Man United prepare £35m bid for David Villa

The Daily Star says that Manchester United are closing in on the most-wanted player in the world – Valencia frontman David Villa. The Reds are assembling the asking price of £35m and, according to the paper, manager Alex Ferguson is monitoring Villa's every performance with the Spanish club to ensure he's not going to waste his money.

The 28-year-old Villa has been the subject of fevered transfer speculation this season with Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Barcelona all linked to the Spanish international, who has scored 37 times for his country. The Star, however, has it on good authority that Villa's preference is United and the chance to work with the likes of Ferguson and Wayne Rooney. Villa increased his standing last week with a magnificent hat-trick against Werder Bremen in the Europa League, taking his tally of goals for the season to 22 in 34 matches.

Arsenal are reportedly eyeing up Argentine shotstopper Sergio Romero. The Gunners have been let down this season by goalkeeping gaffes and boss Arsene Wenger is keen to take Romero off the hands of Dutch side AZ Alkmaar. According to the News of the World Arsenal are on the verge of making an £8m bid for the 23-year-old, and the paper quoted Romero as saying: "My career has gone very well in Holland but I came to Europe to play in the biggest leagues and I will soon be ready to move."

Arsenal's present trio of keepers - Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone – have been anything but consistent this season and Wenger wants to shore up what goes on between the sticks.
 
Romero played for Argentina in the 2008 summer Olympics and has a handful of caps to his name, but with him likely to feature in the World Cup Arsenal see the £8m price tag as representing good value.

The Gunners are also said to be tracking Wigan midfielder James Mccarthy, the teenage sensation who made his debut for the Republic of Ireland against Brazil earlier this month. According to several reports Wenger despatched his chief scout, Steve Rowley, to watch Mccarthy in action and has received favourable feedback. The 19-year-old Mccarthy joined Wigan last summer in a £1.2m move from Scottish club Hamilton Academicals, and has grown in stature throughout the season. The Scottish-born Mccarthy has a knack of scoring crucial goals, and in January 2007 he became the youngest player to score for Hamilton when he netted at the tender age of 16 years and 55 days.

Finally, is David Beckham going to see out his career where it all began – in London's East End? A report in yesterday's News of the World suggests so, with the paper quoting West Ham co-owner David Gold as saying he intends to make a bid for Becks once he’s recovered from the Achilles injury he picked up playing for AC Milan last week.

Beckham was born in Leytonstone 34 years ago but as a youth he preferred Tottenham to the Hammers and attended Tottenham's school of excellence before joining Manchester United in the early 1990s. But Gold believes Beckham will jump at the chance to play for West Ham when he's recovered from his injury next season. "David keeps on showing he still has so much to offer and if he's available then we want to be bidding," said Gold, adding: "It's not only a case of what he can do on the pitch but what he does off it - he'd be a sensational ambassador for his home-town club...It's not fanciful as he has so much to offer. His arrival would be massive." ·