Wednesday's gossip column


TRANSFER GOSSIP

Tottenham are prepared to listen to Italian club AC Milan about a potential swap deal involving Spurs striker Roman Pavlyuchenko and Dutch forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.(Daily Mirror) 
Meanwhile, Pavlyuchenko's agent has dismissed reports that the Russia striker has already signed a contract with Zenit St Petersburg. (The Independent) 
Manchester City forward Robinho will ask for a January move if he fails to win first team football at Eastlands. Barcelona are ready to make a £32.5m offer. (The Sun) 
Barcelona could offer centre-back Carles Puyol or midfielder Yaya Toure as part of the deal. (Daily Star) 
Or, Manchester City may us Robinho as bait to land Barcelona defender Eric Abidal. (The Times) 
Manchester City and Spanish side Real Madrid will battle it out in the summer for Bayern Munich's £65m-rated Franck Ribery.(The Sun) 
Blackburn and Sunderland are both keen on Stromgodset's £2m-rated Norwegian striker Marcus Pedersen.(The Sun) 
West Brom have failed in a bid to sign former Notts County defender Sol Campbell, who is now a free agent after walking out on the club in September(The Sun) 
Portsmouth have reiterated their desire to keep hold of keeper David James who is a reported target of Manchester United and Tottenham. (Daily Express) 
Wigan are weighing up a move for Aston Villa's Emile Heskey, who left the Latics last January. Heskey is keen to secure first-team football in order to cement his England World Cup place.(The Independent)


OTHER GOSSIP

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp will be protected by his own team of bouncers when he returns to old club Portsmouth on Saturday.(Daily Mirror) 
Notts County director of football Sven-Goran Eriksson is being lined up to manage North Korea at the 2010 World Cup finals. (The Sun) 
And, Eriksson is tempted by the move and has flown out to east Asia to hold final talks with North Korea. (The Guardian) 
Or, Eriksson has turned down the opportunity to manage North Korea and is not interested in another national role. (The Times) 
Meanwhile Notts County fans are begging Eriksson not to bring in David Platt as manager to replace recently sacked Ian McParland. (The Sun) 
North Queensland Fury have dismissed reports linking striker Robbie Fowler with a move to League One side Tranmere as player-coach.(Daily Mirror) 
Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri says he is ready for a return to first team football having been out injured since July with a broken leg. (The Sun)
Former Celtic striker Henrik Larsson has revealed it will be a "dream" to return to the club as manager one day. (Daily Record) 
Newcastle United midfielder Nicky Butt has urged owner Mike Ashley to give temporary manager Chris Hughton the job full time. (The Sun) 
Meanwhile, the American consortium bidding to buy Newcastle expect an answer on the success of their bid from Ashley this week. (Daily Mail) 
Tottenham defender Jonathan Woodgate could be close to a return to action from his groin injury after coming through a practice match on Tuesday.(Daily Mail) 

AND FINALLY

England manager Fabio Capello has held crisis talks with defender Rio Ferdinand about his defensive nightmare against Ukraine on Saturday.(Various) 
Ruthless Capello also told midfielder David Beckham he was too tired to play and banished him to the stands on Saturday. (Daily Mail)
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