TRANSFER RUMOURS
Manchester City are ready to challenge Liverpool in the £3.6m battle for Fulham midfielder Steed Malbranque. (Express)
Newcastle's Senegalese midfield star Amdy Faye is poised to make a £2m return to Portsmouth. (Sun)
AC Milan will have to wait until next summer before attempting to sign Chelsea defender William Gallas. (Telegraph)
Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson will make Gareth Southgate his new manager - if he can get round Premier League coaching requirements. (Express)
Chelsea must wait until next month to sign Roberto Carlos - because of politics. (Sun)
Ruud van Nistelrooy's future will not be sorted out until he returns from the World Cup for talks with Sir Alex Ferguson. (Express)
Wigan striker Jason Roberts may interest Blackburn Rovers after he turned down a contract offer at the JJB Stadium. (Times)
Jens Lehmann has dismissed speculation linking him with a return to the Bundesliga following the World Cup in Germany. (Express)
Marseilles defender Abdoulaye Meite is a target for Everton. (Times)
Clyde top scorer Alex Williams has left the club to try and find a team in Malaysia. (Record)
Partick hope to sign former Livingston player Jason Dair for their Division One campaign. (Record)
GERMANY GOSSIP
Sweden are petrified of facing England in the World Cup. (The Sun)
England's World Cup bus ended up stuck in a narrow lane as a dummy run from the team's hotel to the training ground ended in farce. (The Sun).
Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has urged Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo to rein in his temper. (Daily Telegraph)
England's first opponents Paraguay have been accused of selling nearly half their tickets for the match to touts. (Daily Telegraph)
WORLD CUP FUNNIES
The Sun claims that England's squad took, among many other items, the following to Germany on Monday:
Styling mousse (24 cans), shampoo (24 bottles), soap (48 bars), vibrating razors (24), electric toothbrushes, Jaffa Cakes (2,300), wasp killer (48 cans), white socks (122 pairs), crisps (several dozen boxes) and a food blender.
Ukraine's players have been promised quality time with their wives if they reach the World Cup semi-finals.
"Those who don't feel like it, I'll just drag to their wives. Take my word for it," coach Oleg Blokhin told Russian daily Sport-Express.
Almost half of Croatia's workforce plan to take time off during the World Cup next month, according to a poll.
"Some 15% of employed Croats plan to fake illness during the World Cup while 27% of them will take leave so they can freely enjoy the soccer," said the poll, which was organised by a Croat employment agency.