There were a lot of controversies around the Astana team in the late spring after an infamous internal letter criticizing Vincenzo Nibali issued by Alexandre Vinokourov leaked out and information about split in the squad between Kazakh and Italian fractions were revealed. The Kazakh team bounced back with podium result in the Giro courtesy of the new Italian revelation Fabio Aru and an impressive demonstration of strength by Nibali at the Tour de France, and now they are rumored to sign another hot name on the transfer market, Warren Barguil.

The talented 22-year old Giant-Shimano rider caught a spotlight by his outstanding performance in last year’s Vuelta a Espana highlighted by two victories taken on mountain stages and immediately became regarded as another French grand tour hope alongside Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) or Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr).

However, while the latter two animated the action during opening two weeks of the Tour de France, fighting for a podium spot and leadership in young riders classification, Barguil was left home by his Dutch squad, oriented exclusively on Marcel Kittel’s stage victories.

With the future of Giant-Shimano being currently as uncertain as Barguil’s prospects to excel in his home grand tour while staying in the squad, it comes as no surprise that the 22-year old Frenchman was a hot name on a transfer market, and according to French media Astana is closest to signing him for 2015 season.

Even without the French revelation in the squad, demands of two Italian stars Nibali and Aru seemed to be extremely hard to reconcile, with the former openly targeting both the Giro and the Tour next season. With Barguil on board situation may become even more complicated, and in such circumstances Aru’s rumored departure despite being contracted until the end of 2016 season appears to be even more probable.