Friday's gossip column

[statto]

TRANSFER RUMOURS

West Ham boss Alan Curbishley is under increasing pressure at Upton Park, with Croatia coach Slaven Bilic interested in succeeding him. (The Independent)

Real Madrid are ready to pull the plug on Robinho's £28m move to Chelsea and make him stay at the Bernabeu. (Daily Star)

Everton have made a £10m bid for Newcastle's James Milner in a bid to beat Aston Villa in the race for his signature. (Various)

Veteran Swedish striker Henrik Larsson is being linked with a move to Everton or Tottenham after a fall-out with Helsingborg chairman Sten-Inge Fredin. (Daily Mail)

Spurs have reached a verbal agreement with Manchester United to sell Dimitar Berbatov once the signing of Roman Pavlyuchenko has been finalised. (The Times)

But Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is now becoming increasingly pessimistic that any deal will be done for the £28m-rated Bulgarian striker. (Various)

Everton will move for Galatasaray midfield man Mehmet Topal if they fail to land their top target, Sporting Lisbon's Loao Moutinho. (The Guardian)

Sporting Lisbon may also have to fight off interest from Spurs for Moutinho's midfield partner Miguel Veloso. (The Guardian)

Aston Villa are weighing up a £5m move for Standard Liege's £5m-rated midfield man Marouane Fellaini. (Daily Mirror)

Portsmouth may move for former Arsenal and West Ham forward Freddie Ljungberg. (Daily Mirror)

West Ham could sign Uruguay striker Walter Pandiani, who is hoping to clinch a surprise move back to the Premier League. (The Times)

Newcastle are set to swoop for Rosenberg midfield man Per Ciljan Skjelbred after they were told he is now available. (Daily Star)

Preston want to strike a loan deal for Sunderland striker Anthony Stokes. (Daily Mail)

Inverness are chasing Wycombe's David McCracken after failing in a move for Dundee United's Darren Dods. (Daily Record)

Manchester City want to sign Fluminese midfield man Thiago Neves. (Daily Mail)

OTHER GOSSIP

Jose Mourinho has revealed he turned down an opportunity to quit Chelsea after their 2007 FA Cup Final win against Manchester United - and admits he should have left Stanmford Bridge then. (Various)

Liverpool's new stadium is set to be delayed further as owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett struggle to raise funds to start the next phase of the £350m project. (Various)

Arsenal shareholder Danny Fiszman says Arsene Wenger can spend £30m on a single player if he wishes. (Various)

AND FINALLY

Former Spurs goalkeeping coach Hans Segers has branded Dimitar Berbatov a "a big sulker" and "a loner" who is difficult to communicate with and does not pull his weight - but apart from that.... (Daily Mirror)