Football transfer rumours: Yacine Brahimi to Manchester City?

Everton are also keen to sign Marseille's Ghanaian winger André Ayew, but will face competition from Liverpool, Newcastle and Borussia Dortmund if they are to lure the 25-year-old to Goodison Park. With Ayew approaching the final months of his contract with the Ligue 1 side, reports on French radio earlier this week suggested his "people" are already in talks with Newcastle, who are trying to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with the player. In cracking form, he scored three goals in six games for runners-up Ghana at the recent Africa Cup of Nations.

James Milner is out of contract at Manchester City this summer and could be on his way to Arsenal or Liverpool unless he gets a guarantee of playing time from his current club, who would very much like to keep him. Liverpool and Arsenal are also keen on securing the services of Spanish striker Alvaro Morata, who is being lined up for a return to the Bernabéu, despite being sold by Real Madrid for €20m just last summer.

Arguably the world's best midfielder general, Paul Pogba has long been linked with a summer departure from Juventus and with Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea all circling, the Italian champions have identified AC Milan's Dutch enforcer Nigel de Jong as a possible replacement.

Bolton academy graduate Josh Vela appears to have played his way back on to Liverpool's wanted list during the fourth round FA Cup tie between the two sides, having previously featured on their radar as a 17-year-old, when the Championship side turned down a £1m offer from Anfield.

And with Paul Lambert having left Villa Park, Aston Villa remain in the hunt for a new Director of Football Operations and according to the Daily Mail and other media outlets, Tim Sherwood and Jurgen Klinsmann are the leading contenders. Stuart James, our man on the Midlands beat, suspects Sherwood's position has been "severely weakened" in the wake of his sidekick Chris Ramsey's decision to take the QPR job until the end of the season. Currently the head coach of the USA national team, Klinsmann has ruffled feathers in his adopted homeland with some withering criticism of the motivation of players such as Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley, who returned from European domestic leagues to top up their pension funds playing MLS. He also caused something of a national scandal by omitting national treasure Landon Donovan from his squad for last summer's World Cup. Contracted to the USA until the end of the 2018 World Cup, Klinsmann is believed to have admirers in Villa's American owner Randy Lerner and his chief executive Tom Fox, who hope to instal a new boss at Villa Park before the visit of Stoke City next weekend.