Tuesday's gossip column

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will spend up to £55m in the January transfer window to boost his side's title challenge, with £40m-rated Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero and Monaco midfielder Jerko Leko top of his wish list and Ajax forward Luis Suarez, Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi and Everton midfielder Jack Rodwell seen as back-up options.(The Sun) 
Chelsea are worried Manchester City will gazump them with a bid for Aguero and want to push through a deal for the Argentina international in the next few days. (The Times) 
Manchester City striker Craig Bellamy and goalkeeper Shay Given are considering quitting the club in protest over the sacking of former manager Mark Hughes. (The Sun) 
New Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini will hope to beat Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool to the signing of Palermo centre-back Simon Kjaer and his other targets include Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini, Rubin Kazan left-back Cristian Ansaldi, Osasuna right-back Cesar Azpilicueta, Sporting Lisbon centre-back Daniel Carrico, Sampdoria forward Antonio Cassano, AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso and CSKA Moscow midfielder Milos Krasic. (Daily Mail) 
Tottenham are ready to sell Robbie Keane to Celtic in January but want goalkeeper Artur Boruc as part of the deal. (Daily Mirror) 
Or, Keane will stay at White Hart Lane and remain club captain - despite angering Harry Redknapp by organising the club's Christmas party in Dublin behind the manager's back. (The Sun) 
Blackburn hope to re-sign James Beattie and will offer Jason Roberts to Stoke City in a swap deal for the striker, who began his career at Ewood Park. (Daily Mirror) 
Middlesbrough boss Gordon Strachan is planning a swoop for Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford. (Daily Mirror) 
Roma have joined Barcelona, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Sunderland, Fulham, Wigan, Birmingham and German side Hoffenheim in the race to sign £5m-rated Crystal Palace forward Victor Moses. (Daily Mail) 
Blackburn and Everton will battle it out to sign Tottenham's Scotland full-back Alan Hutton for £4m in January. (Daily Express) 
West Ham hope to hijack Celtic's £2.5m swoop for Tours FC striker Olivier Giroud, who has also been targeted by Monaco, Toulouse, Valenciennes and Montpellier. (Daily Record) 
Former Chelsea striker Mateja Kezman has been offered to West Ham by French club Paris St Germain, who are looking to offload the Serbian frontman. (Daily Mirror) 
Matthew Upson could leave West Ham in January after admitting he is unsure whether he will still be at Upton Park at the end of the season. (Daily Express) 
Portsmouth boss Avram Grant has set up a loan deal for Benfica defender Miguel Vitor, who will move to Fratton Park in January if the club's transfer embargo is lifted. (Daily Mirror) 
Wolves boss Mick McCarthy is lining up a £1m move for Birmingham midfielder Lee Carsley, 35, who has been told he can leave the Blues and is also wanted by Ipswich. (Daily Express)
Celtic hope to beat Hull, Bolton, Burnley and Newcastle to the £1m signing of Sheffield United defender Matthew Kilgallon.(Daily Record) 
Barnsley are close to signing Ivory Coast defender Steve Gohouri on loan from German side Borussia Monchengladbach until the end of the season. (Daily Star)
Hearts will hold talks with Charlton striker Izale McLeod this week about taking the former England Under-21 star on loan in January.(Daily Record) 
Bournemouth and Notts County both want to sign Bangor City striker Chris Sharp, the son of former Everton and Scotland striker Graham Sharp. (Daily Star)

OTHER GOSSIP

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has drawn a line under the row over his squad's secret Christmas party after the 16 players involved each agreed to make a £20,000 donation to the club's Tottenham Hotspur Foundation charity. (Daily Mirror) 
Or, the 16 Spurs player were told to pay £5,000 each - pulling in a total of £80,000 for good causes. (The Sun) 
A furious Redknapp read the riot act to his players over the party incident and they have agreed to make a donation to charities which could amount to £1m.(Daily Star) 
The meeting between Redknapp and his players was frank but amicable, with them apologising for their conduct but pointing out they could not be fined as they had not breached the terms of their contracts and the Spurs boss agreeing for them to make donations totalling £300,000 to a charity. (The Guardian) 
Or, Redknapp chose not to fine his players and instead ordered them to pay £2,000 each - about the same amount they paid for their secret night out in Dublin - to a charity. (The Independent) 
Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani, who is still to start a Premier League game for the Reds following his £20m summer move from Roma, has flown to Belgrade to receive treatment on his calf injury from controversial 'placenta doctor' Marijana Kovacevic. (Daily Mail) 
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has been told he will have to sell players before he can add to his squad in the January transfer window and plans to offload Ryan Babel, Andriy Voronin, Andrea Dossena and/or Philipp Degan to raise funds. If buyers cannot be found, Benitez will be restricted to making loan signings. (The Guardian) 
Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, who succeeded Roberto Mancini as Inter Milan boss 18 months ago, is tipping the Italian to be a big success at Manchester City.(The Sun) 
Mancini hit City's players with a double training-sesssion on Tuesday, just 24 hours after meeting them for the first time. (Daily Express) 
There is deep-seated anger in the Manchester City squad over Mark Hughes's sacking, especially among the the club's British and Irish players, despite chief executive Garry Cook's claims that there is no player rebellion at Eastlands. (Daily Telegraph) 
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has won his battle with new Blues owner Carson Yeung over the club's transfer policy in January and has been told the Blues will only sign players the manager approves. (Daily Mirror) 
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has ruled out making any signings in January to ease Manchester United's defensive injury crisis.(The Guardian) 
Dundee United boss Craig Levein will officially be named Scotland's new manager on Tuesday. (The Daily Record) 

AND FINALLY

Ipswich boss Roy Keane walks his dogs at midnight to avoid bumping into angry Town fans.(Daily Star)