Football rumours from today's newspapers

• Liverpool will make an improved offer of £18m for Aston Villa midfielder Stewart Downing.
  (Daily Telegraph)


• Meanwhile, the Merseysiders are to offer Lyon £12m for Brazilian winger Michel Bastos as boss Kenny Dalglish refuses to increase his bid for Downing.
  (Caughtoffside)


• Aston Villa want to tie up a deal for Wigan winger Charles N'Zogbia as they seek a replacement for Downing.
  (Daily Mail)


• Championship outfit Southampton have laughed off Arsenal's £6m bid for winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - the Saints say they will not do business for less than £12m.
  (Daily Star)


• Manchester United are set to make an offer of £10-12m cash plus two players for Tottenham star Luka Modric.
  (Caughtoffside)


• Spurs lead a host of clubs in the hunt for 'the new Luka Modric', Hadjuk Split player Ante Vukusic.
  (Daily Star)


• Tottenham must fork out £20m to sign striker Pablo Osvaldo from Espanyol.
  (The Sun)


• Spurs midfielder Niko Kranjcar is waiting to discover if Italian side Fiorentina have made a bid for him - the Croat remains unhappy at his club's £12m asking price.
  (The Sun)


• Arsenal want £15m-rated Valencia winger Juan Mata - but to play alongside Samir Nasri rather than to replace him.
  (The Mirror)


• Barcelona are set to tempt the Gunners into accepting a cut-price transfer offer for Cesc Fabregas by throwing either Maxwell or Eric Abidal into the deal.
  (Metro)


• But Arsenal have told the Catalan giants that they must drop youngsters Jon Toral and Hector Bellerin from their bid for Fabregas before a deal can be agreed.
  (Daily Express)


• Chelsea are chasing £9m Genk keeper Thibaut Courtois, whom they see as a long-term successor to Petr Cech.
  (The Sun)


• Stoke want Olympiakos and Greece defender Vasilis Torosidis, who has a £6.3m buy-out clause in his contract.
  (Daily Mail)


• Blackburn Rovers will have to pay £8.5m to sign FC Copenhagen striker Dame N'Doye.
  (The Mirror)


• Rovers striker Nikola Kalinic is wanted by Dynamo Kiev - and the Ewood Park club are keen to recoup the £6m they paid for him.
  (Daily Mail)


• Blackburn have approached Monaco about a £3m deal for DR Congo international defender Cedric Mongongu.
  (Daily Star)


• West Ham manager Sam Allardyce is preparing an ambitious bid to sign Liverpool pair Joe Cole and Paul Konchesky.
  (Caughtoffside)


• QPR boss Neil Warnock is to launch a £6m raid on the Hammers for striker Carlton Cole.
  (The Mirror)


• Bolton have stepped up their efforts to land Rodrigo from Benfica after he impressed on loan last season.
  (talkSPORT)


• Aston Villa are ready to spend £5m to secure the transfer of defender Alan Hutton from Spurs.
  (Metro)


• Villa have also moved ahead of Tottenham in the pursuit of West Ham's Scott Parker, because Spurs must sell before they buy.
  (The Mirror)


• Norwich are lining up a £2m move for Arsenal midfielder Henri Lansbury.
  (The Sun)


• West Ham will decide next week whether to sign Polish defender Hernani da Rosi from Korona Kielce.
  (The Sun)


• Aston Villa will finally sign Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given for £4m by the end of the weekend.
  (The Sun)


• Fulham are set to sign Roma defender John Arne Riise for £2.2m.
  (The Times)


• Victor Wanyama has arrived in Glasgow to secure a £900,000 to Celtic from Germinal Beerschot hoping that he will not be denied a work permit, as happened with his brother, McDonald Mariga, when he was on the brink of a move to Manchester City.
  (Daily Record)


• Celtic manager Neil Lennon will make a plea via telephone from Australia to a Scottish Football Association appeal board as he attempts to win a work permit required for the transfer of Kenyan midfielder Victor Wanyama from Germinal Beerschot.
  (The Sun)


• Rangers coach Ian Durrant is hopeful that the £850,000 the club will receive from former Ibrox midfielder Charlie Adam's transfer from Blackpool to Liverpool will boost manager Ally McCoist's transfer budget.
  (Daily Record)


• Middlesbrough striker Kris Boyd arrived for signing talks with Eskisehirspor just as the Turkish club's head coach, Bulent Uygen, was arrested on match-fixing charges.
  (Daily Record)


• Hibernian are eyeing a move for former Celtic striker Cillian Sheridan, who is keen on a return to Scotland after failing to settle in Bulgaria with CSKA Sofia.
  (Daily Record)


• Former Ajax full-back Mitchell Pique moved a step closer to winning a contract with Kilmarnock after playing in a 0-0 draw with Ballymena.
  (The Sun)

• Liverpool legend John Barnes believes his former club's summer spending spree could take them into the Premier League's top four next season.
  (talkSPORT)


• Liverpool are ready to risk fan anger by quitting Anfield and building a new stadium rather than renovating their iconic ground. They will sell naming rights to their new home.
  (The Mirror)


• Emmanuel Adebayor is threatening to sue Manchester City for constructive dismissal after the striker learned he has been banished form the first-team squad.
  (The Sun)


• City will reveal a record-breaking £100m deal with Etihad Airways, having sold the naming rights to their Eastlands ground.
  (The Sun)


• Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira will snub his former club by turning down a coaching role at the Emirates.
  (The Sun)


• Rangers midfielder Maurice Edu has struck up a romance with Playboy bunny Kayla Collins.
  (Daily Record)


• Aberdeen manager Craig Brown has warned fans who berated new captain Ricky Foster for playing on loan with Rangers last season that they could face court action.
  (Daily Record)


• The Scottish Football Association has asked for double their ticket allocation for the final Euro 2012 qualifier in Spain this October.
  (Daily Record)

• Injury-jinxed Owen Hargreaves' YouTube workout videos look set to land him a chance to save his career after his release by Manchester United - with his old England boss Sven Goran Eriksson at Leicester.
  (The Mirror)


• Two die-hard Manchester City fans have spent £50,000 customising an old Chevrolet convertible car so that they can travel to matches in style.
  (Metro)