Ibrahim Affelay who never really jelled at Barcelona having been injured for long spells in his two seasons departs for FC Schalke on loan with an option to buy. He will reunite with his old PSV Eindhoven coach, Huub Stevens. The German club sent Juan Manuel Jurado to Spartak Moscow which means Affelay is expected to fulfill the attacking midfielder role.
There was some buzz about Arsenal pursuing Affelay but with the Gunners trying to hold onto Theo Walcott and offloading a number of others, this was just going to be noise. The other name bandied about is Jesus Navas who is excellent but suffers from crippling separation anxiety away from Sevilla.