Manchester City's status as Premier League champions has its financial downsides, and after Vincent Kompany signed a six-year contract last month, David Silva now wants a bigger cake to eat. Only contract talks have apparently stalled.
The Mail suggest, as is often the case in contract negotiations, the club have baulked at the player's wage demands.
Silva was sensational in the first half of last season and was considered by many to be the third best player in the world at the time, after Primera Liga heavyweights Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Silva is pivotal to City's Champions League chances
Coincidentally those two players' clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona, would likely be keen to sign Silva should he be unable to resolve the ostensible dispute which lingers between him and the City hierarchy.
The Telegraph add Silva is seeking £200,000 a week, but the prudent purchase of Jack Rodwell is an indicator that City are heeding the warning(s) of Financial Fair Play, while Kompany appears to be the outstanding beneficiary of a bumper contract this calendar year.
One player City don't seem too fussed about letting go is Adam Johnson, with Liverpool and Sunderland both reportedly interested. The Independent say the Reds are the favourites while the Sun write the Mackems hope to sign him as part of a three-player £24m transfer outlay including Wolves' Steven Fletcher and Blackburn's Martin Olsson.
Andy Carroll has been courted by both Newcastle United and West Ham United, and now the Mirror claim Tottenham Hotspur are interested.
Out of the three clubs, Newcastle seem the least likely to entice Carroll back to Tyneside simply because they don't appear to require him. Shola Ameobi occupies the battering ram job already, while Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse's promise is apparent. Even though only one of them ever seems to score at a time, they're only six months into their club partnership.
"Don't come back."
West Ham meanwhile require an additional outlet in attack and the 23-year-old would be the quintessential Sam Allardyce signing. What with the awkwardness playing football on-the-deck and revelling in the aerial duels Allardyce prides his team on.
Spurs just need a striker. After Jermain Defoe, 19-year-old Harry Kane is the only other recognised forward. But will Daniel Levy loosen the pursestrings for André Villas-Boas? It has all the makings of a transfer deadline day purchase despite Carroll's style apparently not suiting the Portuguese's.
A better move would be Edin Džeko, who has a knack of playing poorly yet scoring, whereas Carroll plays poorly and rarely scores. Emmanuel Adebayor's dispute with City over a termination-of-contract payment has derailed the Lilywhites' chances of signing him permanently, and the Mirror propose the Bosnia-Herzegovina international as an alternative.
The Mirror add Southampton are close to completing an £18m double deal for Bologna attacker Gastón Ramírez and Blackpool winger Matt Phillips.
Swansea look set to break their club transfer record after Celtic accepted a £5m offer for the nifty South Korea midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng, say the Star and others. Michael Laudrup evidently aims to build on the foundations laid by Brendan Rodgers.
Zenit St Petersberg want Andriy Arshavin back for good, according to the Times, but Arsenal want £10m for the nomadic 31-year-old Russian.
The Hammers may cease their pursuit of Wolves winger Matt Jarvis, with the Standard claiming they are honing in on 25-year-old Rennes winger Razak Boukari.