Football transfer rumours: Fabricio Coloccini to Liverpool?

Liverpool are eyeing up Newcastle's poodle-permed defensive tyrant Fabricio Coloccini and could make a new year move for the 29-year-old. And given the way their last January swoop for a Newcastle player worked out, who could blame them for attempting a repeat?

Manchester United have been scouting Benfica's Nicolás Gaitán, who signed a new five-year deal in Lisbon this week but retained his bargain £40m release clause. Internazionale and deep-pocketed Parisians Paris St-Germain are potential rivals for the 23-year-old but United are so intent on signing an Argentinian attacking midfielder that they are also monitoring Anderlecht's Lucas Biglia, by way of back-up.

Less popular at Old Trafford is fourth-choice shot-stopper and touch-typer's nightmare Tomasz Kuszczak, with the English champions finally accepting that they're never going to get the £4m they were asking for him in the summer and slashing his price.

Across Manchester, noisy neighbours City have targeted Gent's Yassine El Ghanassy as the man to solve their current crisis engulfing their terminally undermanned squad. The 21-year-old left-winger, also interesting Celtic and Lille, would immediately slot straight into the currently vacant name-you-completely-forget-until-it-appears-on-the-bench-in-a-Carling-Cup-tie-in-three-years role, vacant since Felipe Caicedo left the club in the summer.

Sunderland want Freiburg's Senegalese striker Papiss Demba Cissé, who was linked with Fulham, Newcastle and Schalke over the summer – when his asking price was a mere £13m – and with Liverpool, Arsenal and Blackburn earlier in the year, when he was valued at a mere £11m. The forward's prolific form this campaign – seven goals in 10 league games so far, since you ask – has pumped his value up to a dizzy £18m. "Liverpool is a dream club," the player said earlier this year. "Salif Diao and El Hadji Diouf have played there."

Think that's weird? Fiorentina's Riccardo Montolivo, the 26-year-old midfielder who is set to take his pick of Europe's top clubs when his contract expires in the summer, is rumoured to have his heart set on Arsenal.

Napoli want QPR's Adel Taarabt and Alejandro Faurlín. "I'm flattered by my name being linked with an enormous club like Napoli," said Taarabt. Napoli also want Palermo's Slovenian international Armin Bacinovic but the 21-year-old is attracting interest from England. Given that earlier this year he was being simultaneously linked with Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton it will no doubt come as a significant disappointment to everyone, except perhaps Napoli, that the name currently in the frame is Aston Villa.

Ipswich are ready to bid £1.5m for Doncaster's Billy Sharp. The eight-date "Live and Loud" tour planned by Andy Gray and Richard Keys, which was to have wowed the football-loving folk of Southend, Worthing, Poole and Clacton-on-Sea, among approximately four others, has been scrapped because of poor ticket sales.

Frank Lampard is selling various household nick-nacks for charity, including "two lamps with ornate silk shades", "one large gold/red mirror" and an "ornate chess set with matching stools". Are you thinking what we're thinking? Namely: what kind of stools match a chess set? And what do you do with them when you put the chess set away? As ever, sadly, the Rumour Mill leaves you more questions than answers.

Man Utd boss Ferguson foresees FA Cup semi-final 'chaos'

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has predicted "absolute chaos" during FA Cup semi-final weekend.
All four competing teams will travel to Wembley from the north west of England while Liverpool fans will be heading to Arsenal on Sunday for a league clash.
"It's going to be absolute chaos - but there's nothing that can be done about it," said Ferguson.
"Think of the amount of people driving down. You've got Villa Park and Anfield on your doorstep."
United face local rivals Manchester City at 1715 BST on Saturday 16 April and a day later Bolton play Stoke in a 1600 BST kick-off.
Liverpool's match at the Emirates Stadium also begins at 1600 BST - and takes place on the same day as the London Marathon.
"There will be 60,000 people coming down from Manchester - think about how much petrol is used for that?" added Ferguson.

