Football rumours from today's newspapers

• Manchester United have been told they will have to pay £40m if they want to sign Marseille winger Hatem Ben Arfa. ( The Sun)



• Cash-strapped Portsmouth have put their entire squad up for sale. ( Daily Star)



• Manchester City are set to sign former Arsenal midfielder and Patrick Vieira from Inter Milan on Thursday. ( The Sun)



• City boss Roberto Mancini is also expected to land Palermo centre-half Simon Kjaer for £18m. ( The Sun)



• A player who could be on his way out of Eastlands is Roque Santa Cruz, with Espanyol keen to sign City's Paraguay striker on loan. ( The Sun)



• Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is tracking CFR Cluj's 6ft 6ins Ivorian striker Lacine Traore - dubbed 'The New Adebayor'. ( Daily Express)



• Tottenham are ready to offer captain Robbie Keane as bait to secure a deal for Aston villa striker John Carew. ( Daily Star)



• Everton are considering a deal for out-of-favour Blackburn striker Benni McCarthy as boss David Moyes looks to boost his options in attack. ( Daily Mail)



• Fulham boss Roy Hodgson is ready to capitalise on the financial uncertainty around crisis club Portsmouth by attempting to hi-jack their bid to re-sign Tottenham midfielder Jamie O'Hara on loan. (The Mirror)



• Midfielder Inter Milan midfielder Patrick Vieira has told Eurosport he is leaving the Serie A champions to join Manchester City in a bid to secure more first team action that would help him secure his place in France's World Cup squad. (Reuters)



• West Ham hope to wrap up a loan deal for Fiorentina's former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu early next week. ( Daily Star)



• Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has launched a £9m bid for Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones. (Various)



• Sunderland want to replace Jones with Schalke 04 striker Kevin Kuranyi. (The Mirror)



• And Black Cats manager Steve Bruce is on the verge of signing £5.5m Hamburg defender Guy Demel. ( The Sun)



• McLeish, meanwhile, is set to improve his offer for Liverpool forward Ryan Babel from £8m to £10m. (The Mirror)



• Blackburn winger Morten Gamst Pedersen is wanted by Greek champions Olympiacos - but they are unwilling to meet Rovers' £1.8m valuation. (The Mirror)



• Bolton could make a move for Eskisehirspor's Bosnia defender Safet Nadarevic, who is due for talks with Bolton on Monday. ( Daily Mail)



• Newcastle will target Napoli's Ezequiel Lavezzi, nicknamed 'the Tank', if they make it back to the Premier League but the Italian club want more than £5m for their striker. ( The Sun)



• Magpies boss Chris Hughton has received a setback after Sheffield United centre-back Matt Kilgallon decided he will remain at Bramall Lane until his contract expires in the summer, despite the clubs having agreed £2m fee. ( The Sun)



• The Blades want to take Kyle Naughton back from Tottenham on loan - the full-back has played only once since his joint £12m summer transfer with Kyle Walker. ( Daily Mail)

• Manchester United defender Gary Neville is set to retire from football at the end of the season. ( The Sun)



• West Ham are the target of £100m takeover offer, which could lead to a bidding war for the Upton Park club. ( The Sun)



• Chelsea are bracing themselves for a financial hit next week when a compensation fee for their signing of Daniel Sturridge from Manchester City will finally be settled. The London club could end up forking out £8m for the 20-year-old striker Sturridge, who was Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti's first signing after taking over as manager last summer. ( Daily Express)



• LA Galaxy midfielder David Backham may have nowhere to play once his AC Milan loan deal ends in May because Major League Soccer faces a strike. International players union DIDPro is deadlocked in talks with MLS about a new deal for all players in the United States and the league is threatening a lock-out if a new contract is not signed by 31 January. ( The Sun)

• Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he once tried to sign legendary AC Milan defender Paolo Maldini - only to be rebuffed by his father, the former Italy boss Cesare Maldini. "I always wanted to get Paolo here but it was impossible," said the Scot.
  
  "I met his father at a game and told him how much I'd love to have his son at United. Cesare smiled at me and said 'My grandfather was Milan, my father was Milan, I played for Milan and now my son is Milan'. And that was it - story over!" ( The Sun)



• Michael Oliver will become the youngest referee in Premier League history when he takes charge of Fulham's home game against Portsmouth on Saturday at the age of 24. ( Daily Mail)



• Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has scored a chart-topping single in South Korea. But the Chelsea star is unlikely to celebrate when he hears the lyrics to Mister. They refer to the England star as "cute chubby Frank". ( Daily Star)



• A 100-inch plasma television has been installed by Manchester United players at the club's Carrington training ground. It is believed Sir Alex Ferguson's stars had a whip-round to buy the £80,000 TV set for the lounge area. ( Daily Star)