VAN PERSIE, DROGBA AND FALCAO TO QUIT???????

Juve set to pull out of race for Van Persie and switch attention to Dzeko

Robin van Persie's future took another twist on Monday as Juventus prepared to pull out of the race to sign the Arsenal skipper.

The Holland striker has told the Gunners that he is not ready to sign a new deal as he looks to buy himself time before making a decision on his future.

Manchester City and Juve are the only two clubs who have shown a concrete interest in the 28-year-old.

No go: Juventus looks set to withdraw their interest in Van Persie

But sources at the Serie A club claim they are now ready to look elsewhere in their search for a new big-name striker.

 

Juventus fear the striker has already privately agreed to sign for another club and do not want to concentrate their focuses solely on luring Van Persie.

The Italian club will now explore swoops for Manchester City's Edin Dzeko, Real Madrid's Gonzalo Higuain and Napoli's Edinson Cavani.

New target? Juventus could switch their attention to Manchester City's Edin Dzeko

Juventus' decision will only heighten talk that Van Persie is in line for a controversial move to the Etihad Stadium.

Arsenal have offered Van Persie a three year deal worth £130,000-per-week - plus a £5million signing on fee - to extend his contract.

Chelsea line-up £50m Falcao to replace outgoing star Drogba

Chelsea are ready to put £50million-rated Radamel Falcao at the top of their wishlist to replace Didier Drogba when the club finalise their transfer plans in the coming days.  

The European champions have already held a series of technical-based forward planning meetings designed to shape next season's footballing operation.

Those discussions were put on the back-burner as the club focused on the Champions League and FA Cup finals.

On the move? Chelsea are keen on Radamel Falcao

But with both trophies secured, the Chelsea hierarchy will restart the task of planning for next season this week.

And the issue of who will replace Drogba - who has agreed to join Chinese club Shanghai Shenua - is towards the top of the club's priorities.

 

As it stands the Atletico Madrid striker Falcao, Napoli centre-forward Edinson Cavani and Real Madrid goalscorer Gonzalo Higuain feature on the list of potential replacements for the Ivorian.

Sportsmail understands Falcao has now edged to the top of the club's striker wishlist.

Chelsea remain unconvinced former manager Jose Mourinho would agree to selling Higuain, who scored 26 goals for the La Liga champions last season.

Ready to go: Didier Drogba looks set to leave Chelsea this summer

And it is understood while confirming their interest in Cavani, Chelsea have been non-committal over whether they will stump up the £35million Napoli want for the Uruguay striker during initial talks with the player's representatives.

It has also been indicated to Chelsea that Cavani - who is also on Manchester City's radar - would also look for a deal worth in the region of £150,000-per-week.

Axed manager Andre Villas-Boas initiated Chelsea's interest in Falcao following his arrival last summer.

The pair worked together at Porto before leaving Portugal for new club's ahead of last season.

Impressive in front of goal: Falcao scored 36 goals for Atletico Madrid

And Falcao, a Colombia international, has continued his prolific goalscoring form in Spain, bagging 36 goals in his first season at Atletico.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have held advanced talks with Porto over their interest in attacker Hulk, who is keen to join the Stamford Bridge club.

The Blues have also joined the race to sign Lille forward Eden Hazard and are interested in Newcastle's Cheick Tiote.

If Chelsea's swoop Falcao proves successful then he is likely to join Fernando Torres in a new-look strike force next season.

Despite voicing concerns over his stuttering first full season at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea sources insists they still expect the £50million-man to remain at the club next season.

Europe's most wanted: Hazard is 21, plays like Ronaldo and is a target for the big three

 

home game of the season ends with a bang. After the players have finished their lap of honour, the lights of their stadium are turned off and the night sky is illuminated by a spectacular firework display. 

The noise and the colour are enough to take the breath away but, this year, the exhibition had to play second fiddle to an all together more impressive event that preceded it. With explosive shooting and exhilarating pace, the pyrotechnics from the Eden Hazard Show were on another level.

‘This was a dream ending,’ enthused Lille coach Rudi Garcia after Hazard had inspired a 4-1 win over Nancy, scoring a hat-trick and setting up the other for Tulio De Melo. ‘We had beautiful fireworks in the first period. It was a nice party for him and the perfect way to say goodbye.’ 

Wanted: Eden Hazard is a summer transfer target for a host of top European clubs

Hazard, of course, is currently the hottest property in Europe. Armies of scouts have trooped to this corner of northern France in recent years, hoping to persuade the Belgian flyer to join their project, and his jet-propelled performance against Nancy showed why.