"Stoke fans, Bolton fans, City fans, United fans - and on the same weekend Liverpool fans are travelling down. And you've also got people coming down to see the London Marathon.
"I don't think the cost of people travelling down to Wembley is considered."
A Football Association spokesman told the BBC: "We look forward to welcoming the four teams to Wembley next month, where 180,000 fans will enjoy a fantastic football spectacle in the two games."
Semi-finals have been played at the new Wembley since 2008 and are scheduled to continue to be take place at the venue as the FA attempts to recoup the costs of building the stadium.
However, it is understood that the FA may review the current situation during a consultation of the FA Cup competition.
Meanwhile, United will take on Spanish champions Barcelona in a friendly as part of their pre-season tour of the United States.

Man Utd's US tour fixtures
v New England Rev - 13 July
v Seattle Sounders - 20 July
v Chicago Fire - 23 July
v MLS All Stars - 27 July
v Barcelona - 30 July
The sides, who last faced each other in the 2009 Champions League final, will meet on 30 July at the 91,704-capacity FedExField in Washington.
Barcelona are likely to provide Ferguson's team with their strongest test in the five-match tour.
United will also play against three MLS club sides and an all-star select XI.
The Old Trafford club will take on New England Revolution in Boston on 13 July and Seattle Sounders on 20 July in Seattle before facing Chicago Fire on 23 July.
The Red Devils will then meet MLS All Stars on 27 July at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey.
The meeting with Barcelona at FedExField, which is home to the Washington Redskins NFL team, will round off the tour and is sure to evoke memories of recent battles in European competition.
The Catalan side were 2-0 victors over United in the 2009 Champions League final, but a Paul Scholes goal at Old Trafford saw the Red Devils prevail in their semi-final clash the previous season , with Sir Alex Ferguson's men going on to lift the trophy in Moscow.

Tottenham's Luka Modric: We are better than Manchester City and the game between us will decide Champions League spot

Croatian insists Spurs are a stronger team than their rivals and believes side can do the double over Arsenal with second derby of the season taking place at White Hart Lane

Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric insists that the North London team are superior to that of top four rivals Manchester City, but admits that finishing in a Champions League place for the second season in a row will still be a difficult task.

As it stands, Spurs are on 49 points, four points adrift of fourth place City with a game in hand. The teams were neck-and-neck coming into last season's conclusion, with Harry Redknapp's team pipping Roberto Mancini's side to Champions League football with 1-0 win over City in their penultimate match, but the Croatian playmaker believes such event will be hard to emulate this time round.

Speaking to Sky Sports News on international duty, Modric said: "It is going to be tougher than last year but I think we have a lot of quality in the team and can do it again.
"It is going to be hard but I think we are better than them and we still have one game against them.

"I think that game will again be decisive for who finishes fourth and fifth."

However, before Spurs can fight for their place amongst Europe's top clubs next season, there is the significant matter of this campaign's second north London derby against old foes Arsenal on April 20 and the 25-year-old is looking forward to a possible double after beating the Gunners on their own turf.

He added: "It is the best game to play in the Premier League.

"We have already beaten them at home and I don't see any reason why we cannot beat them again, especially in front of our fans where we are playing really well.

"It is going to be a good game for us and for everyone."

Six Spanish clubs challenge league strike

MADRID — Six Spanish first division clubs have taken legal action to prevent a strike by the country's professional football league (LFP) next month.
"Espanyol Barcelona, Villarreal, Zaragoza, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Sevilla launched (on Wednesday) an action in the courts of Madrid to condemn the agreement passed by the general assembly of the LFP on February 11," the clubs said in a joint statement.
The LFP announced on February 11 its decision to strike on the weekend of April 2-3 to protest a long-standing rule that one first division match per weekend is broadcast for free on television.
Negotiations followed with political leaders to find a solution, but the LFP reiterated its decision late on Tuesday.
The decision means the Spanish league season could be extended to the weekend of June 11-12 instead of May 21-22.
The six clubs believe that the strike is "a disproportionate, untimely measure that is contrary to the interests of the clubs, the competition and the fans and is, in addition, contrary to the law."
A 1997 law allows one first division match per weekend to be broadcast for free on television, rather that on pay-per-view or cable.
Spanish media said the six "rebel" clubs also reject the current distribution of revenues for television rights.
According to the sports daily AS, Real Madrid and Barcelona, the country's top two clubs, receive 125 million euros per season, several times more than any others.