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Lucas Neill is set to join Everton on a free transfer, according to reports in the British press.

The Australia defender, who can play centre-half and right-back, was widely expected to leave England after his contract at West Ham expired.

He rejected moves to Sunderland and Hull and talked of a move to Spain or the Middle East.

But after a lucrative deal at Atletico Madrid failed to materialise, several papers claim Toffees boss David Moyes has swooped to bring some depth to his back-line.

Everton sold star defender Joleon Lescott to Manchester City and, while Sylvain Distin and Johnny Heitinga were brought in, an injury to Phillip Neville and the continued rehabilitation of Phil Jagielka means they are still short at the back.

Neill, 31, is due for a medical at Goodison Park and could be presented before the Europa League clash with AEK Athens later tonight.

The Daily Express and The Sun claim that Frank Arnesen will be the next head to roll at Chelsea in the aftermath of Kakuta-gate, with the former saying Peter Kenyon got a £3 million pay off.

Kenyon has already decided to quit by the end of next month, while Arnesen has come under fire for overseeing a youth policy that has yielded no results other than Michael Mancienne and Franco Di Santo, on loan at Wolves and Blackburn respectively.

Oh, and an 18-month transfer ban for allegedly signing the aforementioned Gael Kakuta illegally.

David Silva - who was constantly linked with Manchester United during the summer but claimed he wanted to stay in Spain - has back-tracked and is now tempted to join the Premier League champions.

"It's an honour for any player that a club of the prestige of Manchester United should follow them and that, in itself, is enormous praise," The Sun quoted the Valencia man as saying.

"I am happy here but I also know that the Premier League is a big competition and hard to resist."

Benfica have slapped a massive £40m price tag on highly-rated Argentine winger Angel De Maria, according to The Sun.

They reckon he will go to the World Cup and are trying to stave off interest from Liverpool - who are short of a few bob these days - in the hope that he impresses in South Africa and attracts a bigger-spending club.

Newcastle's bid to sign Diomansy Kamara has hit a block after Roy Hodgson told Chris Hughton that he needs the Senegal striker in his squad.

Kamara has only started once this season but, with Fulham battling on four fronts including a gruelling Europa League schedule, the Cottagers need to keep as many players as possible until at least January.

One man who Fulham will be delighted to keep is Brede Hangeland.

The Norway defender was coveted by Arsenal this summer but decided to stay and wants to sign a new contract.

"We are hopeful we can sit down and work something out, and I am certainly very keen on that," Hangeland told the Daily Star.

And on a touching personal note, the usually frosty Fabio Capello told the Italian Marie Claire magazine that he loves his wife more than football, would coach in Serie B if the other option was to be without her, and would be a Boeing pilot if he was not a football coach.

He did call Cristiano Ronaldo overpriced though. That's more like it.

Eurosport