TRANSFER RUMOURS Villarreal have joined Juventus in the battle to land Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze. (Daily Mirror)
Wales and Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs is understood to have told countryman Gareth Bale how good life is at Old Trafford in the hope that the Southampton defender will move to the Red Devils instead of Tottenham. (The Sun) Tottenham are set to tie up a £10m deal for Bale. (Various) Arsenal may be on the brink of selling midfielder Cesc Fabregas to Real Madrid. (Daily Star) Liverpool failed with a last-ditch bid to sign defender Sylvain Distin, who has joined Portsmouth after leaving Manchester City as a free agent. (Various) Aston Villa defender Jlloyd Samuel is on the verge of joining Bolton on a free transfer. (Daily Mail) Watford have agreed a £500,000 deal to sign Crystal Palace winger Jobi McAnuff. (Daily Mail) New Sheffield United manager Bryan Robson wants to sign Manchester United midfielder Kieran Richardson. (Various) Sunderland are targeting Blackburn defender Andy Todd. (The Sun) Leeds striker Richard Cresswell is set to join Leicester. (Daily Mirror) Wigan striker Henri Camara wants to join Paris St Germain so he can be nearer his family. (The Sun) Portsmouth are interested in Middlesbrough's out-of-contract striker Mark Viduka and defender Titus Bramble, who has been released by Newcastle. (Daily Express) Chelsea midfielder Claude Makelele, who has a year left on his contract, does not know if he still has a future at Stamford Bridge. (Various) Makelele has been offered a two-year deal by Villarreal. (The Independent) Wigan midfielder Lee McCulloch has his heart set on a move to Rangers. (Daily Express) West Ham are watching Ecuador striker Carlos Tenorio, who plays for Al-Sadd in Qatar. (Daily Star) Watford want to bring Fulham striker Heidar Helguson back to Vicarage Road. (Daily Star) Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood fears Russell Anderson, who is being tracked by Middlesbrough, Everton and Sunderland, will leave because the board will be unable to come up with a deal to satisfy the club captain. (Daily Record) Dundee United are closing in on Polish keeper Lucasz Zaluska, who plays for Korona Kielce. (Daily Record) Wolves will check on Blackpool midfielder Wes Hoolahan in the League One play-off final against Yeovil. (Daily Mirror) Crewe want to sign Liverpool striker Craig Lindfield, 18, on a 12-month loan deal. (Daily Star) Macclesfield want to sign striker Steve Fletcher after holding initial talks with the former Bournemouth player. (Daily Star) Motherwell have admitted defeat in their attempt to keep midfielder Kevin McBride, who has yet to agree a new deal, at the club. (Daily Record) OTHER GOSSIP Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard admitted "my heart is in two pieces" after Liverpool lost 2-1 at the hands of AC Milan in the Champions League final. (Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Independent and The Times) Reds manager Rafael Benitez says missed chances led to his side's defeat in Athens. (The Sun) Benitez was furious that the referee did not play the full three minutes of injury time at the end of the match. (Daily Star) Liverpool boss Benitez has pledged a drastic overhaul of his side following the defeat by AC Milan. (Daily Mail) Benitez has called on Liverpool's new American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks to provide the financial muscle to propel the club forward. (The Independent) Former England coach Don Howe said of Liverpool's performance in Greece: "They might have played quite nicely but they never really looked like they would score from open play because, for a start, they just weren't creative enough." (Daily Telegraph) Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd was stunned when given news of the takeover bid by billionaire Mike Ashley as he lay in a hospital bed recovering from suspected pneumonia. (Daily Express) Sam Allardyce has been assured his job as Newcastle manager is safe after Ashley launched the £133m buy-out bid. (Various) Allardyce was stunned by the news of the takeover bid and said: "I am as shocked about this as chairman Freddy Shepherd. I will be talking to the chairman to see what it all means and we will go from there." (The Sun) Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner, who was on loan at Birmingham this season, wants to force his way into the first team after agreeing a new five-year deal with the Gunners. (The Sun) Former Arsenal defender Tony Adams, who is currently the number two at Portsmouth, has revealed he is desperate to manage the Gunners at some point in his career. (Daily Mirror) Morecambe manager Sammy McIlroy has pledged his future to the Football League new boys after ruling himself out of the running to be Northern Ireland manager. (Daily Star) Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate may have to ask for more time to gain his coaching qualifications because of the newly recommended requirement of being enrolled on the Uefa Pro Licence course before the start of the season. (Various) Fresh doubt has been cast over Manchester United's pre-season visit to Malaysia in July because the club need the Asian Football Confederation's permission to play - and it may not be forthcoming. (Daily Telegraph) The former chairman and chief executive of British Aerospace, Sir Richard Evans, is an early front-runner to become the first independent chairman of the Football Association - if the Burns review goes through. (Various) AND FINALLY Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will travel to Ghana next week to raise awareness for sports charity Right to Play. (Daily Mail) Blackpool manager Simon Grayson has challenged club owner Valery Belokon to honour his promise and wear a tangerine suit, the club's traditional colours, in Sunday's play-off final against Yeovil. (Various) Yoga fan Matt Oakley has promised to stand on his head at Wembley if the midfielder's Derby side win Monday's Championship play-off final against West Brom. (Daily Express) There will be about 9,000 empty seats at Monday's Championship play-off final after the Football League and Wembley failed to reach a deal that would have allowed unsold tickets to be passed on to fans of Derby and West Brom. (The Guardian) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
