Thursday, January 26, 2012

Liverpool And QPR Chasing Barcelona Midfielder Alexander Hleb

Liverpool and Queens Park Rangers have been alerted to the availability of former Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb, with Barcelona ready to make the out-of-favour Belarusian a free agent, after talks over cancelling his contract.

The move comes two weeks after Hleb returned to Barcelona following a failed loan spell with Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg, who had asked to terminate his season-long agreement six months early, after the 30-year-old struggled with form and fitness, making just four appearances this term.

Hleb has also spent time on loan with Stuttgart and Birmingham City in the last two seasons, after manager Pep Guardiola lost patience with the versatile attacker in June 2009, just 12 months after signing him from Arsenal in a £15 million deal.

As Metro reported last month, Barcelona have been offering Hleb around Premier League clubs in a bid to get his hefty £90,000-a-week wages off their books, but with no takers, the reigning Spanish and European Champions are ready to make him a free agent with immediate effect.

Hleb is willing to accept a pay off by the Catalan club, and hopes he can now seal a return to English football, after recently admitting he wasted the best years of his career by opting to quit Arsenal in 2008: 'I've given away the best years of my career. And I hold no one responsible for it.'

Queens Park Rangers have shown a strong interest in bringing Hleb back to London, but Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is also keeping his options open, but has other targets in the pipeline at present.

Hleb is currently contracted to Barcelona until the end of the season.

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