Portsmouth face the prospect of paying out more than £500,000 in wages at the end of the week to players no longer at the club. David James alone will pick up about £140,000 - if he does not sign for anyone else before Saturday night.

Stoke City are ready to bid £8.5m for Manchester City’s former Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz.

Diego Maradonna says he has been betrayed after losing his job as the coach of Argentina.

Premier League new boys Blackpool are in talks with transfer-listed Ipswich striker Jon Stead, 27, who has rejected a move to Bristol City.

Avram Grant wants free agent Laurent Bonnart to become his latest West Ham recruit. The defender had been at Marseille.

Danish goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard, who plays for Norwegian side Aalesunds, is being lined up by Manchester United as Edwin van der Sar's successor.

Roy Hodgson wants Aston Villa's Bulgarian midfielder Stiliyan Petrov, 30, to replace Javier Mascherano at Anfield and is ready to offer £7m.

Luke Young's £2.5m move to Liverpool is in doubt as the 31-year-old defender wants a pay-off from Aston Villa as he would have to take a drop in wages.

Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay says manager Carlo Ancelotti will be given money to rebuild the side and that striker Didier Drogba will not be leaving.

The Stamford Bridge outfit want to wrap up the £17m signing of Benfica midfielder Ramires.

Wigan are preparing a club record £7m bid for Chile's World Cup striker Humberto Suazo, who plays for Monterrey.

Waldo Ponce is another Chilean star who could be moving with Everton set to step up their chase.

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho wants to take 32-year-old Chelsea centre-back Ricardo Carvalho to Spain. Mourinho signed the Portuguese defender in 2004 during his spell as manager of the Blues.