Middlesbrough have made a �5m offer to Fulham for their French midfielder Steed Malbranque. (The Times)

Crystal Palace and Cardiff are leading the chase for Charlton's out-of-favour striker Francis Jeffers. (The Sun)

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech underwent a shoulder operation on Sunday on a long-standing injury. (The Daily Telegraph)

Tottenham have denied Michael Carrick will join Manchester United if they sign Didier Zokora. (The Sun)

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is the latest manager to admit he wants to sign Holland and Feyenoord striker Dirk Kuyt. (Daily Mirror)

Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan will turn down a move to Torino to play in the Premiership. (Daily Mirror)

Leeds star Rob Hulse is set to move to Sheffield United. (Daily Star)

Celtic star Stilian Petrov is becoming frustrated in a bid to leave the club, says his agent. (Daily Record)

Dundee United midfielder Grant Brebner will sign for Melbourne Victory this week. (Daily Record)

Wayne Rooney has told England's coaching team that he is now fit enough to play for 120 minutes plus penalties if required to do so on Saturday against Portugal. (The Sun)

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson wants John Terry to deliver a motivational speech in the dressing room before Saturday's match against Portugal. (Daily Mail)

Bookmakers are angry with Fifa's striker-friendly attitude towards "dubious goals" incidents, particularly as those so favoured have tended to be contenders for the Golden Boot. (The Guardian)

Spain coach Luis Aragones once again refused to apologise for racially abusing France striker Thierry Henry in 2004 - Spain play France in Hanover on Tuesday. (The Guardian)

Shops in Spain have run out of the team's official replica shirt after selling more than 300,000 in recent weeks. (The Sun)

Inter Milan are set to make a �12.5m offer to Villarreal for their Argentine play-maker Juan Roman Riquelme - one of the stars of the World Cup so far. (The Times)

The Italian media says the inquiry into the match-fixing scandal surrounding the sport in that country has been widened to include a number of smaller teams including Empoli, Reggiana and Siena. (The Guardian)

Rafael Marquez, the Mexico captain, is ready to sign a contract extension to keep him with Catalan giants Barcelona until 2010. (The Times)

England left-back Ashley Cole admitted to Mexican reporter Ines Sainz in a post-match interview on Sunday that the diamond in his ear was a fake. (Daily Mail)

Michael Carrick's girlfriend Lisa Roughead sang ABBA's Dancing Queen during a karaoke session at the England WAGs' favourite bar in Baden-Baden, Garibaldi. (The Sun)

Against Italy, Australia fielded two players, Marco Bresciano and Vince Grella, who speak to each other in Italian. This comes after Germany's Polish strike force of Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski played against Poland. (The Times)

Holland legend Johan Cruyff says Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk's decision to deny Ivory Coast winger Salomon Kalou Dutch citizenship contributed to the national team's failure to reach the quarter-finals.