Friday's gossip column

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Real Madrid plan to make a stunning £90m bid for Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney - not to mention wages of £250,000 a week for five years - and also have England boss Fabio Capello in their sights.(The Sun) 
United are keeping a close eye in James Milner's contract negotiations at Aston Villa as Reds boss Sir Alex Ferguson prepares to reshape his Old Trafford squad this summer. (Daily Telegraph) 
Manchester United are monitoring £9m-rated Panathinaikos midfielder Sotiris Ninis.(Daily Mail) 
Italian giants Juventus will seek to tempt Liverpool's under-pressure manager Rafael Benitez with a deal worth £16m over four years, plus a spending kitty of £70m.(Daily Mail) 
Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic is a £15m target for AC Milan, who believe the Blues will bid for Inter Milan full-back Maicon this summer.(Daily Mail)
Barcelona are plotting a raid on Arsenal this summer, with full-back Gael Clichy - not midfielder Cesc Fabregas - their top target.(Daily Mail) 
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has been given the green light for a major summer spending spree after chairman Peter Hill-Wood revealed more money "than for a long time" was available - thought to be around £25-£30m. (Daily Star)
Fabregas and Wenger have been left incensed by Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood's claim that Fabregas "would not even get in" the Barcelona team.(The Sun) 
Young Gunners midfielder Jack Wilshere has told Wenger he wants to stay on loan at Bolton if he cannot get first-team football at the Emirates Stadium.(The Sun) 
Everton and Tottenham sent scouts to run the rule over Paris Saint-Germain's Turkey striker Mevlut Erdinc in his side's 3-1 win over Bordeaux last weekend. (Daily Mail) 
Sunderland look to be losing the battle to sign Kevin Kuranyi after Dinamo Moscow offered the Germany striker £85,000 a week to sign for them. (Daily Mail)
Wigan midfielder Paul Scharner has put a question mark over his part in boss Roberto Martinez's fight for survival after storming out of the DW Stadium after being substituted suring Wednesday's 0-0 draw with Portsmouth. (Daily Mirror) 
Stoke boss Tony Pulis is ready to reward defender Abdoulaye Faye with a new contract.(The Sun)

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OTHER GOSSIP


A former Syria international claims to be close to buying Liverpool. Talks between businessman Yahya Kirdi and Anfield owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks are alleged to be at "an advanced stage". Former Celtic captain Andy Lynch says he has been brought on board by the Gulf-based millionaire.(Daily Mirror) 
Liverpool striker Fernando Torres could have played his last club game this season after being forced to undergo another scan on his injured knee. (Daily Star) 
Greater Manchester Police are to impose a large-scale alcohol exclusion zone and increase patrols in Manchester city centre in an effort to prevent Saturday's derby suffering a repeat of the disturbances that marred January's Carling Cup semi-final first leg at Eastlands. (Daily Mail) 
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his City counterpart Roberto Mancini will be told to keep a lid on their players' derby-day goal celebrations in a warning from Manchester police.(Daily Mail) 
City striker Carlos Tevez and United defender Gary Neville, two of the central figures in the acrimony that has surrounded this season's Manchester derbies, will be under police orders not to do anything that could incite crowd trouble on Saturday.(The Guardian) 
Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo has announced he will take legal action against a Spanish television program, "categorically" denying accusations he held wild parties before and after the defeat to rivals Barcelona.(Daily Mirror) 
Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon claims he is fit to return from a groin injury and play his first game of 2010 when Spurs host Chelsea on Saturday.(The Sun) 
MK Dons manager Paul Ince is facing the sack in a drastic cost-cutting move.(Daily Mirror) 
The Premier League has moved to introduce tough new measures to flush out potentially "unfit" club investors in the wake of growing criticism over poor ownership and spiralling debt. (The Times) 
Broadcaster ESPN will consider supporting radical innovations to the FA Cup including moving the latter rounds to midweek and scrapping replays.(Daily Telegraph) 
Roma boss Claudio Ranieri, the former Chelsea manager, is the new favourite to become the next Italy coach with Marcello Lippi set to leave his post after the World Cup.(Daily Mirror) 
Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier is being lined up a the new Wolsburg boss, with Markus Babbel as his assistant. (Daily Mirror) 

AND FINALLY

Sunderland striker Darren Bent is to wed Sir Alex Ferguson's former daughter-in-law Nadine Ferguson, who separated from Sir Alex's son Darren in 2007. Nadine announced the news on social networking site Twitter.(The Sun) 
Manchester City winger Adam Johnson is ready to miss out on his summer holiday - in the hope he can book a dream ticket to the World Cup with England. (Daily Star) 
Hull boss Iain Dowie has hit out at the "iPod generation" of players for hiding behind their "big earphones" and forgetting what has got them to where they are.(Daily Mirror)
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Thursday's gossip column

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Tottenham will make a £6m move for Manchester City midfielder Michael Johnson in the January transfer window. (The Sun) 
Birmingham will join the race to sign Emile Heskey if the 31-year-old England striker quits Aston Villa to boost his World Cup hopes.(The Sun) 
Sunderland will make a move for Middlesbrough's England Under-21 winger Adam Johnson, 22, in January. (The Sun) 
Stoke manager Tony Pulis is ready to make an opening £1.5m bid for Huddersfield's highly rated young goalkeeper Alex Smithies. The Terriers rate the stopper at about £4m.(Daily Mirror) 
Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill is interested in signing Barnsley's teenage striker Reuben Noble-Lazarus. The 16-year-old became the youngest Football League player at 15 years and 45 days in a game against Ipswich in October 2008. (The Sun) 
Arsenal are leading the chase for 14-year-old Montenegro midfielder Nikola Zvrko. Chelsea and Barcelona are also interested in the youngster. (Daily Mail) 
Sheffield United manager Kevin Blackwell is weighing up whether to bring in former Wigan striker Henri Camara, who is a free agent, to boost his injury-hit squad.(Daily Mirror) 

OTHER GOSSIP

Rafael Benitez's job as Liverpool manager is safe for now because the club cannot afford to sack him. The Spaniard has four and a half years to run on the £4.5m-a-season contract he signed in March, so sacking him could cost about £20m.(Daily Mail)
Former Germany manager Jurgen Klinsmann, who was approached a couple of years ago to succeed Rafael Benitez at Liverpool, has reiterated his desire to manage in the Premier League. (The Sun) 
Former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri has admitted he would love to come back to England and manage in the Premier League again. (Daily Mirror) 

AND FINALLY

Germany's World Cup players have been warned to expect to wear bullet-proof vests if they venture away from the team hotel at the 2010 finals in South Africa.(The Daily Telegraph)
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