Originally Posted by The Times

The Tottenham Hotspur careers of Brad Friedel, Carlo Cudicini and Heurelho Gomes could be at an end, with André Villas-Boas, the new manager, keen to sign two new goalkeepers as part of his revamp of the White Hart Lane club’s squad.

The 34-year-old Portuguese is preparing to sanction a £16 million bid for Hugo Lloris, the France player made available for transfer by Lyons, and he is expected to make a formal offer for Jack Butland, the teenage Birmingham City goalkeeper.

Originally Posted by The Times

The battle to sign Robin van Persie intensified last night, with AC Milan entering the race for the disillusioned Arsenal captain.

The club are willing to make funds available to allow them to compete with Juventus, their Italian rivals, Manchester United and Manchester City. Milan have doubts about two of their four strikers and believe it is an opportunity to sign a star name.

Although Milan have been trying to reduce costs, Silvio Berlusconi, the club’s wealthy owner, showed his willingness to open the chequebook with his pursuit of Carlos Tévez, the City forward, last summer. Some suggest that Milan will try to persuade Van Persie to see out the final year of his contract to sign on a free transfer, although that would appear unlikely to happen.

Juventus are planning to increase their offer after having an £8 million bid turned down, with Arsenal’s valuation about £25 million.

Van Persie does not want to travel on Arsenal’s tour of the Far East, where the team are scheduled to play three games, the second of which is against City in Beijing on July 27. City are thought to be willing to offer Van Persie a contract worth £200,000 a week. He would become the fifth player to move from Arsenal to City in recent seasons.

Kolo Touré, one of those, tried to tempt his former team-mate to move to the Etihad Stadium yesterday and boost the Barclays Premier League champions’ chances of emulating Chelsea’s Champions League triumph of last season.

“At City we have great players and the club does what it wants in transfers,” Touré, the defender, said. “But for me, if Robin comes it’s great because I know what he can do,” he said. “You have to build your squad every year to do better. To win the Champions League is very difficult, as we have seen. Robin is a top player. I’ve played with him, I know him and he’s a great man.”

Van Persie is not among the Arsenal players who will return for pre-season training on Monday after his efforts for Holland at Euro 2012 last month. There is believed to be a meeting of scouts planned at Arsenal this week in a bid to identify attacking replacements for Van Persie.

Arsenal have been quoted about £26 million for Stevan Jovetic by Fiorentina, higher than the club are prepared to go. The Montenegro striker, 22, is also wanted by Chelsea. Arsenal have also been linked with Robert Lewandowski, but Borussia Dortmund, the German champions, are detemined to hang on to the Poland forward.

The North London club are pressing ahead with plans to sell four other forwards — Marouane Chamakh, Andrey Arshavin, Nicklas Bendtner and Carlos Vela — and fringe players.

They have identified Étienne Capoue, 23, as a holding midfield player. He would cost about half the £17.7 million valuation put on Yann M’Vila by Rennes and was named in the team of the year in France for his combative performances for Toulouse last season.

Originally Posted by The Times

Queens Park Rangers agreed a £5 million deal to sign Park Ji Sung from Manchester United last night and will unveil ambitious plans for a new stadium on Monday to underline their intention to become an established club in the top flight.