Fulham held talks with Bordeaux last night about signing Marouane Chamakh, but they face competition from Arsenal for the forward.

Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager, wants to strengthen his squad because of the demands of the Europa League next season, but has a balancing act given the possibility that his team may be eliminated before the group stage.

Fulham failed to reach an agreement with Chamakh, who is on holiday in the United States and has said that he has been earmarked by Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, as a replacement for Emmanuel Adebayor.

The Morocco player has refused to extend his contract, which has one year left, and he claims to have a buyout clause of £7 million. He scored 13 league goals last season and has a reputation for his ability in the air.

Wenger likes Roque Santa Cruz, but will not pay an inflated price for the Blackburn Rovers forward because of interest from Manchester City, as well as Edin Dzeko, the Wolfsburg striker who has been linked with AC Milan. Arsenal are close to completing their first summer transfer, with Thomas Vermaelen expected to arrive for a medical today after a fee of about £10 million was agreed with Ajax for the Belgium centre back. “I will be facing the best strikers in the world,” he said. “But this does not scare me.”

Decent bets

Glen Johnson was having a medical at Liverpool last night after a fee of up to £18.5 million was agreed with Portsmouth. Liverpool will pay about £5 million this summer, with the rest over the length of his contract, because they are owed about £7 million by Portsmouth from the sale of Peter Crouch last summer.

Chelsea and Manchester United face disappointment after Florentino Pérez, the Real Madrid president, claimed that the transfer of David Villa was “a matter of time”. Valencia want £42 million for the striker, £8 million more than Real have offered, but also have interest from Barcelona. Manchester City could be the losers if Villa moves to Real, because Barcelona may then be unwilling to sell Samuel Eto’o, the Cameroon striker.

Real have told Arjen Robben that he will not be given a squad number next season, despite the winger’s insistence that he wants to remain at the club. Robben is among six Dutch players available and Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former Holland striker, has advised them to leave for the benefit of their international careers. “They all have big goals, one of which is participating in the 2010 World Cup,” Van Nistelrooy said.

VfB Stuttgart have expressed an interest in signing Claudio Pizarro, the forward who was on loan at Werder Bremen last season and has two years left on his contract at Chelsea. Noé Pamarot, the defender whose contract expires at Portsmouth this month, is set to move to Saint-Étienne in France, while Djimi Traoré is expected to leave Fratton Park for Monaco. The left back was on loan at Birmingham City last season.

Birmingham have inquired about Barry Ferguson, the Rangers midfield player. Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion have expressed an interest in Shefki Kuqi, the striker, who is expected to leave Crystal Palace this month. Freddie Sears, the West Ham United striker, is expected to move to Palace on loan.

Dead certs

Theofanis Gekas, the forward, will return to Bayer Leverkusen after playing only one minute for Portsmouth during his loan spell since January.

Long shots

Lorik Cana, the Marseilles midfield player and captain valued at £7.5 million, has attracted the attention of Everton, Hamburg and Stuttgart.

Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City have been linked with Miguel Veloso, but Sporting Lisbon want £14 million for the defensive midfield player.