Blackburn Rovers manager Sam Allardyce may have ruled out the sale of Roque Santa Cruz because he would have no time to find a replacement but that has not stopped the UK press from keeping the deal alive by manufacturing a number of possible swap deals.

Although Manchester City have been the long term suitors of the Paraguay striker, Tottenham Hotspur are about to gazump the deal by offering striker Darren Bent as part of the deal to lure the forward to White Hart Lane, according to The Times.

This conveniently overlooks the fact the Santa Cruz himself wants to be re-united with former Rovers manager Mark Hughes at Manchester City and the Eastlands club are set to launch a final bid of £18.5m, after an offer of £16m was rejected, according to The Guardian.

If that happens then Allardyce will launch a last minute bid to sign Portsmouth's Peter Crouch in a £10m deal before the transfer window slams shut on February 2, says the Daily Mirror.

In today's episode of the Newcastle United soap opera Charles Insomnia ... erm, I mean N'Zogbia ... has used manager Joe Kinnear's mispronunciation of his name in a TV interview as his latest reason to reiterate his desire to leave the club.

"Having been insulted by Joe Kinnear, I will never play for him again while he remains Newcastle manager," the want-away Frenchman told the Daily Star.

Also, heading for the St James' Park exit are goalkeeper Shay Given, who the Daily Mirror claims will complete an £8m move to Manchester City, and Damian Duff will leave as the Magpies attempt to raise funds to finance a swoop for Derby County midfielder Kris Commons.

Heading into Newcastle, and needing an appointment with the head doctor for wanting to join the crisis club, are Bolton Wanderers skipper Kevin Nolan in a £4.5m deal (The Sun) and £3m Toulouse defender Albin Ebondo (The Times).

In a desperate bid to bolster their porous defence Manchester City have added Kolo Toure to their extensive shopping list and are willing to let Micah Richards join Arsenal as a makeweight, so says the Daily Mirror. However, the hacks at the Daily Mail disagree and insist either Chelsea defender Alex and Inter Milan's Marco Materazzi are their real targets.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has called a halt to his mission to re-sign every player Spurs sold last season so Robbie Keane will have to continue to ride the pine on the Liverpool bench, report The Independent.

Real Madrid are at it again and have signed a long-term agreement with Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo worth about £91m, says The Times, and AC Milan have been told they do not have to lodge a bid for David Beckham before the transfer window closes on Monday, claims the Daily Telegraph.

In the best of the rest... Fulham are hoping to sign injury prone Derby starlet Giles Barnes having offloaded injury prone midfielder Jimmy Bullard to Hull City and Chelsea are closing in on the transfer of Fiorentina defender Branislav Ivanovic.

And finally... Bolton have resigned themselves to missing out on Sporting Lisbon defender Miguel Veloso after the highly-rated Portugal international declared his undying love for his current club in light of the interest from the Premier League strugglers.