Tuesday's Gossip column
Last updated on .From the section Football
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TRANSFER GOSSIP
QPR manager Harry Redknapp is trying to get Stoke striker Peter Crouch, 31, to play for him for a fifth time.
Striker Danny Graham, 27, has asked to quit Swansea - with Sunderland ready to complete a £5.5m transfer.
Swansea City goalkeeper Michel Vorm, 29, has emerged as a shock target for Barcelona.
Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, 26, is among Bayern Munich's top summer transfer targets as incoming manager Pep Guardiola begins planning for next season.
Queens Park Rangers and Everton will go head to head for South Korean striker Kim Shin-Wook, 24. The 6ft 5in Ulsan Hyundai striker has been dubbed the "Korean Peter Crouch".
Arsenal have opened talks to sign Barcelona's Spain striker David Villa, 31.
Tottenham are trying to secure a last-minute deal for £20m Brazilian striker Leandro Damiao, 23, from Internacional.
AZ Alkmaar's midfielder Adam Maher, 19, has been urged to join Arsenal - by his own manager.
Wigan are stepping up their efforts to sign Ecuador winger Jefferson Montero, 23, from Mexican side Monarcas Morelia in a £2.75m deal.
Norwich City striker Grant Holt, 31, could be allowed to leave if manager Chris Hughton can sign either Celtic's Gary Hooper, 25, or Sporting Lisbon's Ricky van Wolfswinkel, 24, as a replacement.
Fulham are close to signing Brazilian-born Belgium international striker Igor de Camargo, 29, from Borussia Monchengladbach.
Turkey striker Colin Kazim-Richards, 26, on loan at Blackburn Rovers, is being recalled by Galatasaray and sold to Bursaspor.
GLOBAL GOSSIP
Sourced by BBC Monitoring
Pep Guardiola will be handed a 278m euro spending fund for his first season with Bayern Munich, with which he may make an offer for Liverpool's Luis Suarez. Radamel Falcao of Atletico Madrid may also be a target for the former Barcelona coach.
French midfielder Etienne Capoue, 24, is keen to leave Toulouse, with QPR and Tottenham seen as likely suitors. The French club price him at £12.8m.
Newcastle are said to be preparing an offer for Standard Liege's William Vainqueur, 24.
Brazilian midfielder Michel Bastos, 29, has been signed by Schalke 04 to replace Lewis Holtby, 22, whose move to Tottenham was confirmed on Monday.
Bordeaux have announced the signing of Uruguayan teenager Rolan Diego, 19, from Defensor Sporting.
OTHER GOSSIP
Rafa Benitez's future as Chelsea manager is hanging by a thread after the club launched a high-level inquest into his Stamford Bridge reign.
Free agent David Beckham has agreed a top-secret plan with Arsenal to train with the first-team squad while he ponders his next move.
France defender Gael Clichy, 27, says Manchester City can get under the skin of neighbours United and derail their title bid again.
Full story: The Times (subscription only)
Brentford forward Clayton Donaldson claims to have witnessed on-field tensions between Chelsea players during the sides' FA Cup fourth-round 2-2 draw, with Ashley Cole regularly bemoaning a lack of movement in attack.
Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov has said that former striker Thierry Henry is "pushing him" to complete a buy-out of the club.
Former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer advised Southampton defender Vegard Forren, 24, to choose the Saints over a move to Liverpool.
Paul Lambert has been handed the "dreaded vote of confidence" by Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner.
Paul Dickov's future as Oldham Athletic manager rests on Saturday's League One trip to Walsall after he was spared the sack following the club's FA Cup victory against Liverpool.
Tottenham Hotspur defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto, 28, is set to play for Cameroon next month for the first time in two years.
Full story: London Evening Standard
AND FINALLY
Manchester United star Paul Scholes was left red-faced when thieves stole his car - as he left it defrosting on his driveway with the engine running.
Full story: Manchester Evening News
West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie, 31, a target for QPR, says he lashed out at the Baggies on Twitter because he was bored.
Comments
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If Odemwingie really said all that because he was bored then he is guilty of a serious lack of professionalism and the two weeks' wages he has already been docked is entirely justified, and should perhaps be extended. You don't treat your employer like that if you want to keep your job.
Hardly a top secret if it is in the Sun and on the BBC website.
Does someone get paid for writing this rubbish.
If so, how can the rest of us get some of the 'work'. Looking at the comments on here many correspondents could do much better.
If he was bored he could have gone out and practised his shooting because he's been rubbish this season.
Luke Shaw, Benteke & Fellaini
Please Mr Wenger....
You're ignorant. The Premier League isn't the be-all and end-all of football. And you're talking as if Guardiola is at the end of his career and won't have the chance to come here. Or did it ever occur to you that the appropriate job offer wasn't there for him to take?
Put his credentials to the test?? Fourteen trophies in four years, including three league titles and twice CL winners not enough proof that he is class?
Look at the you tube footagehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkG_12s7w60
Love reading your comments! Always good for a bit of comedy!
But Gomez plays with a real team and gets real service. In that environment, Suarez would be unstoppable. Gomez is brute force, Suarez is guike.