Chelsea are rumoured to be lining up a record breaking £65m bid for Liverpool striker Fernando Torres. Carlo Ancelotti has been given the full backing of Stamford Bridge chairman Roman Abramovich to spend big to bring in the best talent around to help cement the west London club’s position as the Premier League champions. Roy Hodgson’s arrival at the club has been greeted with a muted response from the Anfield playing squad and the Blues may feel that now is the time to attempt to snare the Spaniard.

Whilst its true that El Nino has not had the greatest of World Cup’s thus far he is undeniably one of the best strikers in Europe and with Chelsea’s current strike pairing of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka both being the wrong side of 30 it is imperative that they plan for the future and have therefore targeted the 26 year old as a potential big name addition.

The Anfield outfit are heavily in debt but the club’s under fire American owners would indeed have to think twice about accepting any such offer given that doing so would simply make Messrs Hicks and Gillett even more disliked.

The player himself has stated his desire to stay at the club so any move for the former Atletico Madrid man may well fall on deaf ears.

Previous Chelsea interest in Torres – Chelsea Ready To Open Their Cheque Book With Sensational £100 Million Swoop For Kaka And Fernando Torres (The People)

Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey is said to be on the radar of Italian giants AC Milan, according to reports emanating from Italy. A Milan source close to the club board has been quoted by Yahoo! Sports as saying, “[Dempsey] brings a lot of action and energy but he can be creative too. There are some options on the table but Dempsey is a realistic one. A bid is very possible, and soon.

Could Bob Bradley really be heading to Craven Cottage? If reports out of England are to be believed the USA boss is being considered as a candidate to take over the position Roy Hodgson vacated to take the Liverpool job. The same reports suggest that part of Bradley’s strategy would be to bring in several American players to team up with Clint Dempsey at Craven Cottage.

chelsea.jpg”>Chelsea midfielder Deco has already agreed personal terms with Fluminense, according to the president of the group that owns the Brazilian club.

The Brazil-born Portugal international has long been expected to leave Stamford Bridge and he said in the last domestic season that he wanted to return to South America.

That could soon become reality as Fluminense claim that discussions with Deco have reached a positive conclusion and that all that is left to address is a deal with Chelsea and the 32-year-old’s medical.

“As Deco himself said, the deal is well under way,” said Celso Barros, the president of the group which owns Fluminense, a club based in Rio de Janeiro.

Medical tests

“It depends only on him being released by Chelsea and passing the medical tests, because the salary and length of contract have already been agreed.

“We will not talk this Wednesday, but in principle Deco will go to London to try to expedite his release with Chelsea.

“That done, he has asked Fluminense for at least a week to be with his children in Brazil and then he will report for medical tests and to start training.” (Sky Sports)

Arsenal has been approached about a deal for Portugal international goalkeeper Eduardo. The Sporting Braga keeper was destined to sign for Genoa but Braga would prefer him to join Arsenal for a knock-down price of $5 million, the buy-out clause stipulated in his contract. Eduardo impressed during the World Cup, but reports continue to link Arsenal to Fulham’s Mark Schwarzer.

Tottenham are preparing to enter the race to sign Barcelona strikerZlatan Ibrahimovic according to reports out of Spain. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has been made aware that Barcelona are ready to listen to offers for the 28 year old Swedish International who is no longer part of the future plans at the Nou Camp.

Redknapp has made it clear that signing a world class striker is one of his main ambitions this summer and Ibrahimovic who has not had the best of seasons in Spain is considered such a player, however Redknapp faces stiff competition from the likes of Chelsea, Man City and AC Milan and according to the reports Barcelona are expecting a fee in the region of €30 Million.

Tottenham can afford that sort of money but Redknapp is no fool and he is fully aware that Tottenham face an uphill battle to bring Ibrahimovic to White Hart Lane, in addition Redknapp who is hardly short of strikers has other areas in his squad that require strengthening and spending €30 Million on one player would restrict his ability to bring in other quality players. (Footylatest)

This does seem very hard to believe. There is no doubt now that Tottenham have cracked the Champions League padlock Harry Redknapp has the ability to make moves for some big fish but I do not imagine for one second that the White Hart Lane boss would consider making a bid for the Barcelona man, as it would most likely not result in success.

Apart from anything else, does the north London club even need another forward?

The Swede may well leave this summer but I can see him making a return back to Italy and perhaps even back to Inter Milan where he arguably had his best spell of his career.