AS.com

Andoni Zubizarreta's style book seems to be governed by two maxims: don't let others know what you're up to, and time is always in your favour. The approach to the signing of the defensive midfielder that Tito Vilanova has asked for bears the hallmarks of both ideas. Nobody knows with any certainty, not even the parties contacted, if they are Barça's top priority or simply people to be toyed with in the market. The Catalan club in no hurry to tie up the threads of transfer offers it has created. One thing that is certain is that they are interested in Liverpool's Danny Agger and Arsenal's Alex Song. Theirs are the two names that have most often been linked to Barça, though they're not the only ones. This week, Barcelona will open up communications with both clubs to guage financial expectations and the state of the market. The directors at the Camp Nou are confident in their plans and believe that time is on their side.

The time to pick up the phone and ask has arrived, then. The calendar keeps moving on and as Barça trust, prices can only go down. There is no hurry.

At this stage, with everything that has been published in England and Spain, it would be ridiculous for Barça to deny that there is interest in Agger and Song. The price tags given to the players (20 and 15 million euros respectively) should be up for negotiation though. It'll be a long process.