Schalke are closing in on the signing of Holland international midfielder Ibrahim Afellay on a season-long loan from Barcelona.
Barcelona midfielder poised to make season-long loan move
Schalke are closing in on the signing of Holland international midfielder Ibrahim Afellay on a season-long loan from Barcelona.
The 26-year-old had been linked with Premier League duo Tottenham and Liverpool this summer but he now looks destined to join the Bundesliga outfit.
Afellay, who moved to Camp Nou from PSV Eindhoven in 2010, was part of the Holland squad who suffered a miserable time at Euro 2012.
Schalke's general manager Horst Heldt admitted: "We have gone quite far with this."
Welcome
Royal Blues striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was more convinced that the proposed transfer of his international colleague was already a done deal.
"I want to welcome Afellay to Schalke 04," he wrote on
Twitter. "Training session tomorrow at four. Don't forget!"
Meanwhile, Zenit St Petersburg are reported to be interested in signing Schalke defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos and could table a 20million euros bid.
But Heldt said the 20-year-old centre-back will train with Schalke on Friday and is likely to be offered a contract extension until 2017.
