Scottish Gossip: Rangers, Celtic, Scotland, Aston Villa, Hearts, Dundee, Bayern Munich, Hamilton

FOOTBALL GOSSIP

Aston Villa stepped up their interest in Alfredo Morelos by sending their chief scout to McDiarmid Park to watch the Rangers striker against St Johnstone, but the Championship club are one of five English outfits to have been linked with an interest in the in-form Colombian. (Daily Record)

Aston Villa are tracking Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis, who signed a new deal at Pittodrie in the summer until 2020, after sending former Manchester City and Manchester United keeper Tony Coton to Easter Road on Saturday to watch the 30-year-old against Hibernian. (Scottish Sun)

Dubai club Al-Nasr have told the Scottish FA they have no interest in listening to any approach for coach Cesare Prandelli, the veteran Italian who would be interested in the Scotland manager's vacancy after the departure of Gordon Strachan. (Daily Record)

Alex McLeish, statistically Scotland's most successful permanent manager, is keen to speak to the SFA about becoming national boss for a second time. (The Scotsman)

Alex McLeish, who has been out of work since being axed by Egyptian club Zamalek in May 2016, insists he's better equipped for the Scotland national team job now than he was before. (Scottish Sun)

Rangers' Alfredo Morelos is being linked with several English clubs

Englishman Sam Allardyce, who left Crystal Palace in the summer, has ruled himself out of the running to be the new Scotland manager and has backed former Manchester United boss David Moyes for the job. (The National)

Bradford City's Stuart McCall has ruled himself out of being the new Scotland manager. (Daily Mirror, print edition)

Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha can silence the doubters about his future at Ibrox by winning the League Cup, according to Alex McLeish, who lifted the trophy with the Glasgow club in 2002. (Daily Record)

Bayern Munich are confident of defeating Celtic in Wednesday's Champions League group game in Germany, but full-back Joshua Kimmich admits the visitors are capable of causing problems. (Daily Record)

Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng has warned that Celtic are capable of causing all sorts of problems in the Champions League game at the Allianz Stadium. (Scottish Sun)

Former Celtic full-back Andreas Hinkel, presently manager of VfB Stuttgart II in his native Germany, thinks Celtic could cause a Champions League upset against Bayern Munich on Wednesday. (The Herald)

Alex McLeish would like a second shot at the Scotland job

Former Germany midfielder Lothar Matthaus says Celtic could have beaten Bayern Munich in their Champions League clash three weeks ago - before Carlo Ancelotti was sacked and replaced with caretaker boss Jupp Heynckes - but not now. (Scottish Sun)

Former Celtic striker Jorge Cadete has revealed that Leeds United tried to sign him from the Glasgow club for £9m in 1996. (The Scotsman)

The Scottish Professional Football League has called an emergency meeting of all Scotland's senior clubs after Hamilton Academical were left facing a cash crisis when almost £1m was siphoned out of club bank accounts in an elaborate fraud last week. (Scottish Sun)

Dundee have announced plans to increase their team of youth academy coaches as part of their Project Brave bid by advertising six new positions as required by the SFA for any club hoping to gain Elite status under their initiative designed to drastically improve the flow of talent to first-team level. (The Courier)

Hearts manager Craig Levein could be facing an injury crisis after his side were forced to finish Saturday's 2-1 victory away to Ross County without six central midfielders. (Edinburgh Evening News)

OTHER GOSSIP

Scotland have called 18-year-old England academy winger Will Oakes into their 24-man Rugby League World Cup squad as a replacement for the injured Ryan Brierley. (Evening Express)

Willy Hutchinson, one of Scotland's most promising young boxers, will make his professional debut on Friday under the watchful eye of former WBA heavyweight champion of the world, David Haye, when he takes on Attila Tibor Nagy from Hungary at Indigo in the O2 Arena in London. (The Herald)