• Arsenal striker Van Persie is expected to be part of the club's pre-season tour to Asia unless Manchester City, who the Gunners play in Beijing, or Juventus make a move before then.

• Manchester City's Carlos Tevez is poised to make a move to AC Milan this week, paving the way for Roberto Mancini to sign Arsenal's Robin van Persie. Manchester United are also in the hunt for the striker.  

• Real Madrid are confident of signing Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric in the next 48 hours.

• Chelsea are set to beat Tottenham to the signing of Brazilian midfielder Oscar, 20, who plays for Internacional.

• Ajax are thought to be in talks with two clubs about Denmark playmaker Christian Eriksen, who is keen on a move to Manchester United or Barcelona.

• Reports in France suggest that Laurent Koscielny, who is believed to have opened new contract talks with Arsenal, is a target for Barcelona.

• Newcastle boss Alan Pardew says the club can sign two or three players without the need to sell any of his squad.

• Cardiff are set to knock back Fulham's £2.5m bid for winger Peter Whittingham.

• Scotland striker Kenny Miller will fly to the United States this week for talks over a two-year contract with Vancouver Whitecaps in a move approved by Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay, who aims to make Liverpool's Craig Bellamy his replacement.

• Celtic are interested in signing 22-year-old Spanish goalkeeper Joel Robles, who is third choice at Atletico Madrid, as back-up to Fraser Forster, who has made his loan permanent from Newcastle.

 

• Senior black players are considering talks to discuss forming their own breakaway federation to deal with race and discrimination after the John Terry racism trial.

• Manchester United's Ryan Giggs says he is preparing to become a manager and the Team GB football captain says he will use the Olympics to see what lessons can be learned from other sports.

• Former Everton forward Graeme Sharp says former Liverpool striker Michael Owen would be a welcome addition at Goodison Park.

• Former Wolves boss Mick McCarthy will be tempted back into management by Nottingham Forest.

• Arsenal's new signing Lukas Podolski has urged striker Robin van Persie to stay at the club after the Dutchman said he will not be signing a new Gunners contract.

• Tim Sherwood is set to be put in charge of the careers of Tottenham's youngsters - fuelling theories he is being groomed as a future boss.

 

• Losing the Old Firm derby between Celtic and Rangers until at least 2015 could deal a £120m blow to the Scottish economy after the new Ibrox club were voted into Division Three as the old heads for liquidation.

• St Mirren chairman Stewart Gilmour predicts that his club could be one of five in the Scottish Premier League - the others being Dundee United, Inverness Caledy Thistle, Kilmarnock and Motherwell - forced into administration within weeks if the new Rangers start life in Division Three.

• Scottish Premier League chairmen could decide at their annual meeting on Monday to continue with 11 teams next season and deny Dundee or Dunfermline a promotion place after Scottish Football League clubs voted to place the new Rangers in the Third Division instead of Division One.

• Dundee United and Hearts say the Rangers newco stand no chance of being admitted to the Scottish Premier League at its annual meeting and that creation of an SPL2 to include the new club at Ibrox was also a non-starter.

• If Rangers do play in Division Three this season, it will resurrect the oldest derby in world football, against Queen's Park, which was first played 133 years ago.

• Former Dundee director Giovanni Di Stefano has bought a £1 share in the old Rangers and has promised that "sparks will fly" as the Italian goes out to prove that Rangers should never have gone into administration.

• Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiel has had to give up on re-signing his midfielder son, Dean, saying he does not have the money to bring in any additional players.

• Motherwell manager Stuart McCall does not expect to make any new signings, despite playing in the Champions League qualifiers, because of the decision to place Rangers in Division Three.

• AND FINALLY...

    When asked by a fan who his favourite superhero is,                Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez said it is his team-mate Mario Balotelli.