Chelsea are poised to sign Asier del Horno from Athletic Bilbao, ending their search for a left-back. The Spain international was at Stamford Bridge yesterday to complete the formalities of his move to the Premiership champions.

Del Horno's imminent arrival follows several weeks of uncertainty about whether Jose Mourinho would purchase the Spaniard or Milan's Kakha Kaladze, who seems to have missed out on a transfer to Chelsea because his club were asking £10 million for a player with only one year left on his contract.

Chelsea also signed a left-sided player for the future yesterday, taking the 17-year-old Jonas Elmer from Grasshopper Zurich.

The Blues have not given up hope of capturing Steven Gerrard after it emerged the player would not start talks over a new Liverpool contract until next week. Liverpool had initially hoped to open discussions with Gerrard's representative, Struan Marshall of SFX, this week but those talks now seem unlikely to begin until the England midfielder returns to Melwood for pre-season training on Monday.

In the interim, Real Madrid have made firm enquiries as to the player's availability. They have been twice knocked back, but Chelsea, who thought their hopes of signing the 25-year-old had been dashed following the Merseysiders' Champions League victory last month, will await developments on the contract negotiations with interest.

Arsenal will hold further talks with Stuttgart during the next 48 hours about signing Alexander Hleb, and the clubs hope to agree a fee for the winger by the end of the week.

Arsene Wenger is determined to bring the Belarus international to Highbury to strengthen the right side of his midfield and Stuttgart are willing to sell if the price is right. The German club are likely to do business if Arsenal offer about £8 million for Hleb and could also demand add-ons to be paid according to how the 24-year-old progresses with his new employers.

Attempts to resurrect Lee Bowyer's transfer from Newcastle to Birmingham have collapsed because the player apparently had fears about his reception from the city's Asian population.

David Sullivan, Birmingham's co-owner, last night explained: "We thought Steve Bruce had talked Lee round but he was genuinely worried that one night there would be 10 Asians waiting outside his house ready to knock seven bells out of him."