Abu Dhabi (Etihad)
The FIFA Club World Cup, scheduled to be held from February 3 to 12, has increased the heat of the winter transfer market, with the participating clubs seeking to strengthen their ranks with the best players, to enlist them in the final list to participate in the strongest possible squad in the next event.
The participating clubs are working on selecting the necessary names to fill the gaps in some positions, led by Chelsea, the first candidate to win the title, and the Champions League holders last season. The Blues are looking for a left-back to compensate for the absence of Benjamin Ben Chilwell, who suffered an injury that will keep him out. Until the end of the season, he is studying several options, including the French player Levin Kurzawa, the French player of Paris Saint-Germain, the Croatian Ivan Perisic, the Italian player of Inter Milan, and other names.
As for the Saudi Al Hilal, it was announced yesterday that it had signed a contract with Al-Ittihad defender Abdulelah Al-Malki in a “free player” transfer deal, in order to strengthen its defense line before the Club World Cup, at a time when some news reports confirmed that he was looking for a striker, after the news linked him to seeking to include Togolese Aubameyang. From Arsenal, in addition to trying to sign the French striker Anthony Modeste, the German striker of Cologne, who was thinking of registering him at the expense of his compatriot Bafetimbi Gomez, the current striker, who is in the team’s preliminary list in the World Cup.
Modeste will complete his 34-year-old on April 14, with a market value of two million euros, according to the “Transfer Market” website, which specializes in monitoring player transfers and their market values.
Modeste began his professional career in 2007 with Nice, France, and his career witnessed many loan contracts, until he joined the ranks of Cologne in 2015, then left it in 2018, and returned to it quickly, after less than one season he spent in China.
Al-Ahly of Egypt is studying several options, to contract with “Masak Defender”, after the injury of its Moroccan defender Badr Banoun, who is absent from the World Cup, as he was actually excluded from the team’s list. Or contracting with Ahmed Yassin, the defender of the National Bank, who participated with the Pharaohs team in the Arab Cup.
Al-Ahly had agreed to loan its player Mohamed Abdel Moneim to Farco, after a season he spent on loan with Smouha Al-Sakandari, but the player’s brilliance with the Egypt team in the African Nations Championship currently held in Cameroon, and scoring the winning goal against Sudan, prompted the club’s management to think about returning it, as Negotiations for his return remain available during the coming period.
For its part, the Brazilian club Palmeiras returned, to open the door to negotiations, to join the Argentine striker Tatti from the ranks of New York City, but the value of the deal makes the club trying hard to reach the most appropriate amount, to strengthen its ranks before the next participation in the World Cup clubs.
And the anticipation remains for Al Jazeera’s position to find out the final list in which he will compete in the tournament, which focused on strengthening its ranks with local players, by including striker Ahmed Al Attas, returning from Sharjah Club, and joining Muhammad Jamal on loan from Al Ain.
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