Gossip column: Ronaldo, Milner, Marquinhos, Mirallas, Cuadrado
Last updated on .From the section Football
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TRANSFER GOSSIP
Manchester United have been quoted a world-record £112m for 20-year-old Paris St-Germain and Brazil centre-back Marquinhos, the man they have identified as their top defensive target, who cost £26m from Roma in 2013.(Sun - subscription required)
United are not the team who made a £26m bid for Valencia's Argentina defender Nicolas Otamendi and are more likely to move for Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels, also 26, in the summer. (Manchester Evening News)
Tottenham hope to persuade Everton to sell them Belgium winger Kevin Mirallas - who missed a penalty against West Brom on Monday - and are willing to offer Aaron Lennon, also 27, in part exchange.(Daily Mirror)
But the Toffees are thought to have rejected a swap deal involving England winger Lennon. (Sun - subscription required)
Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Axel Witsel, 26, has alerted Manchester United by saying he is keen to play in the Premier League. (Bleacher Report)
Barcelona midfielder Xavi wants the Spanish giants to sign fellow Spaniard, Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla, 30. (Metro)
Chelsea want to sign Fiorentina winger Juan Cuadrado, 26, but may have to sell Germany forward Andre Schurrle, 24, and 22-year-old Egypt winger Mohamed Salah first. (Daily Mirror)
England midfielder James Milner, 29, could leave Manchester City and join an Italian or Spanish club as contract talks stall. (Guardian)
Tottenham want £5m from Swansea for their England Under-21s midfielder Tom Carroll, 22, who has been on loan at the Welsh club this term, having already agreed a deal for the same price for full-back Kyle Naughton, 26. (Independent)
Blackburn will not be pressured into selling top-scorer Rudy Gestede, 26, after they turned down an initial offer from Crystal Palace believed to be £3.5m. (Lancashire Telegraph)
However, Palace hope to complete three signings after expressing an interest in Bolton midfielder Lee Chung-yong and Hoffenheim striker Anthony Modeste, also 26, as well as stepping up their attempts to sign Gestede.(Times - subscription required)
Norwich boss Alex Neil has hinted Swansea may have to wait until the end of the transfer window to discover if they can sign Martin Olsson, with the Canaries thought to want £5m for the 26-year-old Sweden international. (South Wales Evening Post)
Arsenal have opened talks with Villarreal about signing 24-year-old Brazilian centre-back Gabriel Paulista. (Telegraph)
Crystal Palace are interested in Sevilla's 28-year-old Cameroon midfielder Stephane Mbia, who is available on a free transfer. (Daily Mail)
OTHER GOSSIP
Cristiano Ronaldo says he would like to play in Brazil when his Real Madrid career comes to an end, which is a blow to Manchester United's hopes of re-signing the 29-year-old Portugal forward. (Metro)
Manchester City's Argentine striker Sergio Aguero, 26, is determined to prove he can recapture the form he was in before his knee injury by scoring the goals to beat Chelsea and Barcelona next month. (Manchester Evening News)
Former Tottenham and Newcastle player David Ginola, 47, is attempting to raise £2.3m to fund his Fifa president campaign but has managed to gather just £5,506 in the first week.(Guardian)
Former striker Michael Owen says Manchester United are "not functioning as a team" and believes 31-year-old Netherlands striker Robin van Persie is no longer living up to his reputation.(Telegraph)
Romelu Lukaku, 21, is not doing the business at Everton and the club need to buy another striker, says former Toffees goalkeeper Neville Southall. (Talksport)
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS (Sourced by BBC monitoring)
Ghana's myjoyonline criticised former Arsenal striker Gervinho after the Ivory Coast forward was sent off in his side's draw with Guinea. (Myjoyonline)
"Everything is still to play for," The Ivory Coast's Fratmat.info website said after their draw with Guinea.
BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Arsenal target, 26-year-old defender Winston Reid, has denied on Twitter he wants to leave West Ham in the January transfer window.
For the second game in a row, illness prevented Mario Balotelli, 24, from being included in the Liverpool squad, so the Italy striker donned his onesie to watch Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Chelsea in the Capital One Cup semi-final first leg.
Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea, 24, looked to have decided against watching the game, however, as he provided an insight into his musical tastes by tweeting a photo from a Slipknot gig and the words: "Amazing concert."
It was a trip down memory lane for England winger Theo Walcott on Tuesday as he tweeted a picture of himself and Arsene Wenger holding an Arsenal shirt with the caption "9 years ago today..." Walcott joined Arsenal as a 16-year-old back in 2006 from Southampton.
Wenger, meanwhile, joined a host of sports stars and celebrities at a gala in Geneva. Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg posted a picture of Wenger, along with the caption: "Met some great people. like every year..."
AND FINALLY...
What do doodles say about players? Manchester City's Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho and Willy Caballero sketched pictures during a news conference in Abu Dhabi with intriguing results. (Manchester Evening News)
A Liverpool fan in Norway has given his daughter the middle name YNWA - the acronym for the Reds' You'll Never Walk Alone motto. (Daily Mirror)
