The German squad T-Mobile appears to be among the candidates to take over one of Astana's young hopes, Luis León Sánchez. According to El Faro de Murcia, the Spaniard aspires to ride for the German team as of 2007, although he still has an effective contract with Active Bay until 2008. The Spanish newspaper contacted a T-Mobile official last Wednesday, but he declined to comment on the matter. T-Mobile is in the middle of a deep reconstruction after letting go of Oscar Sevilla, Jan Ullrich and Andreas Klöden, among other riders, and seems keen to sign an up-and-coming talent to leave behind Operación Puerto.
Luis León Sánchez had several important offers from Discovery Channel, Caisse d'Epargne and T-Mobile. Johan Bruyneel talked to the young Spaniard before the beginning of the Tour de France, and Sánchez seemed willing to change to Discovery Channel, but, at the same time T-Mobile and Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears' offers persisted. However, his contractual commitment until 2008 with Active Bay, present manager and owner of the Astana ProTour team, still holds, and after the company was not sold to Astana, manager Manolo Sáiz is working on getting new sponsorships.
