Steve Gerrard will complete a move to Chelsea by the end of the week for a fee of close to £40m. (Mirror)
 
Gerrard is not interested in a move to Real Madrid as he wants to stay in England. (The Sun)
 
Southampton are resigned to losing striker Peter Crouch to Liverpool for a £8m fee. (The Sun)
 
Chelsea see Herman Crespo's return from a loan spell with AC Milan as an ideal solution to their search for a striker. (Mail)
 
Troubled midfielder Lee Bowyer is set to join Charlton in a £1.5m move from Newcastle. (The Sun)
 
Steve Marlet looks set to leave Fulham after missing pre-season training in Austria. (Mail)
 
Tore Andre Flo has turned down an offer fro QPR to sign for Norwegian side Valerenga. (Mail)
 
Portsmouth have made Norwich a final offer of £1.75m for midfielder Damien Francis and do not want to use Linvoy Primus in a swap deal. (Independent)
 
Arsenal have upped their bid for Sevilla striker Julio Baptista to £10m. (The Sun)
 
Bolton hope to sign Zambia striker Collins Mbesuma from South Africa's Kaiser Chiefs. (Telegraph)
 
Spurs have enquired about the availability of Aston Villa striker Darius Vassell, raising doubts over Jermain Defoe's future. (Mirror)
 
Wigan will offer Wolves £1.2m for injury-plagued former Newcastle striker Carl Cort. (Mirror)
 
Aston Villa have emerged as the latest candidate to sign Craig Bellamy from Newcastle. (Mirror)
 
Louis Saha will ask to leave Man Utd if the club sign another striker, and Newcastle could take the Frenchman on loan. (Mail)
 
New Zealand defender Ryan Nelson should finalise a new three-year contract with Blackburn this week after being granted a work permit. (Times)
 
Rangers target Jose-Karl Pierre-Fanfan has arrived in Glasgow to open talks over his move from PSG. (Daily Record)
 
Celtic's hopes of landing Polish striker Maciej Zurawski received a timley boost after rivals for his signature Besitkas brought in Savo Milosevic. (Daily Record)

Les derniers échos d'Aix-les-Bains   06/07/2005
 
Les entraînements se poursuivent depuis lundi à Aix-les-Bains au rythme de deux séances quotidiennes. Comme l'indique Jean Fernandez, "c'est un gros travail physique le matin qui se poursuit l'après-midi avec, en plus, une approche technique et tactique".
Ce mardi après-midi et devant près de 500 spectateurs, 16 joueurs de champs dont Fabien Barthez ont ainsi pris part à des exercices de courses sous un ciel changeant pendant que les trois gardiens Gavanon, Carrasso et M'Bolhi suivaient un entraînement spécifique avec Lionel Spinosi.
 
En fin de séance, le groupe a été rejoint par Sylvain N'Diaye, Koji Nakata et Mamadou Niang qui se sont contentés de courses. Habib Beye, Salomon Olembé, Abdou Méïté et Taye Taiwo sont, quant à eux, restés aux soins. L'entorse à la cheville dont souffrait Beye depuis quelques semaines n'est plus qu'un mauvais souvenir, "il a passé des examens médicaux rassurants et il va reprendre petit à petit un entraînement normal" a précisé Jean Fernandez. Mauvaise nouvelle cependant, la blessure de Delfim qui souffre de problèmes musculaires à la cuisse. "C'est triste pour José, a déploré Fernandez, il entamait une préparation d'avant saison pour la première fois depuis trois ans et il avait montré de la qualité et un état d'esprit extraordinaire. Nous allons tous l'aider à se remettre".
 
La séance s'est terminée par une opposition au cours de laquelle Joseph Tachie, jeune ghanéen a fait preuve de beaucoup d'autorité (photo ci-dessous).

The agent of Louis Saha has told skysports.com that several clubs have enquired about his client but that he is content at Old Trafford.
 
Saha has been the subject of much speculation of late having played second fiddle to Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney for much of last season - in a campaign blighted by injury.
 
United chief Sir Alex Ferguson has always expressed an utmost faith in the pacey Frenchman and it is such assurances that have convinced the player that he has a long-term future in Manchester.
 
Saha's agent, Ranko Stojic, has confirmed that the player has decided to fight for a first team berth and will only seek a move should United add a further striker to their ranks.
 
''After the reassurance from Mr Ferguson it is 90 percent sure that Saha will stay in Manchester,'' Stojic told skysports.com.
 
''It is also his wish to try to prove himself. The only option under which we would press for his leaving would be if Manchester buys another world class attacker.
 
''Michael Owen for example and in the same time van Nistelrooy stays at the club.
 
''Then, with Rooney in the team, Saha stands as a fourth option - which is unacceptable for us.
 
''But before Saha left on a vacation we had a meeting with Mr Ferguson concerning his future plans.
 
''As he told us, he values him very much and would like Saha to stay at Manchester - underlining that he is still very much in his plans for next season.''
 
Stojic continued to confirm that a quartet of clubs had enquired about Saha's services - including two from The Premiership.
 
Long term suitors Newcastle and Everton both remain interested but for the moment, it seems likely that he will remain at United.
 
''It is true that there was big interest from several clubs for Saha,'' continued Stojic.
 
''Everton, Newcastle, I got calls from Monaco, Marseille but my answer is no - he stays at Manchester.
 
''The most important thing for him is the meeting with Ferguson. He has extremely good relations with him and Alex likes Saha as his son.
 
''Their relationship is very sincere, so Alex would certainly have told us, 'look, I cannot guarantee that you will play much next season.'
 
''Saha trusts Alex very much. So our decision is based on that very constructive meeting with Ferguson.
 
''The only thing that would make us change that decision is if as previously mentioned a world class attacker comes and van Nistelrooy stays.''
 
Despite Ferguson's assurances, speculation linking Saha with a season-long loan move to Newcastle have resurfaced of late in the local North East press.

Rick Parry has this morning revealed that Steven Gerrard has changed his mind over wanting to leave Anfield and committed his future to Liverpool FC.  
The Reds chief executive broke the amazing news as he arrived at Anfield today following several late night and early morning phone calls with the Liverpool captain.  
   
"I couldn't be more delighted," said Parry. "He has decided to stay with us because he realises how much the club means to him.  
   
"Even when he said he was going I don't think the language he used suggested he really wanted to go. He was talking about the last few days being difficult and not being able to come back, he never actually said he wanted to go.  
   
"Over the last 24 hours he has reflected on it, thought it through and he wants to stay.  
   
"From our point of view it's what we wanted all along. I have apologised to Stevie if I've mis-read his emotions. I guess after Istanbul I thought I knew where we were going but he clearly thought for whatever reason that the club wasn't as enthusiastic about keeping him as we might have been. He was anxious.  
   
"There were one or two issues with the contract which he took to mean a lack of enthusiasm on our part, which it wasn't. He understands that now. We've had some emotional moments together, cleared everything up and I don't think this will happen again.  
   
"I don't think he's staying because he was concerned about the negative reaction. I made the point on Monday to him to think of the fans in Istanbul and ask himself how he could leave that. Obviously the last day or two hasn't been easy for him but this isn't a decision for negative reasons.  
   
"He's found it complicated but deep down it was always a difficult decision for him to say he wanted to go. We're all absolutely thrilled and I'm more certain than ever that he's fully committed and that this is where he wants to be."