Football rumours from today's newspapers

• Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson is considering a £10m bid for Standard Liege's Belgium international midfielder Steven Defour, who the former Fulham boss sees as a natural replacement for want-away Argentine Javier Mascherano.
  (Daily Mail)


• And Mascherano is set to be the subject of a £20m bid from Italy's European champions Inter Milan, who are managed by former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez.
  (Daily Express)


• Manchester City are still struggling to agree a fee with Aston Villa to buy their midfielder James Milner. Villa want £30m for the 24-year-old, but City are only prepared to pay £24m.
  (The Sun)


• West Ham have snubbed Stoke's £9m bid for 26-year-old striker Carlton Cole.
  (The Sun)


• New Fulham manager Mark Hughes is close to persuading 31-year-old striker Craig Bellamy to join him at Craven Cottage, rather than leave Manchester City for Tottenham.
  (The Sun)


• Birmingham are lining up an improved £10m offer for Wigan winger Charles N'Zogbia after seeing their initial £8m bid turned down by the Latics.
  (Daily Mail)


• Manchester United and Arsenal target Mesut Ozil has hinted that a move to Spanish side Real Madrid could be on the cards. The 21-year-old German midfielder has one year left on his contract with Werder Bremen who are ready to listen to offers.
  (IM Scouting)


• Barcelona's former Arsenal midfielder Aleksandr Hleb could be on his way out of the Nou Camp. The 29-year-old Belarusian is attracting interest from Tottenham, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Sunderland and West Ham.
  (IM Scouting)


• Blackburn have invited Roma midfielder Ricardo Faty for a trial with a view to a £1m deal for the 23-year-old, who has spent the last two seasons on loan - first, at Bayer Leverkusen and, later, at Nantes.
  (Daily Mail)


• Arsenal youngsters Emmanuel Frimpong and Mark Randall, who both play in midfield, are loan targets for Southampton and Hull respectively.
  (Daily Mail)


• Ipswich striker Jon Stead's proposed £250,000 move to Blackpool has fallen through after the former England Under-21 international failed to agree personal terms at Bloomfield Road.
  (The Mirror)


• Nottingham Forest have placed their 30-year-old reserve goalkeeper, Paul Smith, on the transfer list.
  (The Mirror)


• Mido is so angry that Middlesbrough are holding out for a £1m fee over his proposed move to Ajax that the striker is threatening to sit out the last year of his contract in protest.
  (The Mirror)

• Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists that midfielder Cesc Fabregas will stay with the club for another five years, despite on-going interest from Spanish side Barcelona, and will be captain for this coming season.
  (The Mirror)


• Blackpool's promotion heroes are still waiting to be paid the bonuses owed to them since their play-off victory at Wembley two months ago, leaving owner Karl Oyston facing a damaging row two weeks before their Premier League debut at Wigan.
  (Daily Mail)


• France striker Nicolas Anelka is taking sports newspaper L'Equipe to court for libel after it printed details of his expletive-ridden World Cup rant at former coach Raymond Domenech.
  (Daily Mail)

• North Korea's football 'flops' have been given a six-hour verbal roasting in front of hundreds of government officials for not winning the World Cup. Coach Kim Jong-Hun, 53, was made to work on a building site and expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea.
  (Daily Star)


• Manchester United's new signing Javier Hernandez scored against his new club after playing the first half for his previous team Chivas Guadalajara in a pre-season friendly. He switched to United's side in the second half, but could not prevent Sir Alex Ferguson's side from losing 3-2.
  (Various)