Tuesday Transfer Gossip

First off, Marca (Spanish link) lead with the story that Real Madrid are now in pole position to sign Brazilian starlet Alexandre Pato. Pato's agent Gilmar Veloz met with Real sporting director Predrag Mijatovic at the weekend and is quoted as saying "Duck (Pato) only wants to play in Real Madrid".

Sky Sports report that Villarreal are considering a move for Julio Baptista, with Marca (Spanish link) reporting that they are to bid 15million Euros for the Brazilian. Newcastle and AC Milan are also interested in the player if he decides his future is best served away from the Bernabeu.

Manchester City are once again being firmly linked with Mexico striker Nero Castillo. The Daily Mirror report that a £10million deal has been agreed with Olympiakos. The player is thought to be holding out for a move to a bigger club, but may move to City if no better options arise in the next 48 hours.

The Mirror also report that City are still interested in Roque Santa Cruz. The player, who has also been linked with Blackburn, Porto, Galatasary and River Plate, is expecting his future to be resolved this week.

Finally, Ernesto Farias now seems set to join Porto, after arriving in Portugal yesterday for his medical. Ole (Spanish link) report that River Plate had agreed to sell to player to Mexican side Toluca, but Farias' wife didn't want to live at that altitude, so the deal collapsed. Porto have paid 4million Euros for the striker, but Toluca are taking the matter to court as they believe the player had already signed a contract with them.

Wednesday Transfer Gossip

First off, Sevilla have told Chelsea that they will have to stump up £20million in order to capture Daniel Alves, according to the Daily Mail. General consensus seems to be that they are actually holding out for anything over £18m, but with Chelsea having reportably offered £14m earlier this week it will be interesting to see whether they will improve their bid by that much.

Sky Sports report that Wigan have sealed the capture of Villarreal's Ecuadorian winger Antonio Valencia for a second season on loan. The player endured a patchy first season in the Premiership, but showed flashes of real quality, so it definitely makes sense for Wigan to extend the deal for another season.

Finally, Ole (Spanish link) report that River Plate striker Ernesto Farias is close to agreeing a $4m move to Lorient in France. There are some issues to sort out, as the player may still be partially owned by Italian side Palermo, for whom he played in 2004. Once the legal wranglings have been concluded, a deal is expected to go through.