder before going on holiday.
Due to their presidential elections on July 18th, however, Turan’s move can’t be officially sanctioned for a few more weeks. Furthermore, he’s not allowed to represent Barcelona’s first team until January, as a consequence of their transfer embargo.
It’s believed the deal will be worth £25million.
It is well documented that Arda Turan is a massive Liverpool fan and if Liverpool were serious about buying him then it is highly likely that he would choose them over any other team including Barcalona. So it is obvious to anyone in the know that Liverpool are not interested in buying Turan at the quoted price. However if he was available for say 15 million then perhaps Liverpool would be interested.