Liverpool Star Seals £2.5m Move To Champions League Giants

Bundesliga Champions Bayern Munich have agreed on a deal to sign Spanish goalkeeper Pepe Reina on a paltry sum of £2.5m from Liverpool. Reina spent the last season on loan to Italian side Napoli but returned to the Reds’ pre season tour to the United States to sort out his contract. A move back of Napoli was touted but the Partenopei weren’t willing to pay his hefty wage demands while nouveau riche French outfit Monaco were also interested.

However Pep Guardiola’s influence, the pair knew each other from their time in Barcelona, convinced Reina to join the Allianz Arena outfit. Reina will however be the back up to German World Cup winner Manuel Neuer and will have to be contended with a place on the bench while getting a chance to play in domestic cup matches.

The 31 year old Reina started his career from Barcelona’s youth team in 1999 before featuring in 30 appearances for the senior squad from 2000-02. He later joined Villarreal in 2002 before Rafa Benitez snapped up him up at Liverpool, where Reina grew in stature to become one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League.

The player had a fair share of medals winning the League Cup, FA Cup and a UEFA Super Cup during his playing time at Anfield. Reina was part of the Spanish sides who conquered the world with their domination in the International stage winning the 2008 and 2012 European Championships alongside the 2010 World Cup.

Moreover since his Premier League debut in August 2005, no goalkeeper has kept more clean sheets than him with 134 shutouts. Reina also made a name for himself last season at the Stadio Sao Paolo saving Mario Balotelli’s penalty against AC Milan, the Italian genius who earlier had a 100% success rate from the spot.

Bayern President Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said that Reina is just the kind of goalkeeper which the club was looking for. A medical is imminent for the official announcement is made. However it isn’t quite known yet if the Bundesliga Champions have agreed to pay the player’s hefty wages to bring him to Munich. 

Arsenal and Chelsea boosted as Madrid seeks to find replacement

This would come as a welcome boost for Arsenal and Chelsea. Reports from Spanish newspaper El Confidencial have reported that Champions League winners Real Madrid are on the look put of Wolfsburg’s Brazilian midfielder Luis Gustavo. This comes as a major development and would certainly hint at Sami Khedira’s contract situation at the Bernabeu. Both Chelsea and Arsenal are interested in the Wolf Cup winner but those rumours which had gathered pace in the middle of July broke off after neither of the English giants.

Khedira’s contract at the Spanish capital is set tend in the coming summer and with Bundesliga Champions Bayern Munich are also interested the Tunisian born is caught in transfer tussle between three clubs.  The 27-year-old Khedira would be an ideal signing for Arsenal with manager Arsene Wenger fully on the lookout to enhance his squad depth.

So why have Real moved early for Gustavo who did quite a good job for Brazil in the World Cup? There is no doubt that the player acts a true defensive midfielder screening his defense while his passing ability is second to none.  So with Khedira yet to sign a contract extension and the arrival of Toni Kroos at the Galacticos it appears Carlo Ancelotii has the frowns on his forehead and hence wants to sign a replacement before they are out of ‘depth.’ This in a different tilted angle certainly means Khedira’s time is well and truly over at the Spanish giants.

As far as Gustavo is concerned, the 26 year old joined Wolfsburg  at the beginning of the 2013-14 season when he was deemed surplus to requirements  at the Allianz Arena. La Liga winners who have endured a mass exodus of their players already to Chelsea are also contemplating a bid for Gustvao, the Rojiblancos who earlier failed to sign Gustavo as Wolfsburg offered the player a salary of €4.5m per season.  

Arsenal’s needs of a central defensive midfielder are well documented and with the Morgan Schneiderlin rumours dying down over the past weeks, who knows if the Khedira bid could just revive itself before the transfer window slams shut?

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