As it stands, it would appear he will join Manchester City, the Barclays Premier League champions, or Champions League winners Chelsea. Lille will receive a fee of around £35million for the 21-year-old and he will be paid handsomely. So who is he and will he be worth it?

Born in the small town of La Louviere, where his father Thierry played professional football, Hazard’s mother, Carine also played football at a high level, while he has three brothers, Thorgan — a Belgium youth international who is at French club Lens — Kylian and Ethan.

Eden spent a decade on the books of Belgian second division side Tubize and it was there he was spotted by Lille’s scouts. They whisked him across the border when he was 14, indulging and nurturing his talent. He made such progress that he was catapulted into the senior side two years later.

Final farewell: Hazard scored a hat-trick in his last game for Lille at the weekend

Since then, there has been no looking back. Hazard is idolised by supporters of Les Douges (The Mastiffs) and the way he plays makes him easy to admire. Quick and direct, nimble and skilful, creative and deadly, he has terrorised French defences since 2007, with a style reminiscent of his idols.

‘When he came here, he covered the room in the house he stayed at with posters of Robinho,’ explains his close friend Emil Lyng, who left Lille last summer to join Swiss  side Lausanne. 

‘He loved him — that was until he started watching (Cristiano) Ronaldo. That’s who he wanted to play like.’ 

The similarities are clear. One of the 20 goals Hazard scored this season, at St Etienne in September, had Ronaldo stamped all over it, a slaloming, high-speed run that had defenders terrified of tackling him and ended with an unerring finish.

Dream team: Hazard celebrates with team-mate Joe Cole who was on loan from Liverpool

On Sunday night, as he put Nancy to the sword, you could see it again. Always elusive and brimming with menace, he roamed from side to side, playing on the shoulder of the last man and using his speed to devastating effect.

His goals were a combination of poacher and assassin, his brain was always moving a step quicker than three defenders who tried to swamp him. Predominantly right-footed, he was just as comfortable when pushed on to the left.

‘Eden may need a few months to settle in but he could easily hit the ground running,’ said Joe Cole, when asked how Hazard would adapt to English football. 

‘He is a top player and is only going to get better and better. He  has got the mindset to be world class.’ 

This was a celebratory night for Lille, who followed last year’s title win with a third-placed finish,  guaranteeing them a place in the  Champions League, but it became all about Hazard as he scored three times in a 25-minute spell.

Party piece: Hazard (centre) celebrates as Lille round off their season with a 4-1 win over Nancy

When he dispatched the penalty to complete his treble, his team-mates engulfed him and raised the pint-sized forward on to their shoulders. He has always been on a pedestal in Lille and nobody will say a bad word about him.

That, however, is not the case back home. You may expect Hazard to be the leading light of Belgium’s exciting generation — which includes Everton’s Marouane Fellaini and Porto midfielder Steven Defour, once a target for Manchester United — but that is not so.

He has won 26 caps since making his debut against Luxembourg in 2008, only scoring once against Kazakhstan. The most memorable thing he has done for Belgium was storm out of the ground after being substituted against Turkey 12 months ago and being caught eating a hamburger. He was banned for three games over that incident but served only one match.

Some Belgians feel that he lacks discipline, others feel that he has not been used properly but, as yet, he has not shown the blistering levels of form that have been so common for Lille. He is not even guaranteed to start when Belgium face England in a friendly at Wembley on Saturday week.

But he will be playing on these shores come August. City have courted Hazard long and hard, as have their neighbours Manchester United, while Chelsea’s sudden emergence into the race for his signature has provided an intriguing dynamic.

None of those clubs want to miss out on Hazard as he is, without doubt, the most exciting player to be crossing the channel since Didier Drogba left Marseille for Chelsea in 2004, and the send-off he was given at the Stade Lille Metropole on Sunday evening showed the regard in which he is held.

Before the game, banners were dotted all around the stadium that declared ‘Merci Eden’ and the applause Hazard received when he was presented with the French League’s Player of the Year award was surpassed only by the minute-long standing ovation he was given when substituted two minutes from the end of the match. It was an emotional evening and, to say thank you, Lille president Michel Seydoux had a montage put together that was beamed out on the giant screens at either end of the stadium to show Hazard’s defining moments. They even found time to replay that night’s treble.

‘Hazard finit en beaute’ declared Monday’s L’Equipe newspaper, describing his farewell performance. 

Should he replicate those standards in Manchester or  London, the headlines will be  similarly bold.