Summer loving: top transfer targets

Three big storylines ... Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale and Robert Lewandowski. Source:AAP

We?ve all talked about it for months. Now Jose has well and truly let the cat out of the bag.

The Real Madrid boss all but gave a plea for Roman Abramovich to come and rescue him from the Santiago Bernabeu and take him back to his favourite surrounds at Stamford Bridge.

Speaking after his side’s UEFA Champions League elimination at the hands of Borussia Dortmund, Mourinho said: "I want to be where people love me".  

We’re still a month away from the summer transfer window opening, but that hasn't stopped feverish speculation surrounding futures of both players and managers across the globe. 

Even Dortmund, Champions League final bound, are having their end of season exploits being overshadowed by transfer news.

Star midfielder Mario Gotze has already declared he will move to Bayern Munich next season – a bitter blow to Jurgen Klopp and the UCL finalists. 

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	35	27	4	4	43	85
2	Man City	34	21	8	5	30	71
3	Chelsea	34	19	8	7	33	65
4	Arsenal	35	18	10	7	30	64
5	Tottenham	34	18	8	8	17	62
6	Everton	35	15	14	6	14	59
7	Liverpool	35	14	12	9	25	54
8	West Brom	34	14	6	14	2	48
9	Swansea	34	10	12	12	-1	42
10	West Ham	35	11	9	15	-8	42
11	Fulham	35	10	10	15	-9	40
12	Stoke	35	9	13	13	-10	40
13	Southampton	35	9	12	14	-10	39
14	Norwich	35	8	14	13	-21	38
15	Sunderland	35	9	10	16	-12	37
16	Aston Villa	35	9	10	16	-22	37
17	Newcastle	35	10	7	18	-23	37
18	Wigan	34	8	8	18	-23	32
19	QPR	35	4	13	18	-27	25
20	Reading	35	5	10	20	-28	25

Will Robert Lewandowski follow suit? What about defender Mats Hummels? 

Clubs are already thinking about next season, to stay ahead of the game. Take Sir Alex Ferguson, for example. Manchester United only just sealed the manager’s 13th Premier League crown, but the boss is already looking ahead to next term. 

"You have to look at the structure of the club at present, in terms of the number of first-team players we have at 23 or under," Ferguson said in his column for Inside United.

"David De Gea, Rafael, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Alex Buttner, Nick Powell, Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck, Shinji Kagawa and Chicharito are 24. Jonny Evans is 25 and Wayne Rooney is hitting his peak at 27.

"Older players like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand may be coming towards the end of their careers, but these younger players are the foundation for the next five or six years, irrespective of the players breaking through, like Adnan Januzaj, the Belgian boy, who's really looking very good.

"Hopefully the players we bring into the club in the next year or so will be of the quality we need. We're competitive in the market - we're not Chelsea or Manchester City in terms of money but we're competitive.

"We've been doing a bit of work on that over the last three or four months, targeting who the players are that we feel could enhance us, make us better or help us maintain the level we're at."

It’s going to be a busy off-season. Even the A-League isn’t immune, with Graham Arnold the centre of speculation on the coaching front, while Robbie Kruse and Marco Rojas on the cusp of big Bundesliga moves. 

Our Rumour Mill and Paper Talks will continue to work in overdrive over the next few months. But which move will dominate football pages across the globe – and become the Robin van Persie of 2013-2014? 

Here’s 10 names to kick us off.

Jose Mourinho

The Special One hasn’t conquered his final frontier of a UEFA Champions League crown in Spain, but he’s had enough. Unloved. Unappreciated. Disrespected. Life’s tough for the former Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan boss. Some thought he was destined to progress to Manchester United or even the Portugal national team after conquering Madrid. Instead, it looks like he’ll run back to home comforts at Chelsea to try and return the club to the heights he previously delivered. 

Roberto Mancini

Will an FA Cup triumph be enough to save the Italian, who slumped in the Premier League and failed in the UCL? Each week delivers a different verdict as to whether the Manchester City boss will get the chance to make amends. This week, Malaga boss Manuel Pellegrini is being heavily linked with a move to Etihad Stadium.

Radamel Falcao

Chelsea? Manchester United? Manchester City? Paris Saint Germain? Bayern Munich? Real Madrid? Anyone take your fancy, Radamel? The Atletico Madrid striker is no stranger to rumours. English clubs have yearned to lure him to the EPL, but an imperious strike rate – and an ability to score headline grabbing goals – will ensure Europe’s biggest clubs continue clamouring for his signature. 

Neymar

Will the Brazilian please declare his hand? Links with Barcelona are becoming tiresome. Is the prodigious talent staying in Brazil until the World Cup, or with overtures from Catalonia finally tempt the Santos starlet? Will England tempt him, or will he learn from compatriots who have struggled with the rough, tumble and spotlight of the Premier League? The usual suspects will have followed his recent rejection of a contract extension, but will anyone prize the £32million talent away this summer? 

Frank Lampard

Lampard and Terry. Each time it looks like their time at Chelsea is up, no one can quite cut them adrift, and it wouldn’t be Chelsea with Mourinho but without his two favourites. Lampard has spent plenty of time on the bench this term but has still produced vital goals, moving to one goal behind Bobby Tambling's club record of 202 goals. The Independent reports that a new one-year deal is imminent for a player hoping to remain in the England set-up. He’s been linked with the MLS, and bizarrely, even Manchester United at times this season. It’s an important decision for Chelsea.

Robert Lewandowski

Man-of-the-moment Robert Lewandowski is interested in testing himself in England - but not yet, according to his agent. But does that mean Dortmund will lose him to Bayern, following Gotze, or will they put their foot down and make him see out his contract? German newspaper Bild even produced a bizarre report saying Jose Mourinho has texted the Polish striker about joining him at Chelsea! See, it really is a silly season. The star striker is one of the real hot properties this summer. 

Edinson Cavani

The Napoli striker joins Lewandowski and Falcao as prime targets this summer. Manchester City have long been linked, as Mancini looks to re-load his strike-force. Usual suspects Real Madrid and PSG are also linked with the prodigious striker. 

Wayne Rooney

This is an interesting one. Read between the lines of Fergie’s recent comments, and Rooney looks like staying at Manchester United. But with RVP’s success and the likelihood that they’ll lure another striker, where does that leave the England star? Once on a pedestal with the world’s top players, will he be content to remain second-fiddle – and in a different role – at Old Trafford? England want to see more from their ‘talisman’. Speculation about his future will not subside until he re-signs. 

Luis Suarez

Liverpool won’t sell the mischievous Uruguayan, but will Champions League football or a desire to leave the insatiable attention on him in England tempt him to go abroad? Pep Guardiola has already been linked with the striker at Bayern Munich. He’s got three years on his contract – will Liverpool’s loyalty towards him through troubled times influence his commitment? 

Gareth Bale

Tottenham are on the cusp of being a serious player in the top tier of English football – but that could all come spiralling apart if Bale departs. Champions League football looks like being enough to keep him at White Hart Lane, but it’s hard to see him staying for another stint at the Europa League. With praise like this from Zinedine Zidane, it's hard to see how Spurs will hold off overtures from a club like Madrid or another powerhouse."After the season he has just had - and still being so young of course Gareth Bale is going to be one of the most expensive players in the world if he decides to move. 'Tottenham could command £40million, £50m, maybe even £60m for him. It is a lot of money - but there are maybe three or four teams in the world that can pay that sort of transfer fee - and it wont put them off."

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