Manchester United's summer recruitment plans are not proving to be particularly fruitful at the moment and now £25m striker Carlos Tevez looks set to follow £80m forward Cristiano Ronaldo out of the Old Trafford exit door.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson has cut short his holiday in France's Cote d'Azur to try and persuade Tevez to make his two-year loan move permanent, according to The Independent. But the Argentina striker is frustrated with limited first team opportunities at United and could head across Manchester to City.

To make matters worse, United are still struggling to attract a big name signing to replace Real Madrid bound Ronaldo. Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery is one such transfer target but his compatriot, idol and former Real star Zinedine Zidane has urged the 26-year-old, via the Daily Mail, to shun United and head to the Bernabeu.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror report that the Red Devils are willing to offer a British record £45m for Valencia striker David Villa, but it is well known the Spanish international wants to remain in La Liga and has offers on the table from Real and Barcelona.

Villa will definitely be sold by his cash-strapped club and Ferguson is willing to offer almost half of his £100m war chest in a probably unsuccessful bid to bolster his attacking options.

Liverpool and Chelsea are going head to head in a battle to sign Portsmouth full-back Glen Johnson. The Sun claim the Blues are leading the hunt with an £18m bid to re-sign their former defender, who started only 35 league games during four years at Stamford Bridge, and a deal could be done this week.

However, the Daily Express report that Reds boss Rafael Benitez is still hopeful of landing the England international and apparently Anfield is Johnson's preferred destination.

Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas has urged manager Arsene Wenger to sign a defensive midfielder and believes that Barcelona colossus Yaya Toure would be the perfect signing, according to the Daily Star. Fabregas also says he would be open to a move to Champions League winners Barcelona.

Barca have also been sniffing around Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and La Gazzetta dello Sport report that Nerazzurri president Massimo Moratti has quickly slapped a €90m price tag on Serie A's top scorer.

And finally... The Guardian claim that Michael Owen is so desperate to find a new club that the Newcastle United striker's management company have sent out 34-page document, which defends the England international's injury record as well as highlighting his goalscoring feats, to the top-flight clubs the 29-year-old would consider joining.