The clubs participating in the World Cup clubs are betting on the “winter Mercato” to fill the gaps

The FIFA Club World Cup, to be held from February 3 to 12, has increased the heat of the winter transfer market, with participating clubs seeking to strengthen their ranks with the best players, to enlist them in the final list to participate in the strongest possible squad in the next event.

The participating clubs are working on selecting the names necessary to fill the gaps in some centers, led by Chelsea, the first candidate to win the title and holder of the Champions League last season, as the "Blues" are looking for a left-back to compensate for the absence of Benjamin Ben Chilwell, who suffered an injury that will keep him out until the end. The season, which is studying several options, including the Frenchman Layvin Kurzawa, the French player of Paris Saint-Germain, the Croatian Ivan Perisic, the Italian player of Inter Milan, and other names.

As for the Saudi Al Hilal, it was announced yesterday that it had signed Al-Ittihad defender Abdulelah Al-Maliki in a transfer deal as a free player, in order to strengthen its defense line before the Club World Cup, at a time when some news reports confirmed that he was looking for a striker, after the news linked him to seeking to include Togolese Aubameyang from Arsenal. The Englishman, as well as trying to sign the French striker Anthony Modeste of the German football team Cologne, who was thinking of registering him at the expense of his compatriot Bafetimbi Gomez, the current striker, who is in the team’s preliminary list in the World Cup.

Modeste will complete his 34-year-old on April 14, with a market value of two million euros, according to the “Transfer Market” website, which specializes in monitoring player transfers and their market values.

Modeste began his professional career in 2007 with Nice, France, and his career witnessed several loan contracts, until he joined the ranks of Cologne in 2015 and then left in 2018 and returned to him quickly after less than one season he spent in China.

Al-Ahly of Egypt is studying several options to sign a defender, after the injury of its Moroccan defender, Badr Bannon, who is absent from the World Cup, as he was effectively excluded from the team’s list. Ahmed Yassin, Al-Ahly Bank defender, who participated with the Pharaohs team in the Arab Cup.

Al-Ahly had agreed to loan its player Mohamed Abdel-Moneim to Farco after a season he spent on loan with Smouha El-Sakandari, but the player’s brilliance with the Egyptian national team in the African Nations Championship currently held in Cameroon and scoring the winning goal against Sudan prompted the club’s management to think about returning it, as the negotiation remains He will be able to return in the next period.

For its part, the Brazilian Palmeiras club returned to open the door for negotiations to join the Argentine striker, Tatti from the ranks of New York City, but the value of the deal is what makes the club trying hard to reach the most appropriate amount, to strengthen its ranks before the next participation in the World Cup clubs.

The anticipation remains for Al Jazira Club to know the final list in which it will compete in the tournament, which focused on strengthening its ranks with local players, by including striker Ahmed Al Attas, returning from Sharjah Club, and joining Muhammad Jamal on loan from Al Ain.

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