It started last weekend, and now Barcelona are ready to crank up the pressure in a bid to land Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal.

It's carried in many of the day's papers, but let's start with The Sun. Well, on Saturday his padre said the midfielder was flattered to be linked with both Barca and Real Madrid. Then on Sunday an "insider" said Fab was arrogant and selfish.

So, with the roots of unrest in place, Barca president Joan Laporta has spoken of his desire to bring the former Nou Camp youth player back to the club. Could he be set for a £45m transfer?

Onto Alan Shearer now and his bid for world domination... at Newcastle. The Sun reckons he is going to rule with an iron fist by banning all nights out on the Toon after games, making the players stay behind after training and eat lunch together as a team and he's also challenged anyone to say if they do not like the new regime - and said they can go if they are unhappy.

We take issue with this at Soccernet Towers and believe it could be a recipe for disaster. He's in charge for eight games and throwing his weight around! And how exactly is he going to tell players to go when the transfer window is closed and he, allegedly, won't be at SJP when it does reopen?

While stronger discipline can help, such severe measures may not work with a squad short on confidence which is about to face Chelsea...The Daily Express has a similar story.

Meanwhile over at the Daily Mail, there's a report on Sammy Eto'o's rumoured link to Liverpool. They claim he wants £7m-a-season to move to the Premier League. How could he possibly live on that?

Remember a guy called Martin Petrov? Yeah, the one who was flying down the wing for Manchester City last season. Well, The Sun claims that Tottenham will be in for him again in the summer. Mind you, he's not played since October due to injury.

And finally, it seems a good punch up is a bit of fun in the Germany camp. Michael Ballack has claimed Lukas Podolski gave him a quick one in the eye against Wales. Such is the on-pitch tactical battle, according to The Sun.