All the latest football rumours from today's newspapers.
Fulham are ready to splash out £2.5m to sign Charlton winger Jerome Thomas and Celtic contract rebel Shaun Maloney. (Daily Mirror)
Manchester United must pay another £1.2m to keep on-loan striker from Helsingborg, Henrik Larsson, for the rest of the season.
(The Sun)
Freddie Ljungberg, who has been linked to Tottenham, will demand a £4.5m pay-off for the remaining 18 months of his contract - if Arsenal sell him to help fund a £15m bid for France and Marseille winger Franck Ribery. (Daily Mirror)
Ljungberg has told Gunners boss Arsene Wenger he is going nowhere.
(Daily Star)
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Blackburn have told Chelsea to forget about trying to sign top scorer Benni McCarthy. (The Sun)
Chelsea are close to signing Bolton defender Tal Ben Haim and are facing a battle with French side Lyon for Aston Villa's Milan Baros.
(Daily Mirror)
Sheffield United have given up on trying to sign Preston striker David Nugent after tabling a £6m bid because Blades boss Neil Warnock believes he is overpriced. (The Sun)
Tottenham have made a £3m bid for Deportivo La Coruna defender Fabricio Coloccini.
(The Sun)
Newcastle are ready to bid for West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand. (Daily Mirror)
Aston Villa are ready to bid for Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy after having a £5m offer for Kevin Doyle rejected by Reading.
(The Sun)
Liverpool's bid for Blackburn captain Lucas Neill is being held up - because they are demanding £500,000 for Stephen Warnock in the exchange deal. (Daily Mirror)
Middlesbrough have insisted that they will not sell England winger Stewart Downing.
(The Sun)
Downing has committed his future to Boro after a crisis meeting with boss Gareth Southgate. (Daily Mirror)
Birmingham co-owner David Sullivan has promised the fans he will do his best to sign Luton striker Rowan Vine.
(The Sun)
Charlton want to sign Benfica midfielder Manuel Fernandes on loan following his unsuccessful spell at Portsmouth. (Daily Mirror)
Southampton have blocked midfielder David Prutton joining Hull for £400,000.
(The Sun)
Hull hope to sign Sheffield United defender Chris Lucketti for £400,000. (The Sun)
Tottenham boss Martin Jol will listen to offers for Mido after falling out with the striker.
(Daily Mirror)
Juventus are ready to move for Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze. (Daily Mirror)
OTHER GOSSIP
Former England captain David Beckham is set to defy Real Madrid's ultimatum that he must sign a new deal or leave.
(The Sun)
Graeme Souness has told Wolves owner Sir Jack Hayward that the ex-Newcastle boss is the man to lead the club forward after he offered £20m in a takeover bid. (Daily Mirror)
Souness insists that his £20m offer remains on the table.
(The Sun)
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is to fine midfielder Lassana Diarra for repeatedly defying his authority. (The Sun)
Mourinho has publicly backed midfielder Michael Ballack and has dismissed suggestions that senior Blues players have confronted him over the German's form since his arrival at the club.
(Daily Mirror)
Striker Neil Harris insists he could not care less about missing out on a dream FA Cup tie against Chelsea after rejoining Millwall from Nottingham Forest. (The Sun)
Five Ipswich players face possible punishment from boss Jim Magilton after going on a lads' trip to Amsterdam just before the FA Cup tie with Chester.
(Daily Mirror)
Striker Kanu has earned a new one-year contract at Portsmouth after activating a clause by playing 20 Premiership games. (Various)
Sheffield Wednesday striker Steve MacLean is set to become the club's top-paid player by being offered £8,000 a week.
(The Sun)
AND FINALLY...
Blackburn will give season ticket holders free admission to next month's Uefa Cup tie with Bayer Leverkusen after being forced to kick-off at 6pm in order to earn a £650,000 TV windfall. (Various)