Paper Talk
Jose Mourinho is finally set to axe Oscar this summer - and reignite Chelsea's interest in West Ham forward Enner Valencia.
Manchester City face competition from Italian side Napoli if they are to make Borussia Dortmund's outgoing manager Jurgen Klopp their new boss.
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is keeping checks on QPR assist king Matt Phillips.
Louis van Gaal has revealed he has been working on new summer signings for Manchester United since the turn of the year.
Chelsea look to be on the verge of completing a move for Brazilian wonderkid Nathan.
Cash-rich Newcastle must spend, spend, spend this summer if they want to restore any Premier League pride, according to John Carver.
Liverpool are preparing to offload Italy striker Mario Balotelli to finance a move for Manchester United loanee Radamel Falcao from Monaco.
West Ham are considering a summer move for Swansea manager Garry Monk, with current boss Sam Allardyce's future still uncertain.
Jurgen Klopp's shock decision to leave Borussia Dortmund has pushed Mats Hummels a step closer to joining Manchester United.
Mike Ashley has been urged to splash the cash this summer after it emerged Newcastle are sitting on a £34m stockpile of cash.
Louis van Gaal wants Danny Ings to form a central part of his Manchester United rebuilding this summer.
Napoli boss Rafa Benitez admits he tried to sign Andre Schurrle from former club Chelsea.
QPR striker Charlie Austin is set to be handed an England call-up by Roy Hodgson for the summer matches against Slovenia and Republic of Ireland.
Fabio Capello says John Terry is still England's best defender.
Gary Neville claims Manchester United are only three players away from challenging for the title.
England right-back Nathaniel Clyne is set to leave Southampton for Manchester United in a £17million summer deal.
Manchester Under-21 boss Patrick Vieira is a candidate to replace Manuel Pellegrini if the club decide to sack the Chilean at the end of the season.
BBC
TRANSFER GOSSIP
Chelsea are set to sell Brazil's Oscar, 23, with Juventus interested in the midfielder, while West Ham forward Enner Valencia, 25, and Atletico Madrid defender Diego Godin, 29, could be brought to Stamford Bridge. (Daily Mirror)
Arsenal may have to offer a four-year deal to Manchester City midfielder James Milner, 29, if they want to sign the out-of-contract England midfielder in the summer. (London Evening Standard)
Liverpool are preparing to offload Italy striker Mario Balotelli, 24, to finance a move for 29-year-old Manchester United loanee Radamel Falcao from Monaco. (Daily Star)
England right-back Nathaniel Clyne, 24, is set to leave Southampton for Manchester United in a £17m summer deal. (Daily Express)
Manchester United have also joined Liverpool in the race to sign 22-year-old Burnley striker Danny Ings. (Daily Mail)
Swansea City have been linked with a move for Schalke defender Christian Fuchs. The Austria captain, 29, is out of contract in the summer. (Wales Online)
Stoke City are set to sign Barcelona B forward Moha, 19, when his deal expires in the summer. (Sport.es)
OTHER GOSSIP
West Ham are considering a summer move for Swansea manager Garry Monk, with current boss Sam Allardyce's future still uncertain. (Daily Star)
Manchester City face competition from Italian side Napoli if they are to make Borussia Dortmund's outgoing manager Jurgen Klopp, 47, their new boss. (Daily Mirror)
However, City's Under-21 boss Patrick Vieira, 38, is also a candidate to replace Manuel Pellegrini if the club decide to sack the Chilean at the end of the season. (Times - subscription needed)
Bayern Munich's Pep Guardiola, 44, is still Manchester City's number one managerial target, though, should Pellegrini exit. (Guardian)
Former Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert, 45, is in the running to replace Klopp at German giants Borussia Dortmund, with whom he won the 1997 Champions League as a player. (Birmingham Mail)
Manchester United's turnaround has been partly down to some inspirational speeches from captain Wayne Rooney. (Manchester Evening News)
Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas, 33, wants to end his career at the Bernabeu. (AS)
QPR striker Charlie Austin, 25, is set to be handed an England call-up by Roy Hodgson for the summer matches against Slovenia and Republic of Ireland. (Daily Mail)
BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Manchester Thunder netball team received support from England captain Wayne Rooney ahead of their Superleague semi-final. The Manchester United striker has shared their "Is This The Way To Amarillo" promotional video - which features ex-United players Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes - on his Twitter account.
