Paper Talk
Southampton are lining up a £10million move for Tottenham striker Harry Kane in January.
Lee Clark is set to become Blackpool's new manager after he was axed as Birmingham boss last week.
Tottenham fans are questioning whether chairman Daniel Levy's appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as manager was wrong - just five months into the Argentine's reign at White Hart Lane.
Axed Leeds boss Darko Milanic could bag £800,000 - despite spending just 32 days as manager. The Slovenian has a contract on paid leave until 2016 with the club and must be "ready to take over the team again if requested by the owner".
West Ham midfielder Alex Song has admitted he may stay at the club beyond this season if they qualify for Europe. The 27-year-old joined the Hammers on loan from Barcelona at the beginning of the season and believes the club could become "one of the best clubs in England".
Premier League clubs including Arsenal and Newcastle have been put on alert after Marseille admitted they might not be able to afford to keep hotshot striker Andre-Pierre Gignac.
Manchester United have a close eye on Ghana's World Cup striker Abdul Majeed Waris.
Mauricio Pochettino will ask Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, to make a new move for the Southampton forward Jay Rodriguez in the January transfer window.
Manchester United's Wayne Rooney is battling to be fit for Sunday's derby with Manchester City after suffering a suspected foot injury in training yesterday.
Newcastle United's White Hart Lane hero Ayoze Perez has claimed La Liga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid wanted to sign him before the forward moved to the North East.
Arsenal have received a massive boost in their pursuit of Borussia Dortmund star Mats Hummels.
Manchester United assistant manager Ryan Giggs watched Trabzonspor striker Abdul Majeed Waris in action against Lokeren in the Europa League last Thursday.
Chelsea striker Diego Costa could be fit for Saturday's Premier League clash with QPR.
West Ham striker Diafra Sakho will discover how long he will be out with a shoulder injury today. The Senegal star has scored six goals in six starts for the Hammers.
Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have been handed a giant boost in their pursuit of PSV Eindhoven starlet Zakaria Bakkali.
Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal is desperate to sign Zenit St Petersburg centre-half Ezequiel Garay.
Celtic boss Ronny Deila last night insisted snapping up John Guidetti for nothing has become a Parkhead priority.
Harry Redknapp has sought an end to his spat with Adel Taarabt, claiming the Moroccan forward has a future at the club, as long as he sorts out his act.
Takeover talks between Crystal Palace and the American businessman Josh Harris are at such an advanced stage that the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers owner is poised to enter a period of due diligence on the club.
Ally McCoist has been assured that his position as manager is safe after the arrival of Mike Ashley as Ibrox powerbroker as he prepares to welcome yet another chief executive.
BBC
TRANSFER GOSSIP
Napoli are ready to open talks to sign 24-year-old Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli in January - just months after he arrived on Merseyside from AC Milan. (Fichajes - in Spanish)
Southampton are planning a £10m bid for Tottenham's England Under-21 forward Harry Kane, 21. (Sun - subscription required)
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino hopes to sign £15m-rated Southampton forward Jay Rodriguez, 25, in the January transfer window. (Daily Telegraph)
Arsenal are favourites to sign Mats Hummels, 25, after Manchester United withdrew their interest in the Borussia Dortmund and Germany defender. (Daily Star)
The Gunners and Newcastle are interested in signing Andre-Pierre Gignac, 28, after Marseille admitted they might not be able to keep prolific France forward. (Daily Mirror)
Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have had their hopes of signing Belgian winger Zakaria Bakkali boosted, as the 18-year-old has refused to sign a new contract at PSV Eindhoven. (Daily Express)
Juventus chief executive Giuseppe Marotta claims that striker Radamel Falcao, 28, would have rather joined his club than Manchester United on loan from Monaco. (London Evening Standard)
Premier League champions Manchester City are among the sides trying to sign Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira, 27. (Daily Star)
Manchester United assistant manager Ryan Giggs flew to Turkey to watch Ghana's World Cup striker Abdul Majeed Waris, 23, play for Trabzonspor. (Daily Mirror)
OTHER GOSSIP
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, 29, could miss Sunday's Premier League derby against City after injuring his foot in training. (Sun - subscription required)
Former Manchester United captain Bryan Robson believes Marouane Fellaini, 27, is finally starting to show his best form at Old Trafford after a difficult first season. (Manchester Evening News)
Former Birmingham City manager Lee Clark is the favourite to replace the sacked Jose Riga at Blackpool. (Daily Express)
Barcelona striker Luis Suarez says in his new book that Liverpool are in good hands with manager Brendan Rodgers because of his tactical expertise. (Guardian)
