Football News & Gossip from the British Papers

Updated every morning, we bring you a round up off all the latest football stories which are doing the rounds in the back pages of Britains newspapers. Of course to keep tabs on Sven we will occasionally refer to the front pages too! We will give you a daily dose of football transfer news, transfer speculation, player bustups, form, fitness, transfer bungs, mystery investors, badly behavoured players, tapping up scandals, the managerial merry go round, pre-match hype as well as all the comments and predictions as the season draws to a climax and the build up to the FIFA World Cup in Germany 2006 begins.

Thursday Gossip

Guus Hiddink is to pull out of the race to be the next England coach and sign a £5m deal to be the new Russian national team boss. (Mirror)

Juventus are still interested in signing defender William Gallas from Chelski. (Independent)

Newcastle are monitoring Ruud van Nistelrooy's situation at Man Yoo as they look for a successor to Alan Shearer, who is retiring in the summer. (Telegraph) Isnt this Owens job. Or is he going to be back where he belongs, at Anfield next season? Although on five live last night, Jermaine Defoe is rumoured to be the goal getter Lpool crave.

Newcastle have also tabled a bid of £15m for Fernando Torres, although Tottenham, Gooners and Chelski are also keeping tabs on the Atletico Madrid striker. (Sun)

Roy Keane has told Republic of Ireland compatriot John O'Shea to toughen up if he is to inherit the former Man Yoo star's mantle as midfield enforcer at Old Trafford. (Mirror)

Stilian Petrov has urged Roy Keane not to retire from football and to stay at Celtic for one more season. (Daily Record)

Gooners youngster Theo Walcott's wages will rise from £90 per week to around £2,000 today as he turns 17, enabling him to sign his first professional contract. His first purchase is likely to be driving lessons (Star).

Brentford have signed former Crystal Palace defender Jamie Smith on loan from Bristol City (Star).

James Milner's possible summer move from Newcastle to Anal Town could be under threat as it is feared he has glandular fever (Express).

Sir Alex Ferguson could leave Man Yoo after next season and some of Europe's top coaches have already been tipped off about the possible job vacancy (Express).

Sticky Toffee Pudding Men plan to renew their interest in Crystal Palace striker Andy Johnson in the summer (Guardian).

Gooners are poised to repeat their capture of Cesc Fabregas and sign Barcelona's Spanish youth international Fran Merida next month when he turns 16, after Barca forgot to sign a contract which has parents had signed (Sun).

Barcelona claim they have a 'verbal agreement' with Thierry Henry for him to join in the summer on a £140,000-a-week deal. (Mail) Verbal agreements mean nothing unfortunately. Just ask Fran Merida! (see above)

Juventus coach Fabio Capello has made the Football Association aware that he would be interested in the England coach's job (Times).

Sven-Goran Eriksson is to allow England players to carry on negotiations for new contracts or transfers during the World Cup, despite the potential for distraction (Telegraph).

Time is running out for Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford and the Glazers will give the Scot just one more season at the Man Yoo helm (Express).

Tottenham manager Martin Jol is ready to bring Arjen Robben to White Hart Lane should the Dutch winger feel threatened by Michael Ballack's imminent arrival at Chelski (Express).

Michael Ballack's arrival will definitely herald the end of one Chelski career, with Jose Mourinho giving Jiri Jarosik the greenlight to go in the summer (Guardian).

Choose a day below to view the gossip from any one of the last 7 days:

Of course most of the gossip is nonsense, but some of it is true. We at Goal Flashers merely report what has already been written in the papers and are in no way associated with the articles as they appear when we see them. You will notice, however, that we do enjoy speculating on the stories as much as you do. Ours and your comments are highlighted in green.

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