AND FINALLY
Mario Balotelli is receiving plenty of votes in Liverpool's 'Player of the Year' poll on their official website - after it was hijacked by Manchester United and Arsenal fans. (Daily Mail)
Tottenham wish a happy birthday to winger Aaron Lennon, 27, who is currently on loan at Everton, through their Twitter account - one day too early. (Metro)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Jacob Steinberg
Another day, another round of stories about Mario Balotelli leaving Liverpool. Brendan Rodgers has had enough of the Italian’s sluggish play and lack of movement up front. He wants Radamel Falcao there instead. Erm.
Chelsea want to turn themselves into Atlético Madrid and will continue that transformation by signing Diego Godin.
José Mourinho has also been very impressed with Enner Valencia’s astonishing haul of five goals for West Ham this season, so much so that he wants to buy him and sell Oscar to Juventus. Valencia will start six league games for Chelsea, scoring the fourth goal in a 4-1 win over Aston Villa in September, and will be loaned to Besiktas in January.
So Valencia might want to think twice about leaving West Ham, not least because they have identified their next manager: Swansea’s Garry Monk.
You thought it was going to be Jürgen Klopp, didn’t you? Well it’s not going to be Jürgen Klopp. He might be going to Manchester City, although they’re umming and aahing about whether they should hire him, not that it really matters given that the German is probably just going to end up at Real Madrid anyway.
Ilkay Gundogan could also be on his way out of Borussia Dortmund. City like the cut of his jib.
Manchester United also like the cut of Gundogan’s jib, but they have other priorities, namely Burnley’s Danny Ings and Southampton’s Nathaniel Clyne, theirs for £17m. Southampton will make themselves feel better about losing Clyne by signing Matt Phillips from Queens Park Rangers.
Arsenal have been told that they will have to give James Milner, 29, a four-year deal if they want to sign him, so that should be the last we hear of that rumour.
Express
EXCLUSIVE: Diafro Sakho reveals the family torment behind his £3.5m move to West Ham
DIAFRA SAKHO has revealed his torment at having to leave behind his two-year-old daughter in France to come to London to support his entire family, ensuring none of them ever has to go hungry again.
By Matthew Dunn
The West Ham striker’s £3.5m move was a dream come true – except his partner was committed to her job in Metz and Sakho felt it only right their daughter stay with her.
It was a poignant mirror of how he grew up in very different circumstances, regularly watching his father head off on the dusty road to a foreign land in a bid to scrape together enough of a living to support himself, his two brothers, his sister and his mother. Sadly, he was not always successful.
“Of course my daughter misses me and I miss her,” Sakho said. “But we are on Skype all of the time and I try to chat to her. We are still both adapting – both her and me – to the situation. She is not that far away and she does come to visit frequently, which makes me very happy of course.
“But when I lived with my mother when I was growing up, my father did exactly the same thing. He went off to earn money for the family.
“My dad was away from home all the time. He was a bus driver between Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. I effectively grew up without my father.
“My dad would come back once a month or two but as a family we accepted it and it did not mean he did not love us. On the contrary, he did all of this because he did love us. That was the path that he showed us. He helped us a huge amount and we were always grateful for that.
“Nevertheless, there were mornings when we would wake up and there would not be any food to eat. When I was growing up and my mum did not have any money, I would often tell her that I had eaten with friends to make her feel better. I did not want to see her cry.
“But we knew that better days would lie ahead – perhaps when dad came back home with more money.
“Now at least I can give my mother the life that she was not able to give to me when I was growing up, I am trying to make her happy now.
“Unfortunately, my dad passed away at the age of 53 and that was the example he has left me. Now he is not here, I feel that responsibility for the family.
“I have two brothers and a sister, my mother and my daughter to support. Obviously the choice to come to West Ham was both sporting and financial and I am just happy I am able to support the family by doing this.”
While football was to be Sakho’s salvation, as a youngster he was too poor even to own a proper ball.
“When I was growing up we used to make a ball out of socks, rolling them up together and playing with that,” he said. “It was great. We were just happy to play.
“Now, whenever I go back to Senegal, I enjoy giving people footballs and boots, and also donating kit to local clubs.”
