Hungry Arsenal chase Lukas Podolski and Esteban Granero

COLOGNE star Lukas Podolski is being chased by Arsenal according to German rag Bild. The veteran winger, capped 93 times by Germany, has been watched by Arsenal scouts in recent weeks and Bild claims that the Gunners will be making an offer for the 26-year-old the moment the January transfer window opens.

So alarmed are Cologne by the news that general manager Volker Finke has warned they’ll do everything in their power to hold on to Podolski. “I am trying to stay indifferent to rumours like this,” Finke tells Bild. “We all know what we are facing. Sometime around Christmas we will meet to try and thrash out the contract extension of Lukas Podolski.”

Finke adds that he is frantic negotiation with Kon Schramm, the agent of Podolski, in the hope of heading off a bid by Arsenal but apparently the London club is desperate to sign the dazzling German.

Still with the Gunners, and Talksport reports that the club “have moved a step closer” in their bid to sign Real Madrid midfielder Esteban Granero. As Transfer Talk reported earlier in the week, manager Arsene Wenger is a big fan of the gifted playmaker and now it’s being claimed in sections of the Spanish press that the nutty professor has been in contact with his Real counterpart – Jose Mourinho – to thrash out a New Year deal.

With Granero struggling for game time at the Bernabeu now that Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil have established themselves in Real’s midfield, Talksport says Mourinho could be persuaded to sell the 24-year-old if the price is right – and that price could be as little as £6m.

No New Year bargains as far as Gareth Bale is concerned, however, with the Metro claiming that the Spurs winger could be headed to Juventus in January for a whopping £40m.

According to the paper, the Turin outfit have identified the 22-year-old Welshman as the player capable of bringing back the glory years. It’s nine years since Juventus last won the Italian title but, with the club now rolling in cash following a lucrative sponsorship deal, a big money offer for Bale is on the cards.

Boss Antonio Conte thinks Bale is the bees knees according to the Metro and for that reason he’ll be offering Spurs £40m at the start of 2012 and he is cautiously optimistic that the sum will be enough to secure the Welsh wizard’s services.

Finally, the Daily Mail says that Everton and Sevilla are set to squabble over Arsenal’s misfiring Moroccan striker Marouane Chamakh. The 27-year-old arrived at the Emirates from Bordeaux in the summer of 2010, but he hasn’t had a happy time of it in north London. According to the Mail Sevilla are in the driving suit to sign Chamakh as they want to take him permanently whereas the Toffees are more interested in a loan deal. ·