Manchester United line up bid for Edin Dzeko

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson may have pooh-poohed reports at the weekend that he is planning to spend some of the money that the club still holds from Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer, but the newspapers still have him bidding for players left, right and centre. His current target, according to the Manchester Evening News, is Edin Dzeko, Wolfsburg's Bosnian striker. The 23-year-old scored at Old Trafford in a 2-1 defeat of Wolfsburg in September in the Champions League, and has been in fine form for his country, scoring nine goals in their World Cup qualifying campaign, helping his team to the play-offs behind Spain. Dzeko has also been linked with Manchester City and Arsenal...

Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, piqued perhaps that his galacticos are failing to fire in the manner that they no doubt did in his dreams, is planning to offload up to six players in the transfer window. Mahamadou Diarra, Fernando Gago, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Jerzy Dudek, Royston Drenthe and Christoph Metzelder are all part of the clear-out planned, putting clubs across Europe on alert as the Spanish giants seek to trim their wage bill after last summer's €250m blow-out...

Fiorentina have joined fellow Serie A teams AC Milan and Juventus in offering Portuguese winger Nani a route out of Old Trafford, the Daily Mail reports. The Italian club are offering to take the 22-year-old on loan in January, with an eye to buying him for around £15m in the summer if the relationship works out. Nani has become persona non grata at Manchester United after he revealed his anger at Sir Alex Ferguson for mismanaging him - as the youngster saw it - since his transfer from Sporting Lisbon in 2007. In truth the Portuguese international has never fired on all cylinders since his big money move...

Having lost his second-string keeper Carlo Cudicini in a horrific car crash last week, Harry Redknapp is on the look-out for a new shot-stopper, and is prepared to splash out £6m on Manchester United's Ben Foster. The England international, who has slipped to third choice at Old Trafford, would welcome a chance to pull on the gloves at White Hart Lane after recently admitting: "It's very disheartening not even being on the bench at United. I'm third choice for United yet playing for my country. It's a weird one and I'll see what happens." Cudicini, who crashed his bike into a car, is likely to be out for the rest of the season... ·