Gudjohnsen on road to Barcelona from Chelsea in £8m deal

Chelsea confirmed yesterday that they have given Eidur Gudjohnsen permission to travel to Spain to discuss a move to Barcelona.

Gudjohnsen, 27, will reportedly join the European Cup holders for around £8m on a three-year deal after becoming surplus to requirements following the Premiership champions' signing of Andrei Shevchenko from Milan. The Iceland international would replace Henrik Larsson at the Nou Camp after he returned to the Swedish club Helsingborg.

The Barcelona midfielder Deco, who has frequently been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge, has said that he will not be moving to London. "Why would I want to leave?" he said. "I am happy at my club and in the city, people love me and I have just won a Champions' League and a Primera Liga title."

Elsewhere, Bayern Munich are ready to test reports that Sir Alex Ferguson and Ruud van Nistelrooy have settled their differences by making an offer for the Manchester United striker. The Dutchman's Old Trafford career looked over after an altercation with Ferguson at the end of last season.

Milan and Tottenham Hotspur are among the clubs who have been linked with Van Nistelrooy, with United privately saying that they would want to recoup at least £15m of the £18.5m they paid PSV Eindhoven. "We will do nothing behind the backs of United," the Bayern president, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, said. "First we must find out if he really is on the market."