Wednesday's gossip column

BREAKING GOSSIP

Barcelona star Lionel Messi expects Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas to join the Catalan giants in the near future. The duo played together in the Blaugrana youth team before Fabregas left for north London.(Daily Express) 

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TRANSFER GOSSIP

England's footballers will sleep in special altitude tents to help their bodies acclimatise to conditions above sea level in South Africa for this summer's 2010 World Cup. (Daily Mail) 
Manchester United could make a shock £14m move for midfielder Stephen Ireland from rivals Manchester City.(Caughtoffside.com) 
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini will not change his training methods - despite claims from star striker Carlos Tevez that the players are "not happy" with his regime.(The Guardian) 
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists captain Cesc Fabregas will not be leaving the club amid speculation the midfielder is set for a return to Barcelona, where the 22-year-old started his career.(Daily Mail)
West Ham have joined Wolves and Newcastle in the race to sign Tottenham midfielder Jamie O'Hara, who is currently on loan at Portsmouth.(Daily Mail) 
Stoke and Blackburn are leading the chase to sign Cardiff winger Joe Ledley. (Daily Mirror) 
Portsmouth defender Marc Wilson is being targeted by Newcastle as Magpies boss Chris Hughton seeks to boost his squad after clinching promotion to the Premier League. (Daily Mirror) 
Hughton is also considering a move for Swindon's Charlie Austin after sending scouts to check on the 20-year-old striker in Monday's 1-1 draw with Exeter.(Daily Mail) 

OTHER GOSSIP

Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon has given England coach Fabio Capello a World Cup scare by breaking down in training, further delaying his return to first-team action following a groin injury.(Daily Mirror) 
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has 10 days to decide whether he wants to join Italian giants Juventus. (The Sun) 
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes striker Robin van Persie would have been talked about in the same bracket as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney if his season had not been ruined by injury.(Daily Mail) 
Former reserve coach Willie McStay is back at Celtic Park to help caretaker manager Neil Lennon after quitting as manager of Ujpest. (Various) 
Former Celtic manager Tony Mowbray, assistant Mark Venus and coach Peter Grant have made little progress in negotiating compensation payments of nearly £1.4m following their sacking in March. (Daily Mail) 
Celtic hosted their lowest-ever Scottish Premier League crowd - less than 28,000 - for Tuesday's 2-1 win over Motherwell. (Daily Record) 
The attendance at Celtic Park for Tuesday's win over Motherwell was actually a paltry 15,000. (The Times) 

AND FINALLY

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson took time out from his fight to win the Premier League title by drawing a self portrait of what resembles a clown to help music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins.(Daily Mirror)
www.bbc.co.uk