Diego Maradona On Carlos Tevez, Chelsea's Next Manager And More... It's The Friday Paper Roundup

What A Smacker! It's The Friday Paper Roundup

With less than two months of the season to go, speculation about what English football may serve up in 2012/13 is being ramped up in the tabloids and broadsheets.

Chelsea's Roberto Di Matteo probably won't be upgraded from interim to permanent manager, so Roman Abramovich is on the lookout for pet number nine in as many years.

Laurent Blanc has emerged as le nouveau choix should Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho remain in Spain. Abramovich is scouring the globe for another young manager, but not quite as young as Andre-Villas Boas, so Didier Deschamps and David Moyes are being mentioned by Murdoch papers The Times and The Sun.

Humorously, so has Marcelo Bielsa. Imagine that...

Sticking with Chelsea, the Stamford Bridge club "will have to fight to keep defender David Luiz" since Barcelona are preparing to offer £35m for the Brazilian. Quite why Barca would want to pay such an extravagant amount for someone who plays like a 10-year-old controlling a PlayStation (thanks, Gary Neville) is beyond most followers of the game, but it would certainly give the other European clubs a greater chance of beating them.

There have been plenty of whispers this week that Manchester United are set to sign Crystal Palace right-back Nathaniel Clyne, whose contract expires in the summer. Metro say the 20-year-old could fetch up to £2.5m via a tribunal verdict as a means of compensation for Palace, while the right side of defence has proven to be a problem for the Reds this season.

Midfield too is an issue for Sir Alex Ferguson, as it has been for more than seven years. Nicolas Gaitan, 24, has been repeatedly linked to United and is now being touted for a £20m move, say talkSPORT. Which is odd, since Benfica said late last year he would cost £35m. The Reds have also scouted Javi Garcia, but The Sun say Paul Scholes may sign for one more year. What a genius Ferguson is, replacing Paul Scholes with Paul Scholes...

The Daily Mirror report Liverpool's prodigious 17-year-old Raheem Sterling could quit in the summer over frustration at a lack of first-team opportunities. His mother apparently wants him to return to London, so Tottenham are keeping their eyes peeled. Midfielder Alberto Aquilani, another alumni of the Rafael Benitez Squander Squad, looks set to move permanently to AC Milan, according to The Daily Mail.

He has the Hand of God, so did Diego Maradona apply the touch of God in guiding Carlos Tevez back to Manchester City? The footballing legend told his compatriot to end his feud with City boss Roberto Mancini and return to help the club's Premier League title push, according to The Sun.

It's Millwall-Leeds this Saturday at the New Den, which should be lively. And The Daily Mail claim home supporters will be searched for Turkey flags in a bid to avoid a repeat of last season's taunts over the two Whites fans stabbed to death in Istanbul in 2000.

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