Football rumours from today's newspapers

• Manchester United are ready to seal a £27m deal for Udinese's Chile midfielder Alexis Sanchez - under the noses of Manchester City and Barcelona.
  (The Mirror)


• Arsenal have made an approach for Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Willian, with a deal for the 23-year-old including a payment of £12m and Gunners midfielder Denilson in part-exchange.
  (talkSPORT)


• Manchester City and Chelsea will submit bids for David Villa if Barcelona choose to cash in on the Spanish international forward in order to fund a move for Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
  (Metro)


• Meanwhile, Fabregas is desperate to quit Arsenal - according to Gunners team-mate Bacary Sagna.
  (The Sun)


• However, with four years remaining on the 24-year-old's contract, the Gunners have told Fabregas they will repeat last year's efforts and do their best to prevent a sale to Barcelona.
  (Daily Star)


• Chelsea have been told they will have to fork out at least £44m for Palermo's attacking midfielder Javier Pastore. The 21-year-old Argentine, who joined the Italian Serie A club two years ago for £5m, is also wanted by Real Madrid and Barcelona.
  (The Sun)


• Tottenham are close to concluding a £12m contract for Internacional's 21-year-old forward Leandro Damiao.
  (Daily Mail)


• Sunderland and Everton will step up their attempts to sign striker Demba Ba after he activated a clause in his contract allowing him to leave West Ham on a free transfer.
  (Metro)


• Argentina striker Sergio Aguero, 23, is set to deliver a snub to Chelsea and Manchester City by signing for Juventus for about £40m from Atletico Madrid.
  (talkSPORT)


• Sunderland have sent an e-mail out to top clubs telling them that Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan is available for transfer.
  (The Mirror)


• Manchester United defender Wes Brown is keen on staying in the North West and might reject a switch to Sunderland, which would put Blackburn and Bolton on red alert.
  (Daily Mail)

• Alex McLeish will be named the new manager of Aston Villa by the end of Wednesday.
  (talkSPORT)


• The six candidates to be the new manager of Birmingham City are Gianfranco Zola, Roberto di Matteo, Chris Hughton, Alan Curbishley, Dave Jones and Steve Cotterill.
  (talkSPORT)


• Fifa could face a backlash from Europe's leading clubs as the world football governing body plans to increase the number of international friendly dates from 12 to 17.
  (The Guardian)

• Spare a thought for Frankie Fielding, who is set to play in goal for England's Under-21s against Ukraine on Wednesday. A tattoo reads "Loved too much to be forgotten" and reminds him about his dad Frank. His father died of a heart attack in 2007 - a week before he was due to fly home and see his son play on loan at Wycombe in his first season.
  (The Independent)