Juan Mata hopes Arsenal will make second bid

Arsenal's hopes of signing Valencia midfielder Juan Mata have been given a boost by the player's father. Talking to Spanish website calciomercato.com, Juan Manuel Mata Rodriguez (also his son's agent) confirmed that Arsenal's initial bid had been turned down but held out hope another would be forthcoming.

"Valencia simply rejected their offer. After some hesitation they answered 'no' to the Gunners' offer," explained Mata senior. "So my son remains a Valencia player, for now. But I don't think it's their last offer... I think that Arsenal will come forward again. The situation is still evolving."

The Daily Mirror claims that the 23-year-old Spaniard (above) wants to move to Arsenal and also says that Gunners boss Arsene Wenger will indeed make a second bid. The first bid was believed to be in the region of £18m and sources in Valencia suggest that if Arsenal want to get their man they'll have to come up with at least £25m.

The Daily Mail reports that Paris Saint-Germain are about to make an audacious bid for Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov. Having been acquired by a consortium of wealthy Qatar businessmen in the summer, the French club are spending money like there's no tomorrow and the Mail says they're prepared to offer United £18m for the beanpole Bulgarian frontman.

So far this summer PSG have spent £35m in snatching Palermo's Javier Pastore from under the noses of Chelsea and have also purchased Jeremy Menez from Roma, St Etienne midfielder Blaise Matuidi and Serbian defender Milan Bisevac.

Now they're after the 30-year-old Berbatov and United boss Alex Ferguson fuelled speculation that he might be about to wave goodbye to the frontman. Asked on French television after a charity match involving United players in Monaco, Ferguson said of the possible transfer: "Yes, he might. That's possible."

Liverpool have finally managed to rid themselves of Milan Jovanovic after a year of unmitigated disaster for the Serbian forward. Jovanovic arrived at Anfield last season from Standard Liege but failed to find his feet and Kenny Dalglish has wanted to offload the frontman since he replaced Roy Hodgson as manager at the start of this year. Talksport report that Jovanovic has agreed terms with Anderlecht and the deal will be sealed at the end of his week.

And it's also Talksport who claim that Liverpool are pondering a move for Dynamo Kiev defender Gerson Magrao. The 26-year-old Brazilian is in search of a left-sided defender and apparently he thinks Magrao could fit the bill. At £5m he won't break the bank but Talksport report that the only potential pitfall is in securing a work permit for the South American.

In other news former Manchester United legend and pretty boy Cristiano Ronaldo has dropped his strongest hint yet that he's not done with the Premier League. The 26-year-old striker left Old Trafford for Real Madrid two years ago but admitted to reporters on Tuesday that he missed the cut and thrust of English football.

Asked if he had plans to return Ronaldo replied: "Possibly, you never know what will happen." Manchester City were rumoured to be after the Portuguese international earlier in the summer and the Sky Blues remain the only club capable of affording the player who cost Real £80m.

Finally the Sun claims that Spurs have made an offer to Blackburn for French central defender Christopher Samba. Apparently the Lilywhites have put £10m on the table in the hope of gazumping neighbours Arsenal. The Gunners have been keeping tabs on Samba for months but Wenger has yet to make an official approach for the 27-year-old. ·