Latest football rumours from today's newspapers.

• Aston Villa have been told they must increase their offer to £18m to buy Dean Ashton from West Ham in January. (Daily Mirror)



• Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon says reports linking him with a move to Manchester City are wide of the mark. (Daily Telegraph)



• Arsenal are hoping to revive their interest in Ghana midfielder Stephen Appiah who is a free agent after being released by Fenerbahce. (Daily Telegraph)



• West Ham were also interested in signing Appiah but their hopes look to be fading. (Independent)



• Sir Alex Ferguson has dismissed fears rivals Manchester City are reportedly interested in taking Cristiano Ronaldo for a record £135m. (Daily Telegraph)



• Sheffield United boss Kevin Blackwell plans to snap up Coventry's wantaway Maltese striker Michael Mifsud. (Daily Mirror)

• Alan Shearer has ruled himself out of becoming the next Newcastle manager because he wouldn't be able to work with a system that didn't allow him the control of buying new players. (Sun)



• Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is preparing to sell the club for £250m after accepting he's lost his popularity with the fans after Kevin Keegan's departure. (Daily Mirror)



• Kevin Keegan stunned owner Mike Ashley by asking for £200m to bring in David Beckham, Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard to Newcastle before he quit. (Sun)



• Tottenham assistant coach Gus Poyet is the bookies' favourite to get the Magpies job. (The Daily Telegraph)



• But Tottenham have warned Newcastle to keep their hands off Poyet, insisting he is on a long contract at White Hart Lane. (Sun)



• Ex-Italy boss Roberto Donadoni has emerged as a favourite for the West Ham job after being interviewed for an hour by chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson. (Various)



• Former Upton Park idol Paolo di Canio insists the West Ham shirt feels like a second skin to him and he'd love to manage the Hammers. (Sun)



• And a third Italian in the mix, former Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini, is due to fly in for an interview with West Ham on Saturday. (Daily Express)



• But Croatia manager Slaven Bilic is still the number one choice for most of the board and an approach will be made after his country's clash with Kazakhstan on Saturday. (Various)



• West Ham are even confident of appointing Bilic as their new manager after Wednesday's World Cup qualifier with England. (Daily Mail)

• Andorra midfielder Manolo Jimenez, a painter and decorator who plays for his country for nothing, is relishing going head-to-head with England's £151,000-a-week Frank Lampard in Barcelona. (Sun)



• Tottenham's Croatian midfielder Luka Modric says that his family were so poor when he was young his father made him shinpads out of wood. (Sun)



• Big-hearted Millwall players will be sporting dodgy moustaches in aid of team-mate Neil Harris' Everyman cancer charity in their League One clash with Hartlepool. (Daily Star)