Football Gossip

TRANSFER GOSSIP


Striker Didier Drogba is on his way out of Chelsea - after he was revealed to have opened talks with Inter Milan about a January switch to Italy. (Various)
The move could be facilitated in a £30m swap deal with Brazilian striker Adriano. (Daily Mirror)
Arsenal and Tottenham are bracing themselves for a £5m tug of war to land Wolves' 21-year-old Welsh international goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey. (Daily Star)
Charlton caretaker manager Phil Parkinson is set to sign Derby left-back Jay McEveley, 23, on a month's loan. (Daily Mail)
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has put Sevilla's 21-year-old Argentine centre-back Federico Fazio on his January transfer wish-list. (Daily Mirror)
Wigan boss Steve Bruce is to switch his striker search to Reading's Kevin Doyle, with the Republic of Ireland star rated at £8m. (Daily Mirror)
Manchester City and Real Madrid are locked in a battle for the signature of £16m-rated Real Zaragoza striker Ricardo Oliveira. (The Sun)
Manchester City are plotting a £100m-plus transfer spending spree in the January transfer window with Chelsea and Arsenal defenders John Terry and Kolo Toure on the shortlist, along with Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. (Daily Telegraph)
Newcastle United interim manager Joe Kinnear has told Charles N'Zogbia that he will not allow him to leave the club in January and is furious with reports linking the left-sided player with Paris St-Germain. (Various)
OTHER FOOTBALL GOSSIP

Nottingham Forest are ready to offer former Newcastle and Bolton boss Sam Allardyce a dramatic return to football with current manager Colin Calderwood on the brink of the sack. (Daily Mail)
Liverpool striker Fernando Torres claims he wants to stay at the club for life. (Various)
Chelsea's academy director Frank Arnesen faces the sack before Christmas and is already thinking about a new post as the next Denmark manager. (The Sun)
Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has told John Carew he is no longer an automatic first-choice pick as a striker. (Various)
Everton's Australian midfielder Tim Cahill has indicated that he is likely to leave the club when his contract expires to finish his career in his native land. (The Independent)

AND FINALLY

Liverpool's Fernando Torres says he thought manager Rafael Benitez's first approach to sign him was a hoax. "When Rafa phoned me on my mobile, at the start I was asking myself if this was some person imitating him," he admitted. (The Sun)
Former Sunderland boss Peter Reid, now manager of the Thailand national team, was given a treat by his new charges to remind him of home: a special viewing of James Bond film Quantum of Solace. Unfortunately it had been dubbed into Thai, which Reid cannot understand. (Daily Express)

WIGAN TO CUT THEIR LOSSES
Thanks to Fabio Capello's realisation that a striker who doesn't score goals is not quite as ridiculous as it sounds, Emile Heskey's stock has rarely been higher.

The assumption is that Heskey will leave Wigan for shinier pastures in the summer, but ever the keen businessman, Dave Whelan might not let it get to that stage.

The Wigan owner is quoted in The Times as saying: "Emile is out of contract in the summer, but he doesn't want to sign a new one at the moment.

"It could cost us between ฃ2 million and ฃ4 million if that goes on to next summer, so we will have to see what January brings."

Interesting stuff. The Times is far too genteel to speculate on who might stump up the required readies, but The Daily Mirror is not nearly so subtle. They claim both Manchester City and Liverpool (not again, surely) want him to make their existing forwards look good

ANOTHER SERB FOR SIR Alex
Brief line in The Daily Mirror this morn, who claim that Manchester United will sign whipper snapper Adem Ljajic from Partizan Belgrade, once the child has his first cap for his country.

This will of course take Fergie's creche of talented Serbs up to two, after a deal for Zoran Tosic was agreed last week when the winger was granted a work permit.