Decent bets

Marc Ingla, the Barcelona vice-president, has returned to Spain after holding talks in London in a bid to sign Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexander Hleb. Barcelona are keen to sign the Arsenal players, but there are suspicions that they are unwilling to meet the valuation of Adebayor and are also using their pursuit to gain support before Juan Laporta, the president, faces a confidence vote from club members on July 6.

One unsubstantiated report in Spain claimed that the clubs had reached a £21million deal to buy Adebayor, the Togo forward, but Ingla is thought to have left London empty-handed.

Queens Park Rangers and Coventry City are interested in signing Moritz Volz, who has a year left on his contract. The Fulham defender is among the players who have been told that they can leave Craven Cottage, including Alexei Smertin, Jimmy Bullard and Antti Niemi, the Finland goalkeeper, who claims to have had interest from five top-flight clubs.

Dead certs

Gaël Clichy has signed a new five-year contract at Arsenal as reward for an outstanding season in which he was named in the Professional Footballers' Association team of the year. The left back had two years left on his previous deal, signed in 2005.

Julius Aghahowa has agreed a three-year deal with Kayserispor, the Turkish club, after leaving Wigan Athletic. The striker failed to score in 23 matches for the club, whom he joined for £2.1million in January last year.

Rennes have decided against signing Djimi Traoré, the left back, who was on loan from Portsmouth last season, but the French club have signed Carlos Bocanegra on a free transfer after the United States defender was released by Fulham. Portsmouth have signed Glen Little, 32, who was out of contract at Reading, for whom the winger played only twice last season because of an Achilles injury. Little has signed a 12-month deal.

Long shots

Wigan are reported to have competition from Marseilles to sign Olivier Kapo, the Birmingham City midfield player. West Bromwich Albion have been told by Groclin Dyskobolia, the Polish club, to increase their offer to about £2.2million for Radoslaw Majewski, the midfield player.