Retired Manchester United defender Gary Neville - now a member of England's coaching staff and a television pundit - says Chelsea have shown a lack of killer instinct by failing to win either of their Premier League games in Manchester this season. (Sky Sports)
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is facing an injury crisis ahead of Tuesday's Capital One Cup trip to League Two side Shrewsbury. (Independent)
Defender Connor Goldson, 21, has warned Chelsea that Shrewsbury are full of confidence after winning four games in a row. (Shropshire Star)
Shrewsbury boss Micky Mellon says the players have been told not to swap shirts at half-time in Tuesday's Capital One Cup clash against the Premier League leaders - because the club can't afford it. (Sun - subscription required)
Former Newcastle United managing director Derek Llambias has told Rangers fans they should be excited about what new shareholder Mike Ashley has in store for the club. (Herald)
Almost 60% of Crystal Palace fans would welcome a club takeover by American billionaire Josh Harris, according to a poll. (London Evening Standard)
Liverpool striker Rickie Lambert, 32, believes he and Mario Balotelli, 24, can help each other end their goal droughts. (ESPN)
Liverpool assistant manager Colin Pascoe is convinced that Serbian winger Lazar Markovic, 20, will soon start to justify his £20m price tag. (Liverpool Echo)
Manchester City defender Aleksandar Kolarov, 28, has warned his team-mates that they must respect neighbours United or risk defeat in Sunday's derby. (Talksport)
Manchester City midfielder James Milner, 28, does not expect a warm reception from the visiting Newcastle supporters when he faces his former club in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday. (Chronicle)
Premier League clubs have fielded a record low number of homegrown players this season, a survey of Europe's "big five" leagues has revealed. (Guardian)
GLOBAL GOSSIP (sourced by BBC monitoring)
Tottenham are in advanced discussions with former Arsenal and Chelsea star Lassana Diarra but could face competition for the 29 year-old French midfielder from Marseille . (L'Equipe - in French)
Carlos Tevez, 30, is set to join the Argentine squad for the first time in three years after coach Gerardo Martino called up the Juventus forward for the friendlies against Portugal and Croatia. (Tuttosport - in Italian)
Real Madrid will appeal against the three-month ban imposed on Zinedine Zidane for coaching the club's reserves without holding the required qualifications. (Le Figaro - in French)
BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Everton captain Phil Jagielka has admitted to being baffled after a statistical analysis claimed he was the Premier League's fastest player. "This did make me smile," he posted on Twitter.
Former QPR and Manchester City forward Rodney Marsh has criticised the Spanish Football Federation's decision to give Zinedine Zidane a three-month coaching ban for taking charge of Real Madrid reserves without the right qualifications, arguing: "Best player in the world doesn't need a piece of paper!"
Paul Pogba took to Twitter to upload a photograph of himself signing a new contract with Italian champions Juventus. "I want to thank the club for the trust and the tifosi for their support," wrote the France midfielder.
QPR chairman Tony Fernandes poked fun at the public row between manager Harry Redknapp and Adel Taarabt about the midfielder's weight by posting a topless selfie on Instagram.
Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho has posted a photo of himself working out at the French national football centre in Clairefontaine as he steps up his recovery from a thigh injury.
Fulham defender Dan Burn has tweeted his backing for home-town club Blyth Spartans, of the Northern Premier League, after they were drawn at home to Conference club Altrincham in the FA Cup first round.
Derby midfielder George Thorne has given away a guilty secret. "Slowly becoming addicted to Masterchef," he tweeted of the BBC cooking show.
AND FINALLY
Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert has played down claims that Matthew Lowton was involved in an argument with fans after Monday's 2-0 defeat at QPR - by saying that the 25-year-old defender was speaking to his wife. (Daily Mail)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Barry Glendenning
The Rumour Mill has long been a fan of the beautiful and bewitching city of Naples and could recommend far worse places for an unloved and out-of-sorts Liverpool striker to head if he is tired of being scapegoated by an underperforming manager and bullied by various media outlets in the UK. So it was with interest this morning that we discovered Napoli are “ready to open talks” with the club to sign Mario Balotelli and could offer the Merseyside outfit £10m to bring their misfiring Italian striker back to Italy in January. Having paid £16m for Balotelli during the summer, Liverpool could probably afford to take the hit, although his absence may force Rodgers to choose one of his many other underperforming players to publicly blame for the fact that things aren’t going quite so swimmingly for him at the moment.
