quote:
Wednesday's gossip column
BREAKING GOSSIP
Marseille left-back Taye Taiwo could still join Manchester City this month, according to his agent.
"If Man City offer the right money, Marseille will sell - I'm quite sure," Taiwo's agent Victor Macdonald told Nigerian radio station Brila FM."
Marseille's main shareholder Robert Louis-Dreyfus says Chelsea "absolutely do not want" to let Didier Drogba leave, after the French club failed in an attempt to re-sign the striker. (L'Equipe, 1540 GMT)
South Africa international midfielder Kagiso Dikgacoi will not be able to complete his move to Fulham this month as he does not have enough caps to qualify for a work permit. (Setanta.com, 1525 GMT)
Fiorentina striker Giampaolo Pazzini, who was a target for Everton, has joined Sampdoria. (Reuters, 1520 GMT)
Bolton are having talks with Fulham's Jimmy Bullard over a £5m transfer. (Sky Sports, 1505 GMT)
Andrei Arshavin's agent says there could be "some movement early next week" over the Zenit St Petersburg player's planned move to Arsenal. (Thisislondon.co.uk, 1505 GMT)
Wigan's Kevin Kilbane has opened talks with Hull and the Tigers hope to have him on board for their game with Arsenal at the weekend. (Press Association, 1450 GMT)
Adriano's agent Gilmar Rinaldi says he will not be leaving Inter Milan for Tottenham or anyone else. (Sportmediaset.it, 1425 GMT)
Nancy striker Marc-Antoine Fortune claims he is on the verge of joining West Brom on loan, with an option for a permanent move if the Baggies avoid relegation. (football365.fr)
Newcastle are interested in taking Rennes' Cameroon international midfielder Stephane Mbia and Toulouse full-back Albin Ebondo on loan with an eye on permanent moves in the summer. (Press Association, 1305 GMT)
Manchester City will not allow Valeri Bojinov to be used as a make-weight in any possible deal to sign Craig Bellamy and Scott Parker from West Ham. (Sky Sports, 1215 GMT)
Kaka's agent says he would not go to Manchester City purely for the money. "He would never do something like Robinho, who, just to earn more, contented himself with a solution that was not a winning one," said Diogo Kotscho. (Corriere dello Sport, 1200 GMT)
Fulham's South Korean forward Seol Ki-Hyeon, who has not played since October, is in talks over a loan move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal. (Press Association, 1150 GMT)
Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp met representatives of former Leeds and Everton midfielder Olivier Dacourt in Milan on Tuesday night. (Setanta.com, 1105 GMT)
Charles N'Zogbia says he wants to know how much Newcastle value him at so he can leave the club. "The club want to sell some players, so why not me? Lyon, make a move!" said the French midfielder. (Aujourd'hui Sport, 1015 GMT)
Former Brazil international Denilson should tie up a deal with Bolton on Wednesday, says his brother. "They even gave him the key of the closet at the training ground," he said. (Gazetaesportiva.net, 0745 GMT)
TRANSFER GOSSIP
Two names are on every back page today - Kaka and Manchester City. The majority verdict seems to be that they will offer £100m with weekly wages of around £500,000. (Various)
Middlesbrough are ready to offer Burnley £2m for Chris Eagles. (Daily Express)
Inter Milan could hijack Arsenal's bid for Zenit St Petersburg striker Andrei Arshavin. (Daily Star)
Real Madrid could offer Wigan Javier Saviola, plus £15m for winger Antonio Valencia. (Daily Star)
Tottenham are keen to sign Inter Milan striker Adriano on loan but failed in a bid to swap Heurelho Gomes for AC Milan's reserve goalkeeper Christian Abbiati. (Daily Mail)
A loan swap deal taking Tottenham's Jermaine Jenas to Everton in return for Leighton Baines has fallen through. (Daily Mail)
Giovani Dos Santos and Hossam Ghaly are also on their way out of White Hart Lane. (The Sun)
Newcastle interim boss Joe Kinnear has told owner Mike Ashley they need to spend money in the transfer window or their season will suffer, as he is so short of fit players. (The Sun)
Arsenal are considering a double swoop for Fulham pair Jimmy Bullard and Brede Hangeland. (The Sun)
Birmingham could move for West Ham's Calum Davenport after his £3m move to Bolton collapsed. (Daily Mail)
Sunderland will listen to offers for Liam Miller and Daryl Murphy, with QPR believed to be interested in both of them. (The Sun)
Huddersfield want to sign Birmingham striker Kevin Phillips as a player-coach. (Daily Express)
Leeds want Derby's out-of-favour defender Claude Davis. (Daily Star)
Hungarian goalkeeper Janos Balogh fears his stay at Hearts could be over by the weekend. His six-month loan deal is up after Saturday's encounter with Kilmarnock (Daily Star).
Croatian star Tomislav Dujmovic has claimed he snubbed a move to Celtic because he was fed up being messed about. The 27-year-old midfielder claims he had thrashed out a deal with Celtic to move from FC Amkar. (Daily Star)
Celtic will scrap with Dinamo Zagreb for £3m-rated Anas Sharbini. (Various)
OTHER FOOTBALL GOSSIP
Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has put Didier Drogba's future in doubt by leaving the striker out of the squad for the FA Cup third round replay against Southend. (Daily Telegraph)
Liverpool are set to offer Sami Hyppia another 12-month contract because they have doubts over Daniel Agger's Anfield future. (Daily Mail)
Dietmar Hamann's career is in doubt after the Manchester City player was ruled out for three months with a foot injury. There are fears Hamann, who is out of contract in the summer, may have ruptured a tendon. (Daily Telegraph)
Chesterfield's Derek Niven is back in training after recovering from testicular cancer. (Daily Star)
Former Northern Ireland boss Lawrie Sanchez says he is "very interested" in the vacant Norwegian national team coaching job.(Daily Record)
Arminia Bielefeld midfielder Kevin Kerr, who was born in Germany and lived there most of his life, has rejected an approach to join the German youth team set-up to stay eligible for Scotland. (Daily Record)
AND FINALLY
Winger Cristiano Ronaldo, who wears number seven at Manchester United, has trademarked CR9 in Portugal. (The Sun)
Referee Howard Webb apologised to Birmingham after deflecting the ball in the build-up to Wolves' winning goal in the teams' FA Cup tie on Tuesday. (Daily Mirror)