Barcelona becoming favourites to land Dutch stars
Marcus Brogden
Barcelona have edged ahead of Manchester United and English champions Arsenal in the race to snap up PSV Eindhoven's Dutch internationals Kevin Hofland and Mark van Bommel, PSV said on Wednesday.
Erik Gerets, manager of PSV, who were in Bangkok for a friendly against the Thai national team which the Dutch side won 4-1, said the return of Dutchman Louis van Gaal as manager of Barcelona made a move to the Catalan side increasingly likely.
"I read all the time about Manchester United, Arsenal, and now that Van Gaal has returned, Barcelona," Gerets told Reuters after the match.
"I'm more afraid they could go to Barcelona," he said.
Both Hofland and van Bommel have been linked with transfers to double-winners Arsenal, who count Dutchmen Dennis Bergkamp and Giovanni van Bronkhorst in their ranks.
And Manchester United, eager to bolster their defence after the departures of Ronny Johnsen and Dennis Irwin, have expressed an interest in Hofland for over a year.
In his previous stint at Barcelona, van Gaal recruited several Dutchmen including Patrick Kluivert and Marc Overmars, who are still at the club.
PSV's director of commercial affairs A.A.F. Spooren told Reuters the club had entered into informal discussions over the two players with a Spanish and an English club on the sidelines of this week's G14 meeting, which brought together 14 of Europe's biggest clubs.
"During the meeting our president had discussions with two clubs, one English, one Spanish," Spooren said.
The only English clubs at the meeting were Manchester United and Liverpool, while Barcelona and Real Madrid attended from Spain.
Gerets said he was increasingly resigned to losing both players, but said he had so far only received an official enquiry from Italian side Lazio.
"I hope that both of these players will stay, but in football it's always a matter of money. Today, there's a 40-percent chance they will stay but tomorrow it could be 30," Gerets said.
