Arsenal line up a bid for €18m Giampaolo Pazzini

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is reported to be tracking the Italian striker Giampaolo Pazzini of Sampdoria. The Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport claims today that the Londoners are ready to make an €18m bid for the 25-year-old player, whose goal yesterday in Serie A took his tally for the club to 19 goals in 32 appearances since he transferred there from Fiorentina in January 2009. However the high-flying Genoans want at least €25m for their prize asset...

Rafa Benitez is looking to alleviate his striking crisis by bringing in Ruud van Nistelrooy from Real Madrid, the Sunday Mirror reported yesterday. The Anfield manager has a paucity of options up front beyond his Spanish hot-shot Fernando Torres, with neither David Ngog nor Andrei Voronin a deadly enough replacement, so the Benitez is aiming to bring in the 33-year-old, who is warming the bench at the Bernabeu. If Nistelrooy comes to Liverpool, it will mean the Merseyside team will have their great rivals Manchester United's former goal machine - as the Old Trafford side now do with Michael Owen, latterly of Anfield of course...

Bayern Munich have revealed that Chelsea bid €65m plus defender Jose Bosingwa for Franck Ribery during the summer transfer window, according to the Guardian. Uli Hoeness, the Bundesliga club's general manager, told a German newspaper: "We never received an offer over €100m. The best bid game from Chelsea: €65m plus the player Bosingwa. We also received other offers of €76m and €80m. He always said to us that he would like to move to Real Madrid, but that if we wanted to keep him, then it was not a problem." Should Bayern be knocked out of the Champions League on Wednesday night, it's likely that the French international will begin to agitate for a move again...

The News of the World claimed that Manchester United have been told that if they want to sign CSKA Moscow's goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev then they will have to pay £25m for the 23-year-old Russian. Old Trafford boss Sir Alex Ferguson had targetted Akinfeev after the keeper put in impressive performances against Manchester United during the Champions League group stage, and had talked him up. But the Russian club's valuation of their prime asset is £11m more than Ferguson's, and while the Scot wants to have a replacement ready to take over from Edwin van der Sar, he is unlikely to want to splash so much cash...

AC Milan's coach Leonardo has rubbished reports that his combative midfielder Gennaro Gattuso will be leaving the club for Manchester City during the January transfer window. As the Eastlands club endured a sixth successive draw (having lead Liverpool on Saturday), the priority for City boss Mark Hughes is to stiffen up the spine of his team. But Gattuso won't be the man to do it, according to his coach. "I have spoken to (AC Milan club administrator Adriano) Galliani," said Leonardo. "I often speak to Gattuso and it's not true. There is no truth in claims that he wants to leave." AC's Brazilian star Ronaldinho also added his voice: "Rino (Gattuso) is a good friend of mine. He is the soul of this team and I expect him to remain here"...