AC Milan: Arsenal Captain Cesc Fabregas Could Join the Rossoneri Very Soon

AC Milan could be making the biggest move of the summer in football as they appear to be ahead of European champions Barcelona for Arsenal captain and Spanish international Francesc Fabregas.

The Italian champions are looking to bolster their midfield in an attempt to win the UEFA Champions League next year as they aim to move within one title of Real Madrid for most Champions League triumphs all-time.

The 24-year-old has been the talk of a move away from North London for a year now, with Barcelona, the club he played his youth years with, being the likely place of arrival.

However, it appears that after such an amazing year, during which the Catalan giants won both La Liga and the UEFA Champions League, Milan have surprisingly shown up as the frontrunners.

According to Tuttosport, Milan are set to make a large bid for Fabreagas, including a €30 million monetary offer along with two players from a list that reportedly includes Rodney Strasser, Alexander Merkel, Urby Emanuelson and Alberto Paloschi. Of these four, it is most likely that Urby Emanuelson and Arsene Wegner's dream youngster Alexander Merkel.

Emanuelson was bought from Ajax in January and has only made a handful of appearances and has netted only one goal.

Merkel, the 19-year-old German wonderkid has shined for Milan in the few appearances he has made on the senior level this year. During his appearances in England in the Emirates Cup in August, he impressed Wegner when Milan played Arsenal. His play has certainly warranted the notice of other clubs and it would make sense for him to move.

Fabregas is seen as a possible replacement for Milan on the left side of the midfield. The names of top players like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Kwadwo Asamoah, Javier Pastore, Marek Hamsik, Ganso, Erik Lamela and several others have been tossed around, many of them seen by the media as smokescreens to cover Milan's true intentions.

Whether this move for Cesc is a smokescreen or the conclusion of all the uncertainty Milan's intentions have caused is not fully known, but the addition of Fabregas would immediately make Milan a team to beat for the Champions League next year.