SPORTS GOSSIP

• Arsenal are ready to make a £10m January transfer move for versatile Fiorentina star Juan Manuel Vargas. 
• Arsenal are rumoured to be monitoring Barcelona youngster Rafa Alcantara with a view to making a move to capture the teenager in the January transfer window. 
• Striker Michael Owen has hinted that he will leave Manchester United next summer to get more playing time in the final years of his career.  
• Manchester City youngster Gai Assulin says is he considering his future at the club already - just under a year after signing for Roberto Mancini's side from Barcelona.
• Birmingham could hand a new deal to out-of-contract James McFadden. The Scotland forward has been out for a year with a knee injury but is now training with his old team-mates. 
• Aston Villa are set to go head-to-head with Italian side Napoli to sign Rosenborg and Norway midfielder Markus Henriksen. 

• Tottenham are plotting a cut-price January move for striker Eder Lopes, whose Portuguese side Academica de Coimbra would rather sell than lose him on a free in the summer.  

• Newcastle defender Danny Simpson believes the club can 'do a Birmingham' and win the Carling Cup because the top clubs' current interests lie elsewhere. 

• Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has tipped Owen ­Hargreaves for an ­England recall after watching his stunning comeback from injury in City's 2-0 Carling Cup win over Birmingham.