Adu to Monaco: Loan With An Option to Buy?

According to several French press reports, AS Monaco boss Jerome de Bontin is still working to bring Benfica's Freddy Adu to his club. The arrangement reportedly being discussed is a loan with an option to buy since Monaco was not prepared to pay the €4 million Benfica was asking. Observers think the deal is close to done and could be announced within the near future.

Meanwhile up in Austria for pre-season training with his team, Hertha Berlin's Bryan Arguez continues to see significant playing time with the first team due to injuries of veteran defenders. Saturday in Stegersbach against FC Copenhagen, Arguez continued to prove his value to the team in a 0-0 draw. Based on his performance, coach Lucien Favre voiced his satisfaction with Arguez (and four others), that "I'm very happy with these players."

Hertha faces its first real challenge of the season on Thursday in the home leg of a UEFA Cup qualification match against Moldavian side FC Nistru Otaci. The road leg will be played on July 31st in Chisinau before the team heads off to a preseason tourney in Mallorca where they will face Newcastle United and Steve Cherundolo and Sal Zizzo's Hannover 96. Barring injury or a drop in form, Arguez is expected to start each of these early matches in central defense.

Today, Danny Szetela and his Brescia teammates head up north to the Alto Adige region to start their training camp. There, coach Serse Cosmi will put the team through its paces before playing a series of pre-season matches. According to Brescia Oggi, Szetela stands a good chance to earn more playing time this season if he can continue to show improvement.