Villa keen on Defoe:Aston Villa have notified Tottenham of their interest in signing Jermain Defoe, with Martin O'Neill keen to add a prolific goalscorer to his threadbare but talented squad, write Stuart Jamesand Ewan Murray.
The Villa manager has long admired the England striker, who was among his targets in the summer, and would have no problem meeting Tottenham's valuation - likely to be significantly above the €9.38 million West Ham received in 2004.
The 25-year-old is seen as the predator in the penalty area that Villa are lacking although completing a deal for Defoe promises to be fraught with difficulties, not least because the forward is considering extending his contract at White Hart Lane.
Tottenham's hopes of signing Alan Hutton remain alive, with the Rangers player set to meet with his chairman, David Murray, within the next 24 hours to discuss his future. Spurs' €10.72m offer for the Scotland international remains on the table despite Hutton's assertions on Thursday that he did not want to move to England at this time.
Spurs are adamant they will not sell the Dimitar Berbatov this month despite comments from the player's agent claiming the forward would be interested in joining "a big club". Berbatov, who suggested he is "not worth" the €40m price tag Ramos has placed on him, admitted he is tired with the rumours.
"There are too many speculations around my name but most of them are foolish. It's absurd and I'm tired of seeing my name in the newspapers," the Bulgarian international said. Guardian Service
Barton shrink
Any hopes Sam Allardyce may have harboured of welcoming Joey Barton back to his squad in the near future appear to have been dashed. Peter Kay, the therapist treating the Newcastle United midfielder for behavioural problems at the Sporting Chance Clinic in Hampshire, has said he will not kick a ball for Allardyce's team until after his next court hearing in Liverpool on January 16th.
"Until the 16th of January, Joey will be with me 24 hours a day," said Kay. "As for him playing, it will not be happening in the near future. There are bail guidelines we are adhering to and we're concentrating on the work we need to do, which is going well." Although Allardyce has talked about the need to keep his player "fit" and Newcastle have been exploring ways of enabling him to play, or just train while adhering to bail conditions, Kay said right now, football was not Barton's priority.
"We do not play keepy-uppy in the garden, we do work of a different nature," he said. Guardian Service
Reds in the pink
Manchester United are set to announce a massive increase in turnover to €328m later this week. The club have cashed in on an outstanding season, during which they ended a four-year drought by lifting the Premier League title, only lost out to AC Milan in the Champions League semi-finals and were beaten by Chelsea in the FA Cup final.
Slightly irritated by Arsenal's bullish claim to be the richest club in England when they reported turnover of €269m in September, United have also factored in revenue from the long-term contract with shirt manufacturers Nike, which has never previously been included.
It leaves United as unquestioned number one in England, slightly behind only Real Madrid in the global arena.
Boateng on board
Middlesbrough skipper George Boateng is back in the fold after his bust-up with manager Gareth Southgate. The 32-year-old Dutchman and his former team-mate found themselves at odds when the midfielder was left out of the squad for the New Year's Day clash with Everton, sparking suggestions he could leave the Riverside Stadium this month.
However, Southgate has revealed any rift has been healed and Boateng was due to rejoin the first team squad after being left out of the party which travelled to Bristol City for Saturday's FA Cup third-round victory.
* Tottenham's Premier League clash against Chelsea has been put forward two days to accommodate their FA Cup replay against Reading. Spurs' trip to Chelsea was due to take place next Monday but will now be played on Saturday.
