Football transfer rumours: Chelsea and Manchester City in for Gerson?

LONDON. KAZINFORM - Listening to the radio last night, the Rumour Mill was amused to hear former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan's frank admission that he once signed a "defensive striker" (ie one that rarely scored) as a sop to a manager whose daughter was going out with a particular player who wanted his pal at Selhurst Park.

It was a revealing insight into a world we'd previously believed to be ruthless and cut-throat and will now have us questioning the motivation behind every potential deal. Are Manchester United interested in bringing Nathaniel Clyne to Old Trafford during the summer because they admire the Southampton right-back's qualities as a defender, or does Louis van Gaal merely see the 23-year-old as a potential source of free tickets to gigs at the Academy in his native Brixton? Clyne's French team-mate Morgan Schneiderlin is also being tipped for a move away from the south coast, with Arsenal being mooted as the next port of call for the French midfielder once the Saints have gone marching into next season's Champions League, Kazinform refers to the Guardian.

Belgian winger Kevin Mirallas is wanted by Tottenham Hotspur, who will offer Everton Aaron Lennon in a straight swap before Monday night's transfer deadline, while a washbag-toting Emmanuel Adebayor may be spotted ambling into the training ground of PSG, Stoke or QPR for a medical at some point in the next 72 hours.

Fluminense's 17-year-old Brazilian midfielder Gerson is a popular young man. Earlier this week it was reported that Juventus and Barcelona had made concrete offers for a kid who has yet to play in his home country's championship, the Brasileirão, but they could face the prospect of being outbid by Chelsea or Manchester City, who are believed to be in talks regarding the future of a player the Rumour Mill is happy to concede it knows nothing about. With Internazionale and PSG also believed to be sniffing around the teenager, we're going to go out on a limb and guess he can't be too bad. While you were labouring under the delusion that Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan had retired, he's been plying his trade in Japan with Cerezo Osaka. With six months left on his contract, the two-times European Golden Shoe winner is available on loan and has been linked with a return to the Premier League with West Brom, Hull City or West Ham.

Manchester United's ongoing pursuit of Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels kicks off this paragraph with its daily mention, although the £31m-rated Athletic Bilbao central defender Aymeric Laporte remains an alternative option should the German's representatives fail to agree terms in this window. Only the second French player, after Bixente Lizarazu, to line up for the Basque side, Laporte is also wanted by Premier League leaders Chelsea. Manchester United finally seem to have drummed up some interest in their non-playing midfielder Anderson and are hopeful they can offload him to Brazilian side Internacional, while across the city Manchester City are prepared to loan similarly underused winger Scott Sinclair to Aston Villa, who would get first dibs on a permanent deal come the season's end.

Stoke City centre-half Robert Huth is on the verge of signing a loan deal with Leicester City, who appear to have breasted the tape in the "race" to secure his services after leaving Championship sides Watford, Reading, Fulham and Cardiff City trailing in their wake. With the imminent departure of Huth freeing up a peg in their dressing room, Stoke hope to bring Bolton's winger, Lee Chung-yong to the Britannia Stadium, but will have to outbid both Fiorentina and Crystal Palace to get the South Korean on board. Currently recuperating from a leg fracture, Lee was forced to sit out his country's assault on the Asian Cup, a tournament in which they will face Australia in the final this weekend.

And finally, both Celtic and Burnley have had offers in the region of £1.5m for 22-year-old Dundee United midfielder Stuart Armstrong laughed out of Tannadice. ""He was more of a development style player in our world - a good young player we think who could learn with us," said Burnley boss Sean Dyche. "That won't happen now, by the looks of things. We've had offers in for more recognised players that haven't got over the line at the moment, but we'll see where that takes us." In a football world where defensive strikers are signed for no other reason than familial expediency, such setbacks are unlikely to knock Burnley's breezily optimistic gaffer off his relegation-battling stride.