Thursday's gossip column: Football transfers and rumours

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For a list of confirmed transfers, check out our transfers page.

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Valencia are lining up a move to re-sign Juan Mata from Chelsea during the January transfer window. Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United and Real Madrid are also keeping tabs on the 25-year-old midfielder's situation.

Mata has been Chelsea's player of the year two seasons in a row but is out of the team

Full story: Metro

Manchester United bid more than £86m in a bid to lure forward Gareth Bale, 24, from Tottenham before the Welshman joined Real Madrid.

Full story: the Telegraph

Bale's agent confirmed another club offered "a lot more money" before the forward moved to Spain.

Full story: the Independent

Arsenal and Manchester City are expected to bid for French defender Adil Rami, 27, who has been transfer listed by Valencia following his public criticism of under-pressure coach Miroslav Djukic.

Full story: Daily Express

Liverpool sent scouts to watch 18-year-old former Barcelona winger Keita Balde Diao in action for Lazio against Legia Warsaw last week.

Full story: Daily Express

OTHER GOSSIP

Chelsea midfielder Marco van Ginkel, 20, will miss the rest of the season after it was confirmed he suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury at Swindon on Tuesday.

Full story: Daily Mail

Gus Poyet was sacked by Brighton at the end of last season following failure in the Championship play-offs

Chelsea forward Mata is willing to play in any position in a bid to impress Blues boss Jose Mourinho.

Full story: Daily Star

Former Brighton manager Gus Poyet will have to convince Sunderland owner Ellis Short he is the right man to be the club's next manager despite a recommendation from Black Cats director of football Roberto De Fanti.

Full story: Daily Mirror

Uruguayan Poyet is set for further talks with Black Cats bosses about replacing Paolo Di Canio.

Full story: the Times (subscription required)

Tottenham midfielder Lewis Holtby, 23, believes Spurs can battle it out for four trophies this season - the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League.

Full story: the Guardian

Newcastle fans have been told that club owner Mike Ashley has no intention of selling the Magpies.

Full story: Newcastle Chronicle

West Ham striker Ricardo Vaz Te, 26, is set to start for the Hammers against Hull on Saturday - a month on from handing in a transfer request as boss Sam Allardyce deals with a striker crisis.

Full story: London Evening Standard

GLOBAL GOSSIP (supplied by BBC Monitoring)

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, disappointed with his team's narrow 2-1 win over Elche, says his team needs to play "better, harder and with more personality".

Full story: Marca (in Spanish)

AS Monaco's Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, 27, remains a "constant threat when he prowls on to the surface", says French daily lefigaro after Monaco crushed Bastia 3-0 in Wednesday's match.

Full story: lefigaro (in French)

In Germany, Hanover 96 boss Martin Kind says his team are "great" but they faced an "opponent who are very strong". Kind made these remarks after his team suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat by Bayern Munich.

Full story: Die Welt (in German)

AND FINALLY

Striker Dennis Bergkamp has revealed that the magnitude of his £7.5m move to Arsenal in 1995 only hit home when he saw the headline on Ceefax.

Full story: Daily Mail

Britain's oldest referee, 86-year-old Harry Hardy, will be honoured at Buckingham Palace for his work in football.

Full story: Daily Mirror