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What's the answer? The answer is that they are all meeting with their respective club's front office to discuss and decide on their futures. Not coincidentally, the transfer window just opened (officially).
Marco van Ginkel, as the BBC reported earlier, is set to return to Vitesse from his break on Thursday and will begin discussions about his future. Since his break included a supposed face-to-face with Jose Mourinho, I expect these discussions to tilt in Chelsea's favor.
Decidedly not in Chelsea's favor went Stephan El Shaarawy's meeting with the AC Milan vice president. Il Faraone's link with Chelsea was flimsier than a straw-man in a tornado of blazing fire, but even that has now been blown away by the planet killing laser of the Galliani Death Star.
"There has been a meeting between (Milan vice president) Adriano Galliani, Stephan El Shaarawy and the young star's entourage. Everything went well. Stephan has always been an AC Milan fan and has reiterated his determination to continue playing for the Rossoneri. That pledge was reciprocated by Milan, with conviction. Milan and El Shaarawy will move forward together, as they have since 2011. No more talk of the transfer market, no more rumours. AC Milan, the Rossoneri colours and the 'Faraone' will absolutely continue on together."
-AC Milan official statement; source: ESPN
Save us Obi-Wan Cavani, you're our only hope! Cavani of course has a crazyperson for a chairman, one who prefers to deal in front of the closed doors rather than behind. No danger of a face-to-face meeting to settle things there! Yes, this was your obligatory mention of Edinson Cavani for this hour (also, PSG may or may not be making a bid for him).
Staying in Italy, we move to the capital where Walter Sabatini has been chatting with Daniele De Rossi about the future captain's future. You'd think as a one-club man, De Rossi's future would never be in doubt, but according to Sky Sport's Gianluca Di Marzio, it is:
"Just today, the Roma midfielder saw Walter Sabatini. The player of the national team returned yesterday from Brazil with the blues, there was talk of future plans, there was a cordial meeting between the two parties."
-translated with Google Translate; source: Gianluca Di Marzio via Forza Roma
This morning, we're seeing a few more unconfirmed details emerging from De Rossi's meeting with Sabatini:
"De Rossi is willing to share with Garcia , and in the case Sabatini (and Rome) will do anything to help him get back on the levels of a couple of seasons ago."
"But if at the end of July, after returning from vacation, someone will knock on the door of Sabatini [...] is no longer a taboo to think of leave, nor for society (we had already guessed from the words of Pallotta) nor for the player."
"Offers for De Rossi, however, did not arrive. Neither Spain nor England"
-translated with Google Translate; source: La Roma 24
So basically, De Rossi is ok to stay and is ok to go. Roma are ok with him staying and ok with him going. Meanwhile, nobody has actually made an offer for him. Well then. Following his decent showing at the Confederations Cup - when not playing pretending to be a wide-left midfielder - a less than €10 million flier (and a matching salary) may not be the craziest thing, would it?
Lastly, we have highly rated emerging star Kurt Zouma. We know that Chelsea have made his head turn once or twice already and now sources in France are reporting an upcoming meeting between the young defender and the ASSE top brass. Yes, please?
France defender Kurt Zouma, who is currently starring at the Under-20 World Cup in Turkey, is due to meet with Saint-Etienne officials soon to decide his future, according to Le 10 Sport.
-source: Inside Futbol
With Saint-Etienne close to losing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Borussia Dortmund, they may not be too keen on letting Zouma walk regardless of however much moneys anybody may throw at them. But Zouma is the smart move for Chelsea - perhaps the smartest in this roundup - and I have no doubt we're keeping a close eye on Les Verts.