With his easy charm, winning smile, dark eyes, chiselled jaw-line and generally brooding movie star good looks, you’d think Mats Hummels is exactly the kind of footballer any father would be happy for his daughter to marry. He’s certainly the kind of footballer the Rumour Mill would buy if our Euromillions ship came in and we were blessed with the financial wherewithal to purchase one of our own.
Whether we tasked him with doing the weekly Big Shop, joining us for casual kickabouts in the park or merely scouring various media outlets for spurious speculation concerning his own future and that of his equally high profile peers, we imagine the amiable and obliging Borussia Dortmund centre-half would go about his work with a maximum of efficiency and a minimum of fuss. All of which idle hypothesising makes us wonder why Manchester United have apparently cooled their interest in bringing Hummels to Old Trafford and lasered in on Argentinian defender Ezequiel Garay instead. A long-time target of Manchester United, Garay rejected their advances to join Zenit St Petersburg from Benfica during the summer for £12m. That, however, was before Louis van Gaal had taken over and the Dutchman is apparently anxious to make Garay his next big money signing, despite him having four and a half years left to run on his contract, in a state of affairs that will motivate Arsenal to move for Hummels. With his Borussia Dortmund side struggling in the Bundesliga following six defeats already this season, the 25-year-old may decide to swap one dodgy defence for another by moving to the Emirates for a change of scenery.
The Sun reports that Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is lining up a £10m bid for Tottenham striker Harry Kane, with the Dutch manager having apparently surveyed his current options up front and decided that what he really needs is somebody who isn’t quite as good as them. In other Spurs news, French newspaper L’Equipe reports that Mauricio Pochettino has asked Daniel Levy to make free agent Lassana Diarra his latest acquisition and the Spurs chairman is in “advanced talks” to do exactly that. A former Arsenal defensive midfielder, Diarra could be an unpopular signing at White Hart Lane, unless of course he pitches up and starts playing in well in which case nobody will give two hoots about the finer points of his curriculum vitae.
If you happened to be in Trabzonspor’s Hüseyin Avni Aker stadium for the Turkish club’s 2-0 win over Belgian side Lokeren last Thursday night and couldn’t quite place the familiar looking Welshman with grey temples sitting nearby, you might be interested to learn that it was probably Ryan Giggs ... although we’re not ruling out the possibility that it could have been Rob Brydon or Tom Jones. The Manchester United assistant manager was apparently despatched to the Europa League match to scout 23-year-old Ghana striker Abdul Majeed Waris, who didn’t trouble the scoreboard operator but has played in England before ... with Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, for whom he scored 36 in 21 games as a student.
Zakaria Bakkali is an 18-year-old Belgian winger who is refusing to commit to PSV Eindhoven by signing a new contract, which is good news for Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool, who are all reported to have been giving him the glad eye. Gerard Pique continues to be linked with a move away from Barcelona and José Mourinho has £30m in readies that he’d gladly stump up to secure his services. And finally, having finally realised that an inability to get a striker’s berth in the current Sunderland team means he probably doesn’t have much of a future at the club, Danny Graham is on the verge of joining Championship side Brentford on loan.
Express
Hammers and Saints could crash the Champions League party
CAN Southampton and West Ham stay in the top four and gatecrash the Champions League? That seems a preposterous notion.
By: Mick Dennis
Yet consider the opposition. Of last season's top six, only Chelsea have improved. Some of the others have deteriorated disastrously.
Liverpool lost Luis Suarez and replaced him with Mario Balotelli, which is like sacking Michelangelo and getting a painter and decorator to have a go at finishing the Sistine ceiling.
Arsenal, blissfully happy because they won at the weekend, ignore two inconvenient facts. One: they have fewer decent defenders than even Manchester United. Two: they only won at Sunderland.
Everton and Tottenham have simply reverted to type. The former have started their season ponderously slowly, as they did most years under David Moyes. The latter are once more only consistent at disappointing their fans and leaving their manager looking hapless.
Okay, Manchester City will be able to "concentrate on the Premier League" once they are dumped out of the Champions League. That might not save manager Manuel Pellegrini, but should enable City to finish above the Saints and Hammers.
And with United getting goals in "LVG time", and perhaps spending on a centre-back or three in January, they too must be serious top-four contenders this time after last season's seventh place.
So, realistically, Southampton and West Ham probably won't both grab Champions League places. But one of them might.
If the Saints go marching in, we'll have to praise owner Katharina Liebherr for appointing manager Ronald Koeman and backing his astute purchasing plan.
But it is West Ham's owners who should receive some sort of bravery award for toughing it out last season when things were getting ugly - and not just the football.
