Thursday’s news and transfer rumour gossip.
Chelsea are ready to raid Real Madrid for Manchester United target Gareth Bale, 25, next summer – (Daily Express)
Chelsea and Manchester United have been told they will need to pay £19m for out-of-favour Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane, 21, who is looking for a move in January – (Daily Express)
Manchester United are set to test Atletico Madrid’s resolve in January by bidding £20m for defender Miranda, 30 – (Daily Star)
Ron Vlaar, 29, has given Manchester United and Arsenal fresh hope of signing him after his agent confirmed the defender is likely to leave Aston Villa – (Daily Mirror)
Inter Milan have opened discussions about taking Arsenal striker Joel Campbell, 22, on loan with a £7m option to make it permanent –(Daily Mirror)
Manchester United midfielder Anderson, 26, is willing to rejoin former club Gremio on a free transfer in January – (Daily Star)
Arsenal have opened negotiations with Roma over a January transfer for striker Mattia Destro, 23 – (Daily Star)
Liverpool are preparing a £30m move for Porto striker Jackson Martinez, 28 – (Daily Express)
West Bromwich Albion defender Chris Baird, 32, is unlikely to leave The Hawthorns any time soon despite being linked with a loan move to Fulham – (Birmingham Mail)
Valencia have dismissed suggestions that Alvaro Negredo, 29, could still return to City at the end of his season-long loan spell with them – (Manchester Evening News)
England Under-21 manager Gareth Southgate has revealed that Tottenham defender Eric Dier, 20, told him he wanted to concentrate on breaking into the Spurs team at centre-half, rather than play at right-back for the Under-21s – (Daily Telegraph)
Former Manchester United forward Denis Law predicts Louis van Gaal will have the Old Trafford club challenging for the Premier League title and Champions League qualification every season – (Daily Express)
Former England manager Terry Venables believes the number of foreign players in the Premier League helps English talent as it forces them to maintain the highest standards to get into club sides – (Daily Star)
Nigerian forward Brown Ideye, 26, wants to prove he is not a flop at West Brom, despite failing to score a league goal since his £9m summer transfer from Dynamo Kiev – (Daily Telegraph)
Wales manager Chris Coleman says he wants to avoid club-versus-country rows by sending reports of his players’ medical and physical analysis to the likes of Real Madrid, after Real Madrid midfielder Gareth Bale, 25, was injured on international duty – (Wales Online)
Premier League clubs splashed out a whopping £220.8m on new strikers during last summer’s transfer window, with mixed results to say the least – (Daily Mail)
Chelsea are set to reveal a huge annual profit of close to £20m with a turnover of around £320m – (Daily Mirror)
Tottenham are facing a new takeover bid — this time from another American consortium backed by one of the world’s biggest finance companies – (London’s Evening Standard)
Striker Alexis Sanchez, 25, believes he still has to improve despite an impressive start to his Premier League career – and says Arsenal have the “quality stars” needed to challenge for the title – (London’s Evening Standard)
Midfielder Michael Carrick, 33, will seek new contract talks at Manchester United as he enters the last six months of his current deal –(Manchester Evening News)
Liverpool strikers Mario Balotelli, 24, Fabio Borini, 23, and Rickie Lambert, 32, have gone 1,000 minutes without scoring – (Metro)
Fiery Roy Keane was at the centre of a bizarre hotel bust-up tonight after a fan was taken to hospital – (Daily Mirror)
Real Madrid star Sergio Ramos has hit out at Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa for missing the upcoming Spain games – (Daily Star)
Manchester United are closing in on the signing of Memphis Depay after PSV conceded that the winger will be sold if his £18million asking-price is met – (Daily Express)
Tottenham are trying to beat Arsenal to the signature of Barcelona star Dani Alves by making a £7million transfer offer – (Metro)