Paper Talk
PSG coach Laurent Blanc has accused Chelsea striker of being the king of "provocation."
Louis van Gaal's job is safe even if Manchester United fail to make the Champions League.
Falcao's Manchester United career hit a new low last night as he drew a blank for the reserves.
Middlesbrough have slapped in an extraordinary £12million offer for Blackburn striker Jordan Rhodes.
Les Ferdinand says QPR will be powerless to keep Charlie Austin if they drop out of the Premier League.
Roberto Mancini will push to sign Yaya Toure - if Inter Milan can get their finances in shape.
Malky Mackay will stay as Wigan boss - if they avoid relegation.
Vincent Kompany was dropped after an alleged dressing-room meltdown during Manchester City's defeat at Liverpool.
Louis van Gaal's fate as Manchester United manager will be decided in the next month.
Yaya Toure wants to leave Manchester City to test himself in Italy, according to Roberto Mancini.
Tottenham are increasingly confident of keeping Hugo Lloris - even if they miss out on the Champions League.
West Ham will face a battle to land David Moyes if they part company with Sam Allardyce.
Liverpool are keeping tabs on Lazio midfielder Felipe Anderson.
Newcastle are eyeing a £5million move for Levante midfielder Victor Camarasa.
PSG coach Laurent Blanc last night warned his players to expect dirty tricks from Chelsea striker Diego Costa.
Radamel Falcao's nightmare spell at Manchester United hit rock-bottom last night when he was forced to turn out for the reserves.
Sunderland have opened talks with Wes Brown over a new 12-month contract.
Cristiano Ronaldo might have become the all-time top scorer in European club competition on Tuesday night but he left the Bernabeu angry at Real Madrid's dreadful moment of form and vowing not to talk publicly again until the end of the season.
Radamel Falcao's miserable career at Manchester United reached a new low on Tuesday night when he was dumped in the reserves by manager Louis van Gaal.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is set to miss England's Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania with a hamstring strain.
Manchester United will stick by Louis van Gaal even if he fails to clinch a return to the Champions League - and will be given a £150million-plus transfer war chest to complete his overhaul of the squad.
David Luiz says Chelsea wanted to keep him in the summer but he no longer felt at home.
Had he been in charge at the time, Jose Mourinho said Nemanja Matic would never have left Chelsea.
Wolfsburg boss Dieter Hecking insists Kevin De Bruyne will remain at the Bundesliga outfit for at least another season.
BBC
TRANSFER GOSSIP
Wolfsburg boss Dieter Hecking says that Manchester United target Kevin De Bruyne will remain at his current club for at least another season. The 23-year-old attacking midfielder signed for the German side from Chelsea for a reported £18m in January 2014. (Daily Express)
Liverpool and Paris St-Germain are both still interested in signing Roma's 24-year-old playmaker Miralem Pjanic. (Calciomercato - in Italian)
The Reds have also been linked with 21-year-old Lazio midfielder Felipe Anderson. (Daily Mirror)
Promotion-seeking Middlesbrough have made a £12m offer for Blackburn striker Jordan Rhodes, 25, if he can help them into the Premier League on an initial loan spell. (Sun - subscription required)
Arsenal will take the chance to assess 24-year-old centre-back Aleksandar Dragovic when his Dynamo Kiev side take on Everton in the Europa League on Thursday ahead of a possible £15m summer bid. (Metro)
Tottenham have invited representatives of Paris St-Germain midfielder Adrien Rabiot to the club's Enfield training ground in an attempt to convince the 19-year-old to switch to north London. (Inside Futbol)
Palermo striker Paulo Dybala, who has scored 12 goals in 25 games for the Sicilian club this season, has been valued at £28.5m by the club's president. The 21-year-old has been linked with Barcelona, Juventus, and Manchester United. (Goal.com)
Newcastle are planning a £5m summer move for Levante's 20-year-old midfielder Victor Camarasa. (Daily Mirror)
Barcelona still have hope of signing 23-year-old Porto right-back Danilo as a long-term replacement for Dani Alves, despite reports that he has already agreed a six-year-deal with rivals Real Madrid. (ESPN)
Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin, 22, who has been linked with Liverpool, has admitted it would be difficult to turn down a move to Inter Milan. (Talksport)
Nottingham Forest are close to signing Swansea winger Modou Barrow on loan. The 22-year-old is known to Dougie Freedman after he went on a trial at the Forest manager's previous club Bolton. (Nottingham Post)
OTHER GOSSIP
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany was dropped for Wednesday's win over Leicester after a dressing-room confrontation with midfielder Fernandinho in the defeat by Liverpool three days previously. (Daily Mirror)
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal will be given another £150m to revive the club's fortunes, with the club's hierarchy thought to be reluctant to make another change following the early departure of Van Gaal's predecessor David Moyes. (Daily Express)
Manchester United striker Radamel Falcao, who has scored only four goals this season, was made to play for the club's under-21 team in an attempt to improve his match fitness. He did not score in the 1-1 draw and was taken off after 72 minutes. (Daily Telegraph)
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has revealed his players, unlike Wednesday's opponents Paris St-Germain, will not receive bonus payments for progressing to the Champions League quarter-finals. (Daily Star)
Liverpool vice-captain Jordan Henderson says he is just one of an array of strong candidates to succeed Steven Gerrard as skipper. (Liverpool Echo)
Newcastle midfielder Jonas Gutierrez says he does not expect to be shown any favour by manager John Carver after returning to the first team since recovering from testicular cancer. (Evening Chronicle)
BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Stoke forward Bojan Krkic is stepping up his recovery from a knee ligament injury, sharing a video of himself jogging on an underwater treadmill and getting some space-age-looking treatment.