Last March, Hammers fans booed when their team was winning, an act so rare that it provoked almost universal censure from outsiders. Manager Sam Allardyce cupped his ears in disbelief. But supporters of the London club insist the grimly awful way which their team went about the task of despatching Hull that day was just the culmination of considerable suffering.
Booing at half-time (when West Ham were 1-0 up) and at the finish (when they had chiselled out a 2-1 win against opponents who had 10 men for 70 minutes) was a reaction to almost two seasons of stultifying football.
The protests continued, despite the fact that Allardyce, who had won promotion in his first season, secured safety in his second. In May, fans hung a "Fat Sam Out" banner outside Sullivan's mansion home.
Once disaffection plumbs that sort of nadir, the manager normally knows the only question is how much compensation he will get on his way out. At Tottenham, for instance, chairman Daniel Levy would have been flexing his trigger finger long before protests got that close to home.
West Ham sit fourth in the Premier League and beat Manchester City on Saturday [GETTY]
But West Ham's Davids, Sullivan and Gold, plotted a unique course through the turbulent waters. They listened to their supporters but also backed their manager. With a move to the Olympic stadium on the horizon (a coup for which the owners should also be commended), they reasoned that Allardyce fitted the vital role of staying in the Premier League.
Yet, sympathising with the fans, Sullivan and Gold tasked Allardyce with playing a more expansive, passing game.
So at this point in a rare story, we need to laud the manager for accepting that brief and for bringing in an old friend, Teddy Sheringham, to sharpen attacking play. Insiders report that Sheringham's impact and influence have been significant.
He has been helped enormously by new strikers who have hit the ground running, so the owners should get yet more homage for splashing the cash.
It is not normal to praise owners, because there are plenty of bad ones about. The managerial churn at Fulham and Leeds and the implosion of Birmingham (interestingly, since the Davids left St Andrews) come to mind.
But if West Ham join the Champions League Goliaths, it will be because of two Davids. Perhaps supporters will express their gratitude by putting bunting up outside their mansions.
OS
Diafra's dreaming big
Diafra Sakho says West Ham United are going flat out to prolong their rich vein of league form
Diafra Sakho is scoring goals for fun right now but reckons it should come as no surprise, given the quality that surrounds him at West Ham United.
A second-half header, the winner as it turned out, against Manchester City on Saturday extended his goalscoring streak to seven goals in seven starts, but the 24-year-old has no plans to let it end there.
While Barclays Premier League points remain his prime concern, Sakho is keen to hear rather more of his new song, even if 'he scores when he wants' poses a linguistic problem or two.
"I didn't understand it at the beginning, but I asked Ricardo Vaz Te and he translated it for me," Sakho explained. "I'm really touched by them saying that all the time. It makes me happy to hear that and gives me even more motivation to score. I'll always try to give them that, if I can."
Not that Sakho is short of motivation at present, nor of goals, for that matter. His supreme form has, in part, fired the Hammers to four wins in five and the Senegal striker wants the Club to make the absolute most of their purple patch.
"The run goes on for all of us, the whole team," he added. "We know that after Saturday there's still a long, long way to go - as I always say - but we're trying to bag all the points that we can.
"We're trying to keep it going and that's really pleasing. My teammates on Saturday inspired me and so I dream big. When it ends, I'll accept that. But we're going to slog away to continue it.
"Saturday was great. To play at home in front of our fans, that spurs us all on to aim high and we'll carry on right until the end so that it will be the stuff of dreams for all the fans who came to watch us every week."
Compatriot and fellow summer signing Cheikhou Kouyate - himself just back from injury - is revelling in Sakho's success and gladly gatecrashed the interview to shower praise on the No15.
"I feel good, that's a big win and my man, who can't stop scoring and continues to make us happy," Kouyate confirmed.
"I am really happy for him and I hope, for him, that he's going to continue like that. We owe Diafra a thank you! It's a great win and we mustn't forget also to thank the fans, what we've done on Saturday is thanks to them too.
"Diafra's unreal, that's his level. He continues to surprise me and surprise everyone. I know very well that he can do better still and he's going to carry on scoring!"
Modest as ever, Sakho shrugged off the plaudits and instead claimed the goals are par for the course in such talented company.
Ironically, the Senegalese duo so nearly combined to lethal effect, with Sakho curling Kouyate's lay-off just over the angle of post and bar. The one that got away, said Sakho, though he is vowing to stick it away next time and on this form, he probably will.
"When you play with great players that's what happens - you have to score goals. That's normal.
"The one I really wanted to score was from the pass that Cheikhou gave me. That would have been the one people would have been talking about all week long. Next time, for sure!"
