At the weekend Chelsea were supposed to be chasing £45m AC Milan starlet Alexandre Pato but today the Blues are after Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery, according to the UK press.

The Sun report that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will fly to Germany to make a £40million raid for the France winger and has already made contact with Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness.

A senior Bayern source said: "Uli was taken by surprise by the phone call but was very honest and courteous with Mr Abramovich. We are still resolved to keep Ribery but Hoeness agreed to meet with Abramovich in Germany to discuss any offer."

Blackburn Rovers boss Sam Allardyce is up to his old tricks of recruiting faded veterans from around Europe and has made a shock move for Real Madrid defender Michel Salgado, according to the Daily Mirror.

The tough 33-year-old right back, capped 53 times by his country, arrived in Lancashire for talks about a shock free transfer move on Monday.

The Daily Mail claim that Everton defender Joleon Lescott is finally bound for Manchester City after the Eastlands club made a final offer of £20m, plus add-ons. The transfer will be completed in the next 36 hours, apparently.

Sven Goran Eriksson's Notts County are lining up a sensational move to sign former England centre-back Sol Campbell, who is out of contract at Portsmouth, according to the Daily Star.

The former Portsmouth defender is wanted by his old England manager to spearhead County's promotion charge from League Two.

The Daily Express report that Arsenal have been told they will have to pay £15m for Fulham’s Norway captain Brede Hangeland.

Gunners’ manager Arsene Wenger has said that the highly rated defender Hangeland, 28, is top of his list to replace Kolo Toure, sold a week ago to Manchester City. Arsenal want to do a deal in the next 48 hours.

Rafael Benitez has told The Guardian that he has no concerns over Javier Mascherano's commitment to Liverpool, despite denying the Argentina captain a move to Barcelona.

"I am confident he is 100% focused. The last week has changed a lot," the Liverpool manager said.

And finally... The Times report that David O'Leary could be the new manager of Newcastle United by this weekend unless bidders offer definitive proof to Mike Ashley that they have enough money to purchase the League Championship club.