Saving his legs after the FA Cup win over Manchester United, Arsenal defender Calum Chambers chances his arm on a golf simulator, posting pictures on Instagram.
Chelsea winger Mohamed Salah, on loan at Fiorentina, seems to have attracted an admirer, finding his name carved in a door in Florence.
AND FINALLY....
The chance to meet Wigan boss Malky Mackay or West Ham manager Sam Allardyce could be yours for a reduced £139 after tickets for an evening with either went on sale on a voucher website. (Metro)
Southampton's academy has proved the most profitable in Europe over the last three years, producing talent that has subsequently been sold for more than £90m. Swansea were the next most profitable, raising more than £30m by selling players including Joe Allen and Ben Davies. (Daily Mail)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Toby Moses
To suggest that David Luiz looks like Sideshow Bob is nothing new. But the Rumour Mill would like to go out on a limb and suggest that there’s a touch of the Sideshow Mel – Bob’s clowning replacement – about the Brazilian defender’s compatriot and PSG team-mate, Marquinhos (albeit without the funky hair and bone).
As such it should come as no surprise, that much like a more dapper Krusty the Clown, José Mourinho wants to bring in his own Sideshow Mel to replace serial (title-bid) killer Sideshow Bob. It may have taken a year, but the links to PSG’s £40m defender keep on growing, and while Manchester United may harbour an interest Chelsea are ready to swoop. Unless of course this is just the usual pre-match tittle tattle, designed to upset one of your opponent’s key players. Surely not?
If United are beaten to the PSG defender then they will turn to one of Mourinho’s old flames, Raphaël Varane. Louis van Gaal thinks the Real Madrid centre-back is the man to sure up his porous defence, and the Frenchman would set the club back the suspiciously precise figure of £39.4m. Of course, Chelsea are on the case too, viewing Varane as another option to replace John Terry’s ageing limbs.
And the Blues aren’t done there. After pictures emerged of real life Simpsons star Lionel Messi enjoying a spot of dinner with old Barcelona pal Cesc Fàbregas, some took the opportunity to put two and two together and get £100m record transfer deal. With far-fetched gossip like that how are the readers to believe anything? Won’t somebody think of the children?
PSG, anxious not to be left out of such scuttle-butt, are lining up an £8.5m move for César Azpilicueta. The Mill thinks the Parisians could have tried a bit harder if they were attempting to unsettle the Stamford Bridge defence ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League showdown.
In Liverpool, a slimmed-down Mayor Joe Quimby has sent his minions over to Italy to bring back a bit of Brazilian talent. Reports on the continent say that Anfield scout Paul Goldrick was in Rome to watch Felipe Anderson, an attacking midfielder with seven goals and eight assists in 23 matches this season for Lazio. Of course, Brendan Rodgers won’t have it all his own way, with Manchesters City and United, and Chelsea, all weighing up a £20m bid. If Anderson slips through Liverpool’s fingers they’ll return to Rome for Roma’s Miralem Pjanic.
Manchester City may have more pressing matters to attend to though, with tittle-tattle emerging that their captain Vincent Kompany was involved in a furious bust-up with Fernandinho at half-time in their defeat to Liverpool. The squabble was apparently so bad that Manuel Pellegrini felt the need to drop Kompany for their next game, a comfortable win against Leicester. Rumours that the row was caused by an unreturned Simpsons Season Six box set could not be corroborated by the Mill at time of going to press.
Meanwhile, Arsène Wenger, disappointed by Santi Cazorla’s new shorn locks, is giving Milan’s very own spiky-haired play-maker the eye, with Stephan El Shaarawy reportedly of interest to the collector of nimble-of-feet attacking midfielders.
El Shaarawy is out with a broken metatarsal, but injury has never stopped Wenger in the past, so expect an Arsenal bid imminently. “My goal is to get back as soon as possible. The interest of Arsenal surely gratifies me but my goal is to return to Milan and do well at Milan,” said the Italian attacker, presumably not followed by a rendition of the 90s classic Do the Bartman.
And if that doesn’t work Wenger will instead turn to Aleksandar Dragovic. Forget that Dynamo Kyiv’s Austrian plays in an entirely different position – at centre-back - North London’s Principal Skinner needs a player with spiky vertiginous Bart-like hair to act out his Springfield role-play, and Dragovic has proved in the past that he could fit the bill.
Mirror
West Ham eye David Moyes as manager if Sam Allardyce departs Upton Park this summer
By Adrian Kajumba
Former Man United boss has edged ahead of Hammers hero Slaven Bilic in the thoughts of the club's hierarchy - but can they convince him to quit Spain?
