Wednesday's gossip column

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Everton are planning a bid to tempt Frank Lampard to Goodison Park. They are willing to offer the Chelsea midfielder a three-year deal if he agrees to remain within their pay structure, which has a maximum of £80,000 per week.

Full story: Daily Star

Los Angeles Galaxy striker Robbie Keane wants Lampard to replace David Beckham at the Major League Soccer club. "Hopefully we can get him," said Keane.

Full story: the Sun

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has identified Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama as a summer transfer priority and sent a scout to watch him in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

Full story: Daily Telegraph

Newcastle will buy from France again in the summer with Saint-Etienne striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 23, and Valenciennes defender Nicolas Isimat-Mirin, 21, their targets.

Full story: Metro

Blackburn manager Michael Appleton wants to sign the club's former winger David Bentley on loan from Tottenham.

Full story: the Sun

Striker James McFadden, 29, could re-sign for Sunderland, who he left last month, after the Scot's potential move to Nottingham Forest fell through.

Saint-Etienne striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is a target for Newcastle, who already have nine French buys in their squad

Full story: Newcastle Chronicle

Napoli have earmarked Brazilian striker Leandro Damiao, 23 - a player Tottenham tried to sign from Internacional in January - as the man to replace Edinson Cavani.

Full story: talkSPORT

Liverpool are ready to tie up a £1m deal for the goalkeeper of Danish club Viborg, Kevin Ray Mendoza Hansen, 18, if he passes a two-week trial at Anfield.

Full story: Metro

Sampdoria's 19-year-old striker Mauro Icardi will snub a switch to Manchester City and join Italian giants Inter Milan at the end of the season.

Full story: talkSPORT

Wolves manager Dean Saunders says he wants to bring two more loan signings to the club after signing Reading defender Kaspars Gorkss, 31.

Full story: Express and Star

Fiorentina could try to sign Southampton forward Gaston Ramirez, 22, if they sell Arsenal target Stevan Jovetic, 23, this summer.

Full story: talkSPORT

Reading defender Alex Pearce, 24, is ready to turn down offers from West Brom and Sunderland to sign a new deal.

Full story: Daily Star

GLOBAL GOSSIP

Real Madrid's Michael Essien has said he views coach Jose Mourinho as a father figure on the eve of Manchester United's visit to the Bernebau in the last 16 of the Champions League. "My father has given me the opportunity to be here and I'm enjoying every minute of being here."

Full story: AS

Real Madrid forward Ronaldo has had more shots on target during the Champions League this season than Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie and Javier Hernandez combined. As well as scoring six goals so far, the Portuguese has been on target 27 times, compared to 11 for Hernandez, seven for Van Persie and six for Rooney.

Full story: Marca

Paris City Council met on Tuesday to discuss their application to host matches during Euro 2020, which will be held at various cities across the continent. France is hosting the 2016 tournament.

Full story: L'Equipe

OTHER GOSSIP

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson says he did not realise how good his former player Cristiano Ronaldo would become when he sold the winger to Real Madrid.

Full story: Daily Mirror

Arsenal left-back Andre Santos, 29, has vowed to return to Arsenal after leaving to join Gremio on loan until the end of the season.

Full story: London Evening Standard

Midfielder Moussa Sissoko, 23, has revealed that former Arsenal player Patrick Vieira was the inspiration behind his switch to Newcastle.

Jonjo Shelvey (left) reacted angrily to criticism of his performance in the 2-0 defeat by West Brom

Full story: Daily Mirror

Wolves winger Stephen Hunt, 31, says he has to earn a new contract at the club between now and the end of the season.

Full story: Express and Star

Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has used Twitter to hit back at fans who criticised his performance in the Anfield club's home defeat to West Bromwich Albion.

Full story: Daily Mirror

Liverpool defender Daniel Agger is taking the blame for the shock defeat by West Brom, admitting on Twitter that his performance in the last 10 minutes was not good enough.

Full story: the Sun

Liverpool have warned their black players about the possibility of being racially abused in Thursday's Europa League meeting with Zenit St Petersburg, with managing director Ian Ayre writing to the Russian club and Uefa to express his concerns.

Full story: Daily Express

Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala say QPR have "lost their minds" by spending so much money to sign defender Chris Samba. The Russian club were stunned that QPR met his £12.5m release clause and offered him wages of close to £100,000 per week.

Full story: Daily Star

Manchester City defender Micah Richards is expected to return to full training within two weeks following knee surgery.

Full story: Daily Mail

Football must do more to combat the threat of performance-enhancing drugs, according to John Fahey, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Full story: the Independent

AND FINALLY

Arsenal's German striker Lukas Podolski spent his day off going round London in a black cab visiting the city's main tourist spots and taking a picture of himself at every one to share with fans on Twitter.

Full story: 606 podcast