Football tansfer rumours: Santi Cazorla to Atlético Madrid?

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Upon being quizzed about rumours suggesting he was about to move to Atlético Madrid last August, Santi Cazorla told Madrid radio station Cadena Cope that he didn't know anything about the speculation, describing it as no more than "paper talk". Six months down the line, the same radio station has announced that Arsenal have been secretly negotiating with the Spanish champions over the sale of the player, who is now reported to have agreed personal terms at the Vicente Calderón Stadium. Contracted to Arsenal until the end of next season, Cazorla captained his team in their FA Cup win over Middlesbrough on Sunday. Along with Alexis Sánchez, he has been the standout player in Arsène Wenger's squad this term and will be sorely missed by Gooners should this chatter on the Spanish capital's airwaves prove to have foundation. Atlético are also hoping to bring disaffected Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata back to his homeland, what with his future at Old Trafford looking increasingly bleak under the reign of Louis van Gaal, Kazinform refers to The Guardian.com.

Liverpool are planning a summer trolley dash down the supermarket aisle signposted "Serie A Signings", where Roma central midfielders Radja Nainggolanand Miralem Pjanic, as well as Lazio striker Keita Baldé Diao, are all sitting on the shelves hoping to be swept into Premier League action by Brendan Rodgers, who will have to spend the thick end of £76m on the trio.

With Steven Gerrard off to Los Angeles, there's an opening for at least one central midfielder in the Liverpool engine room and Rodgers has been a longtime admirer of both the 24-year-old Bosnian, Pjanic, and his 26-year-old Belgian team-mate Nainggolan. Having spent over two years on Liverpool's radar, Catalan born 21-year-old Keita has made 15 appearances for the biancocelesti this season, scoring just one goal.

Danny Ings took advantage of Burnley's weekend off to jet to San Sebastián, where his longtime admirer David Moyes will have spent a couple of days attempting to persuade the striker to sign for Real Sociedad once his contract expires this summer. Burnley boss Sean Dyche has made it clear he feels Ings should further his football education at "a top end Premier League club", but would almost certainly concede there's no harm in the 22-year-old exploring all his options. When one of those options is a rumoured £60,000-per-week deal to play football in the Spanish top flight, he'd be crazy not to at least consider such a radical change of scenery.

Inter manager Roberto Mancini has urged his club's sporting director to "put your hand in your pocket" and find the cash to prise midfield general Yaya Touré away from Manchester City. Considering how reliant the Premier League champions seem to be on their Ivorian captain, the Serie A side's overtures are likely to come as music to the ears of the player's agent Dimitri Seluk, what with it getting towards that time of year when he gets busy trying to secure even more money and sweeter cake for his client.

Juventus like the cut of Oscar's gib and the Chelsea midfielder is believed to feature alongside his Borussia Dortmund counterpart Henrikh Mkhitaryan on Massimiliano Allegri's shopping list, while elsewhere in Italy, Palermo officials are reported to have given Arsenal the go-ahead to sign their Argentinian strikerPaulo Dybala for £30m.

And finally, having had his hopes of securing a January move to West Ham scuppered by pesky Fifa suits wielding big rolls of red tape, Lassana Diarra is hopeful that the Premier League side will revive their interest in him during the summer.