Despite Guus Hiddink's protestation to the contrary the Daily Mail insist that Chelsea are close appointing the Dutchman as their permanent manager after it emerged Dick Advocaat is being lined up to succeed him as coach of Russia.

Hiddink has rejuvenated Chelsea since his arrival as interim boss, with two high-profile wins against Aston Villa and Juventus, but has always maintained he will leave Stamford Bridge in the summer to concentrate on his full-time, international job.

However, Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich, who is heavily involved in the funding of his national team, has now identified Zenit St Petersburg coach Advocaat as the leading replacement for his fellow Dutchman, which would allow Hiddink to remain in west London.

The Daily Mirror jump on the managerial merry-go-round with the seemingly baseless claim that Jose Mourinho is being lined up as the next manager of Liverpool if Rafa Benitez refuses to sign his new contract.

The former Chelsea manager is top of the Anfield shortlist despite the fact that he is currently lauding it in Italy with Serie A leaders Inter Milan and has a history of conflict with the Liverpool fans during his time in the Premier League.

Still, if Benitez's dispute with the club leads to him walking out then Mourinho is reportedly set to leave the big spending Italians to join the thriftier Anfield outfit.

The Sun also run with the story but claim Mourinho has already been sounded out about the Liverpool job by owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks and quote "an insider" as unequivocal proof.

“The Americans had read Mourinho was interested in returning to the Premier League and wanted to know if he meant it," the source said.

“But it wasn’t a firm approach or a job offer. It was more a case of testing the water in case Rafa did decide to walk out.”

The Guardian take a more measured approach and while they agree the doubts and rumours about Benitez's future will persist until he signs a new contract they use quotes from actual players to dismiss the claim that the squad are no longer committed to his cause.

Liverpool winger Albert Riera said: "I am sure if you asked all the players if they wanted Rafa to stay with us, 100% would say yes."

One of the main reasons the Spaniard has been reluctant to sign his new deal, at least according to the press, is because of his poor relationship with Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry and his involvement in the club's transfer dealings.

The Daily Telegraph bring the whole Benitez saga full circle and claim that Parry is about to be relieved of his post at Anfield and that will bring the whole contract saga closer to a conclusion.

According to The Times Liverpool will announce on Friday that Parry will leave the club at the end of the season after negotiating a payoff for the past few weeks.

The Carlos Tevez transfer saga continues in the Daily Star, who claim Real Madrid have made the first move to tempt the on loan Manchester United striker to the Santiago Bernabeu this summer.

Madrid sporting director Predrag Mijatovic and Tevez's representative Kia Joorabchian met for dinner on Wednesday night following the club's defeat to Liverpool.

High on the agenda for Real was to find out whether Tevez would be available to sign at the end of the season with United dragging their heels over a £30m permanent deal for the 25-year-old.

Meanwhile, the Daily Express report that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is preparing to splash the cash in the transfer market after the club announced increased profits of £4.5m.

Wenger, who splashed out £15million on Russian play-maker Andrei Arshavin in January, will hope he has more funds to spend after the club made a profit of £24.5million.