Transfer Talk: Midfielders in demand at Liverpool, Chelsea, City and Arsenal

Players like Sami Khedira, Javi Martinez, Nicolas Gaitan, Chrstian Tello and Jon Obi Mikel are all linked with moves in today's transfer talk.

First up The Star are saying that Jose Mourinho (pic below) is knocking around the Bernabeu to see if Real will let him have German powerhouse Sami Khedira. The Spanish club is said to value him at a cool £36m. Of course, Khedira was originally brought to Spain by Mourinho when he paid Stuttgart £10m for him back in 2010. He's been out injured for most of the season and could fancy a fresh start in London under the tutelage of the Special One. We mentioned yesterday that Javi Martinez is looking to say auf wiedersehen to Bayern Munich as he was linked with a move to Arsenal. Talksport are telling us today that Manchester City have joined Arsenal in casting admiring glances at the Spanish international. He joined the German giants from Athletic Bilbao in 2012 for the princely sum of £31.6m and apparently is available at £33m. He's only 25 so is not even at his peak right now and would represent a quality signing for anyone. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has had a marvellous season and like everyone else, he realises that if he had a half decent defence, they would probably be champions right now. So it's a surprise to hear he's sniffing around Benfica for Argentine playmaker Nicolas Gaitan (pic above). Footylatest are reporting that they are ahead of both Manchester clubs in the queue for the player valued at £20m by his club. Not only that, but the Metro are saying that they are prepared to offer £8m to Barcelona for winger Cristian Tello. Not a defender in sight! The rest of the talk is also dominated by midfielders with Inter Milan wanting Chelsea midfielder Jon Obi Mikel while two other midfielders have stated their intentions to stay put at their respective clubs with Lars Bender (pic above) from Bayer Leverkusen telling Arsenal to do one and Manchester United's Shinji Kagawa telling Napoli to do likewise. We've another few weeks before the transfer window opens again and the rumours and links will just get bigger and bigger with each passing day. Also, anyone who has a half decent game at the World Cup will of course be sensationally linked with a mega bucks move to everyone. Strap in folks, this is just the start.