West Ham United will face a battle to land their number one target David Moyes - if they part with Sam Allardyce in the summer.
Real Sociedad coach Moyes has edged ahead of former Hammers defender Slaven Bilic, currently in charge of Turkish side Besiktas, in the thoughts of the Upton Park hierarchy.
They will hold end of season talks with current boss Allardyce to determine his future. If he leaves, the club would prefer to appoint a boss with previous Premier League managerial experience.
However, the Hammers will have an uphill task to tempt former Everton and Manchester United boss Moyes back to the Premier League.
The Scot, who worked with Hammers' influential chief scout Tony Henry at Goodison Park, is keen to stay in Spain and continue developing his Real Sociedad side.
Moyes took over in November with Sociedad deep in trouble but has steered them up to mid-table, notching a famous win over Barcelona along the way.
The 51-year-old is hoping to build on the work he has done in recent months next season, having signed a contract until June 2016.
And that would leave the Hammers having to go back to the drawing board if they find themselves searching for a successor to Allardyce.
OS
The Big Interview - Alex Song
Alex Song says his peak fitness and form are returning ahead of his return to former club Arsenal on Saturday.
The midfielder was given permission by manager Sam Allardyce to remain at Chadwell Heath to train with West Ham United’s Development Squad while the first team were away in Dubai.
Alex and Nene trained with the Development Squad for four days to improve their fitness
Having worked hard alongside young professionals and scholars for four days, the No30 is feeling back to his best and is ready to tackle the club he represented for six seasons between 2006 and 2012.
West Ham TV caught up with the 27-year-old ahead of his return to the Emirates.
Alex, you stayed behind to work on your fitness, so can you please talk us through your last few days?
AS: “Yes, I think it was really good for me to work on my fitness and stay here to work. I feel I needed to work because I didn’t have a proper pre-season.
“When I was playing, I was feeling a little tightness in my muscles and that’s why I asked the Gaffer if I could stay here and work a little bit harder before they come back.
“I need to come back at the top of my form. I have trained hard, so I’m very happy because the way we have trained here with the Under-21s, they are doing very well. I have worked very hard to come back to my level.
“It’s good news that my fitness statistics are improving. That’s why I said to the Gaffer to stay here to work hard. Now I’m in the good way and I’ve improved a lot over the last few days.
“I want to come back to my fitness, because the gap was a little bit longer between matches. I was very happy when the staff said I am coming back in a good way, because that’s the way I want to be. That’s very good news for me and for the Club as well.”
Presumably, with your best fitness comes your best form?
AS: “Of course, of course. I know what I can do when I am 100 per cent, but sometimes in football it is like this. I know I didn’t do the pre-season, so that’s why it’s a little bit hard today, because I didn’t do it properly last summer.
“That’s why I need to work extra hard and do some extra work to come back at the top level. With the way I’m going now, I’m very happy. I want to show the team what I can do.”
You and Nene both trained with the Development Squad and your presence seemed to lift the intensity of the session.
AS: “Yes, he is a great player. We know Nene and he has played at a high level. For him to come here and train with the Under-21s is good for them to learn from as well.
“It is very important, because when I was this age I was listening every time to the players with experience, because at Arsenal I had people like Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires and I learned a lot.
“Today, they have the opportunity to have senior players with them and they can learn from us and it’s good. It was a very good training session, very hard and with very good intensity.
“We tried to show them that to play at the top level is not easy and they have to work very hard. I’m very happy with the way they are working.”
Talking of Arsenal, you must be relishing Saturday’s return to the Emirates?
AS: “Yes, it is very important because I know Arsenal. They are one part of my life and, because I went there when I was 17, I always say it is my family.
“Today, though, I am focused on West Ham and I want to make the fans happy. I want to play this game and give my best to help the team to win and come back to winning.
“I know this is a special game for me, but that’s football and I have to take all the emotion out and just try to play my game and play the best football I can to help the team to win.”
Arsenal are in superb form, aside from their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first-leg defeat at home to Monaco…
AS: “I think Monaco how you want to play when you play in the Emirates. I know this stadium very well and I know when you play with Arsenal it’s very hard.
“The best thing to do is to try to be together, defend together very well and when you have the opportunity to go on the counter attack, you have to do it very well like Monaco did it.
“If you want to go to Emirates and try to play you will not have any chance to win the game there because this stadium is very hard to play in. You have to stay together very compact and not give them any room, then take the opportunity on the counter attack.
“If we do this very well like Monaco did, then we can get a good result there.”
We have performed well against the best teams this season, so there is no reason why we cannot do so again at Arsenal?
AS: “We have shown a lot of things this season as a team, especially when we play against teams at the highest level like Manchester City and Liverpool or Tottenham. We’ve done very well and we need to continue to improve in this way.
“We can play better and hopefully this game on Saturday will be a very good test for us. It’s been a long time since we won a game in the league, so we must try to come back and try to win or get one point there.
“It will not be easy, but if we’re all together as one and have the fans behind us, we can get a good result there. Everything is possible in football and we just need to keep believing and trying hard on the pitch.”
