Thursday's gossip column - transfers and rumours

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

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Arsenal and Manchester City have expressed an interest in bringing former Chelsea, Gunners and Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra, 28, back to the Premier League from Lokomotiv Moscow in January.

Full story: Daily Express

Chelsea are lining up a loan deal to bring unsettled Monaco forward Radamel Falcao, 27, to Stamford Bridge.

Ashley Cole is among a host of Premier League players targeted by Major League Soccer

Full story: Daily Star

Manchester United are planning to offload midfield duo Ashley Young, 28, and Anderson, 25, in January.

Full story: Daily Mirror

Chelsea defender Ashley Cole, 32, is among a host of the top Premier League players being targeted by the United States' Major League Soccer ahead of its 2015 expansion plans.

Full story: Daily Mail

Benfica are facing a battle to keep £20m-rated Serbia midfielder Nemanja Matic in January, with interest from Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund.

Full story: Daily Mirror

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina, 31, says he hopes to seal a move back to Barcelona next summer.

Full story: Metro

Meanwhile, the Anfield club are targeting Swedish striker Valmir Berisha, 17, after the Halmstad youngster was leading scorer in the Under-17 World Cup in the autumn.

Full story: Sun (subscription required)

Barcelona scouts have been watching Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey, 22, but Arsene Wenger prices him at £50m.

Full story: Daily Mail

Auxerre striker Paul-Georges Ntep, 21, says he is keen on a move to Arsenal, despite interest from Chelsea, Tottenham and Aston Villa.

Full story: Daily Express

Atletico Madrid are hoping to bring Chelsea midfield duo Juan Mata, 25, and Kevin De Bruyne, 22, to Spain as they prepare to let Manchester United and Liverpool midfield target Koke, 21, leave in the January transfer window.

Full story: Daily Star

OTHER GOSSIP

Brazil legend Pele will not be taking Friday's World Cup draw after rejecting the opportunity to do so through fears of handing his country a difficult group.

Full story: Daily Mail

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo, 28, plans to open a museum dedicated to himself on the island of Madeira where he was born.

Full story: Daily Telegraph

Andre Villas-Boas says he was relieved with his side's comeback victory over Fulham after the under-pressure Tottenham boss saw them record a 2-1 win to move up to sixth in the Premier League.

Full story: London's Evening Standard

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba, 20, who currently plays for Juventus, has been named the best under-21 player in Europe, winning the prestigious Golden Boy award.

Full story: Manchester Evening News

Dimitar Berbatov, 32, is unhappy at struggling Fulham and the striker's agent is trying to engineer a January move out of Craven Cottage.

Cristiano Ronaldo plans to open a museum dedicated to himself in the town where he was born

Full story: Sun (subscription required)

Bookmakers have slashed the odds on Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, 26, winning the prestigious Ballon d'Or for a fourth year running after it was suspected the result was leaked to a Spanish news agency.

Full story: Daily Mirror

Former West Ham midfielder Stewart Robson says that the Hammers have "every chance'" of being relegated after three defeats in their last four matches.

Full story: Talksport

Everton left-back Bryan Oviedo, 23, has labelled his winner against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday as the biggest moment of his career so far, and declared: "now anything is possible."

Full story: Liverpool Echo

GLOBAL GOSSIP (from BBC Monitoring)

Real Madrid's Alvaro Morata, 21, says he will not leave the club in January after reports emerged of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger wanting to sign the young striker.

Full story: Marca (in Spanish)

Juventus and AC Milan are pursuing Italian club Botafogo's 19 year-old defender Matheus Doria Macedo,

Full story: Tuttosport (in Italian)

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti says the club is talking to former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, 32, to renew his contract.

Full story: As.com (in Spanish)

AND FINALLY

Police stopped Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson, 21, while he was en-route to their match against Hull - and asked for a photo with him.

Full story: Metro

England will be cheered on at next summer's World Cup by the smallest number of travelling fans for a major tournament in decades with only 1000 members of the official supporters' club expected to make the trip to Brazil.

Full story: Daily Mail

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