It was his love of his former country that makes him rail at criticism that he deliberately snubbed Senegal when a back injury prevented him from flying out to the Africa Nations Cup.
West Ham were fined £71,000 when he recovered enough to play in the FA Cup against Bristol City and the ill-feeling appears to be rumbling on as Sakho was not selected for last month’s friendly in Ghana.
On the plus side, it means he has been able to focus on club form. As West Ham have struggled in the second half of the season, so his own goalscoring ratio has dropped off slightly. Nevertheless, 12 goals in 26 games has been enough to spark talk of a new contract.
Moreover, now he has secured his family’s future, Sakho can approach negotiations with a slightly different attitude.
“Money is no longer the objective,” he said. “The aim is for me to make sure there is food on the table morning, afternoon and night. Of course, everybody wants more money. When you have 50, you want 100; when you have 100, you want 200.
“But as I came from a family with nothing, that sort of thing just is not important. I am able to provide for my family and I am very proud that I am able to look after them and that is what really motivates me.”
Star
EXCLUSIVE: West Ham considering move for Swansea boss Garry Monk
WEST HAM are weighing up a summer move for Swansea boss Garry Monk.
By David Woods, Chief Football Writer
The Hammers have yet to start talks with current manager Sam Allardyce about a new contract.
And despite claims by both the club and the former Bolton and Blackburn chief himself, the nearer the end of the season gets with no sign of negotations even starting the greater the chances of the Hammers needing somebody new at the helm.
They have previously been linked with David Moyes, but 36-year-old Monk has emerged as a serious candidate after flourishing with the Swans this season.
The Welsh club have equalled their record Premier League points tally with six games to go, having reached 47 with a 1-1 home draw with Everton on Saturday.
Monk took over as interim player-manager from Michael Laudrup in February 2014 and secured the club's survival in the top flight.
He signed a permanent deal in May which still has two seasons to run.
But the Hammers are aware Monk is not on big wages and his contract has a comparatively small release clause.
Sunderland are also interested, plus a number of teams in Europe, with Monk emerging as one of the brightest young English managers around.
Clubs have been impressed by the fact he has performed well on a limited budget, with the Swans picking up 18 points in the 12 matches since they sold star striker Wilfried Bony to Manchester City for £28m in January.
C&H
Irons kill Valencia/Chelsea chit chat
Enner Valencia is this morning again being reported as a Chelsea target as a replacement for Oscar.
This tale of course first emerged in December and despite it attracting yards of coverage was eventually found to be baseless.
A West Ham senior source said then – and has repeated again during an early morning call from this website – “The agents seem to be warming up a little early this spring!
“In January there was a huge amount of talk in the background but at no stage was there anything close to an offer.
“Until somebody puts something on the table there’s nothing to talk about. You can never rule anything out of in until that happens but Enner is a highly valued West Ham player,
“As has been made clear by David Sullivan himself the club is looking to strengthen up front , not be getting into selling.”
The story this morning claims that Chelsea are keen on the Ecuadorian along with Aaron Cresswell but our source said: “We have made it clear Aaron is locked into a long term deal with an improvement in the pipeline.
“Enner too has no get outs whatsoever in his deal. Everything is entirely in our hands and we are building for the future and Olympic Stadium era.”
HITC
Report: Leeds United and West Ham tracking Bonfils Kabanda
Leeds United and West Ham United have both been credited with interest in Bonfils Kabanda.
By Dan Coombs
West Ham United and Leeds United are both tracking young prospect Bonfils Kabanda, report Tuttomercatoweb.
Kabanda is 21-years-old is attracting interest from Italian sides Piacenza and Modena, the same report claims.
The 21-year-old is currently playing in Italy already, with Serie D side Sangiovannese. TMW report that both West Ham and Leeds have made their interest known in recent weeks.
Kabanda is an attacking midfielder who made his name several season ago at the FIFA under-17 World Cup with Rwanda.
He was with French side AS Nancy at the time, moving on loan to French Ligue 5 side FC Thaon, but was since released and made the move to Italy.
If Leeds or West Ham signed Kabanda there would be big questions as to whether he would be capable of making the jump.
Leeds have had a hit and miss transfer policy from Italian football under owner Massimo Cellino, with goalkeeper Marco Silvestri a success, but January loan signing Edgar Cani failing to prove to head coach Neil Redfearn that he is good enough to play.
