Barcelona Transfer Rumours: Top 10 Players Linked to Barca in January

Barcelona is undoubtedly the team of the moment: They're the Spanish champions, favourites to take European glory once more this season and had the unenviable task last night of waiting to see which of their superstar players would walk away with the coveted Ballon D'or award.

The January transfer window is now in full swing, and we've seen Barcelona aren't afraid to get the checkbook out and bring in the big names, if their recent transfer history is anything to go by.

So let's look at the top 10 players linked with switches to the Camp Nou over January from the big money, highly unrealistic dream transfers to the unknown prospects who could well become the next stars at one of the biggest clubs in the world.

This has been the ultimate footballing love story over the past 12 months, the type of "will they or won't they" story fit for the big screen. If the two long lost lovers were to be reunited in a fairytale ending, I doubt Arsene Wenger will be attending the premiere, as he'll be losing undoubtedly his best player and his talisman in the heart of a much-improved Arsenal team that may well be in position to compete for the Premier League title in the immediate future.

The latest reports are that Barcelona will continue the pursuit of their long lost son, who Arsenal adopted at the age of 17, most likely in the summer but another attempt in January cannot be ruled out.

The star striker has had a torrid season thus far and with all the disharmony and constantly changing nature of Liverpool football club, Torres may want to get off the sinking ship before the scene gets incredibly messy. 

The two clubs who'll undoubtedly be competing for Torres' services are Barca and their great rivals Real  Madrid, but with Torres' connections to Athletico, Barca would most likely be a favourite to obtain the Spaniard's services. 

Although it appears that red alert has been put on hold at Manchester City after Tevez retracted his transfer request, the Argentine has certainly flexed his influential muscles at Eastlands, and if he were to wake up on the wrong side of the bed again, then it could be panic stations in the blue half of Manchester. Barcelona, as we saw following the first Tevez crisis, would be prepared to step in and offer Tevez a new home.

He'd cost a great deal of money, but the potential of a Tevez/Villa partnership up front would only add to the formidability of Barcelona's attacking unit.

Similarly to his former teammate Tevez, Rooney showed his true power at Manchester United by holding the entire club ransom over a grim week for all United fans.

If Rooney were to suddenly decide that his current employers are lacking in ambition, a conclusion he came to as United continue to compete at a high level both domestically and in Europe. It therefore stands to reason that Rooney may decide to throw his toys out of the pram again, and if that were to happen, there's no doubt that Barcelona will be one of the teams waiting to pounce on the Englishman.

This one is probably the least likely of those featured so far, but there's no doubt that Barca will have taken notice of Pato's statement towards the end of 2010 in which he said that if he were to leave the San Siro, then Barcelona would be his destination of choice.

You never know in today's world, and a surprise bid for the Brazilian striker wouldn't be the strangest thing we've ever seen in a transfer window.   

Tottenham's Welsh wizard has had a stunning year, showing that he can terrorise the very best when he took apart Inter Milan home and away in two dazzling displays of wing play. Bale has been linked with many of the elite European clubs, including Manchester United and Barcelona, whose sporting director has come out and said that the club are interested in the left-sided star.

Bale would no doubt be a daunting prospect opposite Dani Alves on the Barcelona wings, and a big money approach could well be on the horizon. 

Both Barcelona and Real Madrid have already made approaches for the Palermo midfielder, who has stated that he wants to stay at Palermo to improve as a player before making such a giant step.

Unless the Argentine has a sudden change of heart, a January deal is unlikely, but keep your eyes on the 21-year-old and a potential move to a big club within a couple of years.

Yes, there may be a potential move for an Arsenal midfielder to Barcelona, but I doubt it's the one you were thinking of.

Reportedly the Spanish champions are weighing up making a £10m approach for the midfielder, which has been reported in a variety of sources.

I'm sure Arsenal fans would much rather see the Brazilian make the switch than their talismanic captain, and maybe they'll add insult to injury and wind up taking both midfielders to Spain.

According to Spanish reports, Barcelona are eyeing a move for the Napoli striker who's impressed in Italy, having scored as many as former Barcelona star Samuel Eto'o.

Apparently Barca think that Cavani would fit in well to the squad and could be a future star in Spain.

The 23-year-old is just one of the many strikers linked with the Spanish giants, and we'll have to wait and see what Palermo, Cavani's parent club, thinks of the proposed deal.

The 18-year-old Spaniard who plays for Villarreal has been linked with PSV Eindhoven, Aston Villa and Barca, who rate the forward highly and who've sent scouts to watch him play.

That's pretty much all we know about him; in fact this blurred photo is the only image I can find of him, so I suppose it's a case of watch this space and see what happens with the youngster's prospect.