Chelsea final bid to sign £45m Ribery

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has made a desperate final attempt to persuade Bayern Munich's winger Franck Ribery to join the Stamford Bridge club, according to the Daily Mail. Bayern have been adamant that Ribery will not leave this summer, even telling big-spending Real Madrid that it would take "something crazy" to make them part with their prime asset, but Ancelotti is to return with an improved bid for the French international who is valued at more than £45m...

Karim Benzema became the latest recruit to Real Madrid during the Spanish spendthrifts' remarkable summer spree, electing to join Florentino Perez's Galacticos for £30m from Olympic Lyons. The 21-year-old French international rebuffed Sir Alex Ferguson's longstanding interest in him, reports the Guardian, and will instead take his chances at breaking into the first team line-up at the Bernabeu alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka...

Aston Villa, who were reported earlier this week to be interested in relegated Middlesbrough's versatile Turk Tuncay, are also bidding to bring his teammate Stewart Downing to Villa Park, the Daily Mail reveals. Downing is currently out injured so Villa would be looking to bring him in on a loan deal at first, which could make Boro more likely to prefer a sale to long-term admirers of the player, Tottenham...

Premier League new boys Birmingham have made an astonishing bid to bring Arsenal and Inter Milan legend Patrick Vieira to St Andrews, the Sun reports. The Blues are offering the former french international £100,000 a week - more than £5.2m a year - but the Inter player is reluctant to swap the charms of Italy's second city for that of England's one... ·