The Bundesliga Transfer Rumour Mill: Maicon, Di Maria and more

It's been yet another day of busy transfer speculation around the Bundesliga, including some big named players being touted as possible arrivals.

Douglas to FC Köln? (Source: Kicker)

With the departure of former Billy Goats defender Kevin Wimmer confirmed, German newspaper, kicker, have reported that Köln have expressed their interest in Dynamo Moscow defender Douglas.

Douglas has previous experience in the Europa League where he played for FC Twente before making the move to Russia, two years ago.

According to Transfermarkt, the 27-year old is valued around £7.5million, this season the Dutch defender has made 29 appearances scoring three times.

Rafael Van der Vaart in talks with Real Betis (Source: Various Spanish Media outlets)

Newly promoted side Real Betis are hot on the Hamburg man, whose contract runs out this summer and will not be extended.

The Spanish media say that the move would make sense as Van der Vaart’s mother is Spanish.

The Dutchman is no stranger to Spain, as the 32-year-old played for Spanish giants Real Madrid between 2008-2010, winning the Spanish cup.

Di Maria to return to Manchester United (Source: Independent)

Argentine Angel Di Maria was reportedly on his way to Munich to sign for Bayern Munich following a shaky first season at the Red Devils.

However, it has come to light in newspaper ‘the Independent’ that the midfielder will return to Manchester following the Copa America.

The news started to filter through after Mario Götze’s poor showing against Bayer Leverkusen and that the World Cup winner had an argument with manager Pep Guardiola who was angry after his sides loss to Roger Schmidt’s side.

But, both Götze and Guardiola said that the reports were false but the Di Maria rumours still loomed as the former Real Madrid man was being kept out of Louis Van Gaal’s side during the latter part of the Premier League season.

Wolfsburg track Porto’s Maicon (Source: Kicker)

Initially reported by a Portugese Newspaper, it was announced that Wolfsburg are in talks with the Brazilian, he currently has a contract with Porto up until 2017 but Klaus Allofs is looking to reel him in before the full back’s price increases.

A rough price tag for the 27-year old is around €10million, however Klaus Allofs came out earlier this week saying that they will not spend big this summer due to heavy Financial Fair Play regulations.

Werder trio ready to be sold, but who are the buyers? (Source: BILD)

Firstly, Eljero Elia spent the majority of last season at English Premier League side Southampton under fellow Dutchman Ronald Koeman. The Premier League side finished strong bagging a Europa League place for the 2015/16 season. Bremen are looking to sell Elia as they want to save a salary of €2.8million

However, Koeman decided not to take the purchase option of Elia which stood at €5.5million. It isn’t all doom and gloom for the tricky winger as some Premier League clubs – who remain unnamed – are still interested in the player.

Also on the ‘to go list’ for Einchin is Nils Petersen, formerly of Bayern Munich Petersen joined Bremen in 2013. The 28-year old played thirty five times in the Bundesliga for Bremen but with the managerial change at the Weserstadion it saw Petersen move to Freiburg.

It was a dream start for Petersen who got a hat trick on his debut for die Breisgau, but it soon turned to dismay for Petersen and his side Freiburg as they had their hearts broken on the final day of the season seeing them fall into 2. Bundesliga following relegation.

Relegated Freiburg had the option of selling Petersen but rejected the chance to bag an attacker in his prime for €1.5million. Now that he has returned to Bremen, Einchin is hoping to get €4million for the attacker if he goes. As it stands, Petersen has two years left on his contract.

The final item in the Werder sale is Ludovic Obraniak, the Polish international has been at Bremen since 2014 and last season the attacking midfielder was sent to Turkey to play for Çaykur Rizespor.

With the €1.5million fee option hanging over his head, it wasn’t taken by the Turks, the Turkish side were ultimately relegated from Super-Lig this past season.

Obraniak still has one year left on his current contract at Werder, the 30-year old ruled “We will find a solution, I still have one year remaining on my contract."