Football rumours from today's newspapers

• Celtic left-back Emilio Izaguirre is a potential target for Arsenal as fears at the club grow that Gael Clichy will not sign a new contract. The Frenchman's deal expires at the end of next season and if an agreement cannot be reached by the summer, Arsenal will consider selling Clichy rather than risk losing him for nothing.
  (Daily Mail)


• Gunners striker Andrey Arshavin could also be on his way out of the club, with Zenit St Petersburg ready to bring their former player back to Russia.
  (talkSPORT)


• AC Milan are the latest big club to join the chase to sign 17-year-old Southampton winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
  (Daily Star)


• Promotion-chasing Nottingham Forest have failed in a bid to take midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker on loan from Aston Villa.
  (The Mirror)


• Manchester City and Tottenham are in the hunt for Udinese's Ghana international striker Kwadwo Asamoah, who played in all his country's games at last year's World Cup.
  (Metro)


• Liverpool are lining up a move for Genoa's 24-year-old defender Domenico Criscito to solve their left-back problem.
  (caughtoffside)

• Chelsea are considering approaching Avram Grant to become their new director of football as part of a significant shake-up of the club's staff this summer.
  (Daily Telegraph)


• Carlo Ancelotti's former Italy team-mate Ruggiero Rizzitelli has claimed the Chelsea manager has held talks over becoming Roma's new boss.
  (Daily Mail)


• Newcastle were prepared to sell striker Andy Carroll for £1m last season. In January he was sold to Liverpool for £35m.
  (The Sun)


• Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is refusing to speak to the club's own television station after being charged with improper conduct for his criticism of referee Martin Atkinson.
  (The Guardian)


• Birmingham midfielder Barry Ferguson played 60 minutes of their Carling Cup final win over Arsenal with a broken rib.
  (Daily Mail)


• Jack Wilshere's criticism of Ferguson on Twitter after the Gunners' Wembley defeat has been labelled as "cyber-bullying" by Birmingham manager Alex McLeish.
  (The Guardian)


• West Ham's co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold will increase their stake in the club from 62% to 82% at the end of the season.
  (Daily Telegraph)


• Everton striker Victor Anichebe has settled out of court with Newcastle after instigating legal action over a tackle from Kevin Nolan in 2009 that left him sidelined for 11 months.
  (Daily Mail)


• Aston Villa midfielder Stephen Ireland, who is on loan at Newcastle, says Villa boss Gerard Houllier had no interest in playing him and also claims Birmingham is a "rubbish" place to live.
  (The Sun)


• Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon is to see a specialist in Sweden next week about his ongoing knee problem.
  (Daily Mail)


• Stoke boss Tony Pulis believes Demba Ba is an accident waiting to happen after West Ham agreed a three-and-a-half-year deal for the Senegal striker. Ba's £7.1m move to Stoke collapsed when he failed a medical because of a knee injury, and Pulis said he could not have gone through with the deal in good faith.
  (Daily Mail)

• Gary Neville has won planning permission for a Teletubby-style eco-home largely built underground on moorland outside Bolton.
  (Manchester Evening News)


• Former Barcelona striker Hristo Stoichkov has been appointed Bulgaria's honorary consul in the Spanish city by the Bulgarian prime minister.
  (The Guardian)


• Referee Damian Rubino showed a record 36 red cards in the recent match between rival Argentine teams Claypole and Victoriano Arenas. Rubino sent off all 22 players PLUS their substitutes and technical staff as a mass brawl erupted.
  (The Sun)