The Very Early Gossip (Transfer Gossip)

CITY OFFER RONALDINHO BIG MONEY
Manchester City have made Ronaldinho an offer that would see the Brazilian become the highest-paid footballer in the world if he agreed to move to the club. A delegation of City representatives travelled to Brazil on Saturday to formally confirm they would be willing to pay the Barcelona forward around £200,000 a week.


CHELSEA WANT BIG MONEY FOR DROGBA
Chelsea hope to raise up to £30m when they sell Didier Drogba to AC Milan. Having grown tired of the African's histrionics, Chelsea have effectively put Drogba up for sale. Milan vice-chairman Adriano Galliani announced at the weekend that they had been given permission to open talks with the player and according to The Daily Telegraph, 'Although formal permission has not been granted for Milan to negotiate directly with Drogba, Chelsea are not disputing Galliani's claims and do not want to worsen relations between the clubs in the wake of their attempts to attract Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti to Stamford Bridge.' But those relations may be strained by the small matter of Drogba's fee. The Times reports: 'Milan sources said yesterday that the clubs had agreed a fee for the Ivory Coast striker, based on an initial down payment of £10 million, rising to £18 million during a three-year contract, but such claims brought an angry denial from Stamford Bridge. Chelsea value Drogba at £30 million and insist that they will hold out for such a fee, particularly because he has three years remaining on a contract that was signed midway through last season.


AND JUST SOME MONEY FOR SHEVCHENKO
It also remains to be seen whether Andrei Shevchenko will be making a return to Milan. While Galliano remarked that "Chelsea consider Andrei unsellable", it appears that Milan don't actually consider him worth buying. According to The Times, Milan proposed 'to take him on loan for a season and pay a proportion of his £130,000-a-week wages. Chelsea used a similar deal to get the high-earning Hernan Crespo and Juan Sebastian Veron off the wage bill in the past (Crespo went on loan to Milan then Inter, Veron also went to Inter), but they are adamant that Shevchenko will not leave for nothing.'


THE CUSTOMARY CHELSEA MANAGER STUFF
It wouldn't be right to go a whole Gossip Column without giving you a little nugget of Chelsea manager speculation and nonsense, so here we go. The Sun this morning claims that both Frank Rijkaard and Roberto Mancini will be 'interviewed' on Roman Abramovich's yacht in the south of France this week. All of that sounds very lovely, although The Gossip Column can't be the only one thinking that if Roman doesn't like what he sees, he'll tip the losing candidate overboard in a Bond-villain style display of unhappiness. No? Just us? Anyway, in the same story they find room to speculate that Chelsea are duking it out with their old friend Jose for Samuel Eto'o, who will cost either them or Inter something like £22million.


PARDON ME?
Here's one of those stories that makes you go "Eh?" The Daily Star (yeah yeah) 'reports' that Portsmouth want to sign Patrick Vieira from Inter Milan. Apparently Jose Mourinho has told the Frenchman that he is surplus to requirements at the San Siro, so naturally the Star makes the connection between the World Cup, European Championship, three-time Premier League and three-time Serie A winner Vieira and Harry Redknapp. Makes perfect sense, don't it? Anyway, they claim that Pompey will give Inter £4million for Vieira, and pay the man himself £100,000-a-week.


DECISION TIME FOR RAMSEY
It's decision time for Cardiff City's in-demand youngster Aaron Ramsey. The 17-year-old is expected to make a decision on his future in the next forty-eight hours after holding talks with Manchester United, Arsenal and Everton over the weekend - all of whom have agreed a £5m fee with Cardiff. Ramsey was given a tour of United's training ground on Friday and then spoke on the telephone to Sir Alex Ferguson. The Premiership champions have been depicted as being in pole position to sign Ramsey on account of their offer to loan back Ramsey to Cadiff next season. However, The Guardian describes the player as 'keen on establishing himself at a new club, rather than returning to Cardiff' - a wish that increases the prospect of him joining Everton given that David Moyes can offer the youngster the chance to enjoy first-team football next term, something neither Ferguson nor Arsene Wenger could guarantee. Arsenal's attempt to sign Ramsey concluded with the club chartering a private jet to fly him out to Switzerland in order to hold face-to-face talks with Wenger. And as The Guardian notes, 'With Ramsey's best friend in football, Tottenham's Chris Gunter, also based in north London, Wenger has good cause to be optimistic.'


AND THE REST...
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate is closing in on a £3million deal for USA international Michael Bradley...Birmingham boss Alex McLeish is chasing Celtic defender Bobo Balde...Steve Sidwell wants a £3million golden handshake from Chelsea before he moves to Aston Villa or Middlesbrough...Steven Davis is expected to complete a permanent move from Fulham to Rangers after his loan there last season...Wolves manager Mick McCarthy has made a bid worth £3.5million for Burnley's Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty...Goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen has snubbed Aston Villa and has agreed to stay with Bolton...Blackburn defender Christopher Samba has attracted the interest of Primera Liga side Sevilla...Middlesbrough are closing in on a deal to sign Portsmouth midfielder Sean Davis...Wayne Bridge is set to sign a new four-year del at Chelsea despite failing to dislodge Ashley Cole from the left-back position.