Bale, Fabregas, Tevez & more – the Premier League stars who could be leaving their clubs this summer

ANALYSIS
By Greg Stobart

With the European season for 2010-11 now over, the attention has inevitably shifted over to the summer transfer market. From now until the window closes on August 31, every club on the continent will be working around the clock in an attempt to strengthen their squads for 2011-12.

As always, Goal.com will provide the very best transfer news, exclusives and analysis that you can find on the web. In order to prepare you for the weeks ahead, we will be working our way through every major European league and presenting a list of the big-name players who could leave, with their respective probabilities of departing.

Our series will cover the Dutch Eredivisie, English Premier League, French Ligue 1, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga.

This particular feature focuses on the Premier League. The window may have started quietly with the free transfers of Brad Friedel to Tottenham and Johan Elmander to Galatasaray the most notable moves, but the top six are all expected to be busy.

Champions Manchester United will lead the spending as they look to replace Edwin van der Sar and Paul Scholes while it could be a pivotal transfer window for Arsenal, with Cesc Fabregas possibly on the move and fans calling for Arsene Wenger to invest significantly after six years without a trophy.

Chelsea will look to rebuild this summer by hiring a new manager and signing talented young players like Anderlecht striker Romelu Lukaku, with mega-rich Manchester City also ready to buy a couple of top quality players to mount a challenge in the Premier League and Champions League.

Elsewhere, Liverpool will strengthen by spending up to £75 million on new players while Tottenham’s priority will be to stave off interest in Luka Modric and Gareth Bale.

Below we look at the Premier League’s biggest names who could join the likes of Friedel and Elmander through the exit door.

The winger has shot to stardom in the last year and is a target for all of the top clubs across Europe following his sensational displays in the Champions League, particularly his hat-trick against Inter at San Siro. Bale’s devastating pace and power would be welcome in any team and Tottenham are expecting big-money summer bids for the PFA Player of the Year.

Manchester United and Real Madrid both tried to sign the 21-year-old last summer but it would take an astonishing bid of £50m for Spurs to even consider selling a player who signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract in March. At that kind of price, Manchester City and Chelsea are the two clubs who can realistically afford to sign Bale this summer, but the player insists he is happy at Tottenham and feels he owes the club at least another year. He recently admitted he is tempted by the lure of playing in Spain or Italy in the future.

He may have been joint top-scorer in the Premier League with 20 goals, but the Bulgarian looks to be on his way out of Old Trafford this summer after suffering the ignominy of being completely left out of the squad for the Champions League final. The 30-year-old striker has never settled at United following his £30.75m move from Tottenham in 2008 and has constantly found himself out of the side in the big games, particularly since the emergence of Javier Hernandez.

Berbatov has just a year left on his contract so Sir Alex Ferguson knows he will need to sell this summer to make some sort of return in terms of transfer fee. The former Bayer Leverkusen star is a leading target for German giants Bayern Munich but is threatening to run down the final year of his deal at Old Trafford.

The Arsenal captain’s desire to return to Barcelona was the transfer saga of last summer – and it could be the case once again this year with Fabregas desperate to join the European champions. Twelve months ago he felt emotional about the prospect of leaving, but now it is all very business-like as he hopes to re-unite with a number of his Spain team-mates.

The problem for Fabregas and Barcelona is that Arsenal have plenty of money and will stick to their guns until they get the offer they want, which is £45m. Arsenal will not stand in his way but they are determined that they will not sell the midfielder on the cheap. While Fabregas only has a desire to leave for Barcelona, his agent and father may have other ideas so an interim move for two years to a club like Manchester City – who can offer a massive pay rise – is not impossible.

Sir Alex Ferguson named the Croatian playmaker as his player of the year last season so it is no surprise that Modric is the Scot’s first choice to replace the retiring Paul Scholes at Manchester United. His exceptional command of the ball has also made Modric a target for Chelsea as last season’s top two both look to add creativity to their midfields.

Modric left the door open for a move last week by refusing to rule out a transfer and declaring his desire to play in the Champions League, but it would take a huge bid for Tottenham to even consider selling. Harry Redknapp believes Modric is the most important player in his squad and has insisted the 25-year-old will not be sold as Spurs look to return to the top four next season.

Tevez is a summer target for Inter and Real Madrid but the Manchester City captain may not have quite as many options as he might have hoped. City have no need to sell their leading forward and few clubs are in the market for a forward who has been valued by his club at £45m after two stunning seasons at Eastlands.

The 27-year-old has developed rapidly as a player since signing for City but he has never settled and stunned the club by submitting, and then withdrawing, a written transfer request in December. Tevez claims that family issues are at the heart of his thoughts about leaving the club and has turned down an offer of a new contract worth £250,000-a-week. He wants to leave, but as yet there are no signs that the interested clubs are willing to pay the fee and the wages it will take to land the Argentine striker.

The England forward is almost certain to leave Aston Villa this summer and is the subject of a transfer tug-of-war between bitter rivals Manchester United and Liverpool. Both sides believe his pace and delivery will be assets while he carries little risk having consistently impressed for Villa since his £9.75m switch from Watford.

Young has just a year left on his contract and will be available for a cut-price £15m as Villa know they will be forced to sell and avoid the winger running down his contract and leaving for nothing. Young is believed to favour a move to Old Trafford as he wants to test himself in the Champions League, but Liverpool are prepared to offer greater wages and a regular starting spot.
 He hopes for his future to be resolved in the next seven days.

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