Arnesen plotting Chelsea raid

Frank Arnesen is set to visit London on Tuesday to recruit a number of Chelsea reserves to join him at Hamburg.

The sporting director worked at Stamford Bridge until last season, when he moved to Hamburg and brought with him five players from the Premier League outfit. And now, he is hoping to make further additions.

“I have three or four appointments,” Arnesen told Bild. “We do not have much money. For something to happen, the players must be good.”

Last season, Arnesen signed Jeffrey Bruma on a one-year loan, and made permanent moves for Gokhan Tore, Jacopo Sala, Michael Mancienne and Slobodan Rajkovic, who cost a combined four million euros.

And in addition to bringing in more Chelsea reserves, Arnesen hopes to exercise an option to extend Bruma’s loan spell for another year.

“I do not want to wait until June 1 to have clarity,” he said. “I know that there will be no decision now, but I would like to have a sense of how it looks.”

Arnesen also reiterated that negotiations to sign the Rene Adler had not broken down, despite several days of silence since the Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper completed his medical.

“This is the normal procedure for a player of his calibre. I have no problem if it takes three or four weeks,” the Dane said.

Adler, whose contract with Leverkusen is set to expire at the end of the season, has long been linked with a free transfer to Hamburg, having fallen out of favour with Robin Dutt’s side during an injury spell.

Finally, Arnesen expects to extend the contract of Maximilian Beister in the coming days after successful talks with the attacker, who has spent this season on loan at Fortuna Dusseldorf.

“He would be very happy to extend. I do not think it will take long for him to make a decision.”

The 21-year-old Beister has scored 10 goals and provided 12 assists in 24 appearances this season in the Bundesliga.2.

He has attracted interest from Borussia Moenchengladbach, but according to Arnesen, is prepared to commit his future to Hamburg.