Arsenal targeting Joey Barton, claims Quinn

Arsene Wenger has an extra £60m to spend this summer courtesy of some canny property deals by the Gunners with Barratt Homes, according to the News of the World.  But is the Frenchman getting carried away by the riches available? Certainly not. Instead, it seems the Arsenal manager has been making enquiries about Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton.

The stunning news was revealed by former Newcastle striker Micky Quinn, who told Talksport: "I know through a third party that Arsenal have enquired about Joey Barton."

Speaking on the All Sports Show, Quinn seemed to suggest that Newcastle were on the brink of selling the 28-year-old Barton (above) to the Gunners and he wasn't happy about the fact. "Why are they letting players like Joey Barton go if they have any ambition," stormed Quinn. "But it's only going to be Arsenal's gain. He'll put a bit of steel into that Arsenal team."

Barton has put his troublemaker reputation behind him in recent months although whether he'd be able to knuckle down under Wenger's disciplinarian ways remains to be seen.

Knuckling down is something Nicklas Bendtner has never done at the Emirates and now it appears the Danish patsy is off to Italy. The 23-year-old striker is currently sunning himself in Las Vegas and, according to the Daily Star will shortly be joining Inter Milan. The paper quotes Bendtner as saying: "There is no doubt about it and I am 100 per cent leaving Arsenal."

The People claims that Birmingham City centre-half Scott Dann is at the centre of an unseemly struggle between Arsenal and Liverpool with neither party impressed by the Blues' price tag of £12m for the 24-year-old defender.

Neither Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish nor Wenger believes the former England Under-21 international is worth that amount and are hoping to haggle with Birmingham. That might be successful, too, says the People, who reckon that the Blues would rather sell Dann to either Arsenal or Liverpool than have him follow former manager Alex McLeish to Aston Villa.

In other news, Chelsea are said to have increased their initial offer of £22m for Tottenham's Luka Modric to £25m. This will further up the ante between the two London clubs, particularly after the Croatian midfielder publicly stated his wish to move to the Bridge.

But Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has reiterated that Modric will not be sold whatever the price offered by Chelsea and manager Harry Redknapp echoed those words in an interview with the BBC: "If Tottenham are looking to go anywhere we can't be selling Luka. We have to do something to keep him at the club. We can't afford to sell Luka Modric if we want to be a successful club."

Modric isn't the only big name that Chelsea are eyeing up. Several papers report that the Blues have made an audacious £50m bid for Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero. Apparently the 23-year-old hotshot is being courted by Italian outfit Juventus, prompting Chelsea to make their move in the hope of securing his signature.

The news won't go down well with Manchester City who have been tailing Aguero for months, but then the Sky Blues are reportedly preoccupied right now with signing Alexis Sanchez from Italian club Udinese.

The Sun says that City will today make a desperate final bid to land the Chilean striker but things aren't looking good; apparently the 22-year-old South American is on the brink of signing for Barcelona in a £35m deal that will see Sanchez take home around £90,000 a week. ·