Football rumours from today's newspapers.

• Manchester United are ready to battle it out with Real Madrid for the £45m transfer of Valencia forward David Villa. (Daily Mirror)



• Chelsea are leading the race to sign Portsmouth's Glen Johnson for £18m, with the right-back also wanted by Liverpool and Manchester City. (The Sun)



• But Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is still hopeful of landing England defender Johnson. (Daily Express)



• And it would appear that Anfield is Johnson's preferred destination. (Daily Mail)



• Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson appears to have failed in his attempts to keep striker Carlos Tevez at the club. (The Independent)



• Tottenham have been put off Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni after learning the size of his wages at the German club. (Daily Mail)



• Roque Santa Cruz says he has a clause in his contract that would allow the striker to leave Blackburn for over £20m. (The Sun)



• Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has pleaded with manager Arsene Wenger to buy a midfield hard-man this summer. (The Sun)



• And Fabregas believes that Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure would be the perfect signing for the Gunners. (Daily Star)



• Fabregas also says he would be open to a move to Champions League winners Barcelona. (Daily Mail)



• Former Real Madrid star Zinedine Zidane has told Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery to reject a move to Manchester United and join the Spanish side instead. (Daily Mail)



• Bolton are leading the race to sign Qatar-based striker Moumouni Dagano. (The Independent)



• West Brom keeper Paul Robinson has said he is keen to follow manager Tony Mowbray to Celtic. (The Sun)



• Mowbray could also take midfielder Borja Valero and former loan striker Marc-Antoine Fortune, who has returned to AS Nancy, with him to Celtic Park in the summer. (Daily Mirror)



• Barnsley have slapped a £1m price tag on midfielder Anderson da Silva. (Daily Mirror)



• Birmingham are lining up Standard Liege centre-back Oguchi Onyewu. (Daily Mirror)

• The takeover of Portsmouth is in doubt, with buyer Sulaiman Al Fahim facing questions over his suitability. (The Sun)



• Former Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra has insisted he has nothing to do with the proposed takeover of Pompey. (Daily Star)



• A consortium from the United States has emerged as the favourite to buy Newcastle from owner Mike Ashley. (The Independent)



• Former Leeds manager Gary McAllister says he wants to return to Motherwell as boss. (The Sun)



• Middlesbrough owner Steve Gibson says he has no intention of selling the recently relegated club. (The Sun)



• Paul Ince has said he is hopeful of taking advantage of the current series of management moves. (Daily Mirror)



• But Aidy Boothroyd and Alan Irvine are front-runners to take over from Celtic-bound Tony Mowbray at West Brom. (Daily Mail)

• Bolton will offload Blerim Dzemaili to Torino, with the Swiss midfielder failing to make a single appearance for the club in a two-year spell. (The Sun)