All the latest football rumours from today's newspapers.

• Chelsea face competition from Italian giants Inter Milan for the signature of Hamburg's £20m-rated Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart in January. (The Sun)



• Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has told clubs lining up a bid for striker Peter Crouch that they are wasting their time. (The Sun)



• Manchester United are tracking Partizan Belgrade's Stevan Jovetic, the 17-year-old striker who could cost £7m. (Daily Mail)



• Roma are preparing a January transfer window bid for unsettled Manchester City striker Rolando Bianchi. (Various)



• Arsenal will welcome back Mexican striker Carlos Vela, 18, in January. He is on loan with Osasuna and soon qualifies for a Spanish passport, meaning he can move to England. (Daily Mirror)



• Portuguese legend Luis Figo, 35, says he could join David Beckham in Major League Soccer in the United States. (Daily Mirror)



• Wolves winger Lewis Gobern is a target for Crewe. (Daily Star)



• Manchester United defender Phil Bardsley is refusing to rule out a permanent £1m move to Sheffield United, where he is currently on loan. (Daily Mirror)



• Kilmarnock striker Colin Nish, 26, has turned down the club's offer of a new contract and could leave at the end of the season. (Daily Record)

• England's defeat in Russia almost certainly spells the end of Steve McClaren's tenure as manager. (Various)



• Russia coach Guus Hiddink said he outhought McClaren tactically to earn victory in Moscow. (The Guardian)



• Football Association chiefs will ignore the clamour for a homegrown boss if McClaren goes - with Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klinsmann all in the running. (Daily Mirror)



• Bolton chairman Phil Gartside wants to get in Real Sociedad coach Chris Coleman to replaced the sacked Sammy Lee. (Daily Mail)



• However, on Wednesday, Birmingham refused to give Gartside permission to speak to their boss Steve Bruce. (The Sun)



• Actually - the Trotters want Paul Jewell to end his five-month exile from the game. (Daily Star)



• Or do they? Gary Megson, Graeme Souness and John Collins are really the ones on the Bolton shortlist. (Daily Mirror)



• Meanwhile, League Managers' Association chief Howard Wilkinson has accused Bolton of "burying bad news" by firing Lee on a day when England were playing. (The Sun)



• Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves says his injury nightmare is over and he can start to prove himself to the supporters. (The Sun)



• France striker Thierry Henry broke Michel Platini's goalscoring record when he struck his 42nd and 43rd goals in the 2-0 win against Lithuania. (Various)



• Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce has told £6m signing Alan Smith to clean up his act - Smith is banned for Monday's game against Tottenham. (The Sun)



• Chris Mort, the Magpies chairman, insists the club have never tried to prevent Michael Owen from playing for England. (Daily Telegraph)



• Welsh striker John Hartson admits he could retire if his three-month loan spell at Norwich does not work out. (The Sun)



• Mark Stimson will be appointed the new manager of Gillingham within the next 24 hours. (Daily Star)



• Preston keeper Wayne Henderson will be out until the new year after a back operation on Wednesday. (Various)



• Ian McParland - who had a caretaker spell in charge of Nottingham Forest - will be named the new boss of Notts County by the end of the week. (Daily Express)



• Injured Rangers defender Steven Smith has vowed to play again, despite being out of action since December with a recurring pelvic injury. (Daily Record)



• Dunfermline are threatening legal action against Hearts over £40,000 of unpaid ticket money. (Daily Record)

• BBC Radio 5live commentators Alan Green, Mike Ingham and Graham Taylor were forced to describe the action from Moscow on mobile phones as their booked ISDN lines were not available.



• If England fail to qualify for Euro 2008, it will cost the economy at least £1.25bn. (Daily Star)



• Rio Ferdinand had gone 1,021 minutes without conceding a goal for Manchester United and England before Roman Pavluchenko struck. His next spell lasted four minutes. (The Times)