The Rumour Mill - December 21 (From Lancashire Telegraph)

The Rumour Mill - December 21

9:15am Monday 21st December 2009

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Everton will battle it out with Arsenal to sign Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh for £7m in the summer.

Tottenham are set to move for Portsmouth full-back Nadir Belhadj in January, with Everton also interested in the Algeria defender.

Manchester United could make a move for Birmingham's Gary O'Connor in the January transfer window.

Chelsea, Real Madrid and AC Milan are monitoring 16-year-old Anderlecht striker Romelo Lukaku.

Birmingham City want to turn Joe Hart's loan switch from Manchester City into a permanent move and are also close to agreeing a £2.5m deal for Sporting Gijon midfielder Michel.

Alan Curbishley could return as West Ham boss if David Sullivan's takeover of the Upton Park club goes through.

West Brom midfielder Graham Dorrans is wanted by Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Everton, Stoke City and Sunderland but the Baggies say the 22-year-old midfielder is not for sale.

New Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has given the club's chief executive Garry Cook a list of players he wants to sign, with Juventus left-back Giorgio Chiellini one of his targets.

But Mancini faces a battle to win over a number of disillusioned City players who are outraged by the sacking of former boss Mark Hughes.

Mancini took the Eastlands job knowing he was not the club's first choice. City's chief executive Garry Cook flew to Amsterdam at the start of December to offer the post to Guus Hiddink.

Former England midfielder David Platt, a close friend of Mancini, is set to join the Italian's coaching team at Eastlands.

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