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Kaka's decision to snub Manchester City could be for the best, as a more realistic policy sees them adjust their sights to players that could actually be of use to them, such as Didier Drogba and Thierry Henry.

Nigel de Jong and Wayne Bridge are exactly what they need to counteract Dietmar Hamann's failing legs and Michael Ball's failing, well, everything.

And for all his faults, and boy there are many, Craig Bellamy has the kind of big, swinging cojones that Jo clearly lacks.

And now Chelsea's unhappy striker Drogba could be set for a move north, possibly in part-exchange if the Robinho row is not resolved.

The Ivorian is having a bit of a nightmare at the moment but if you get him fit and tell him he's the Drog's whatsits, he is possibly the best in the business.

Out-of-favour Chelsea winger Florent Malouda is also on the Middle Eastlands radar.

Henry is a less straightforward matter and one which could take effect in the summer.

The France striker is now banging the goals in alongside forward colleagues Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi after a difficult debut season in Barcelona.

But he is missing his daughter Tea, and City reckon they could get him to agree a switch back to England provided he wins some silverware with Los Cules.

A fee of £10 million and a weekly wage of £100,000 would do the trick, provided the City circus does not implode.

Despite Valencia's financial difficulties, they have demanded a whopping £135m for David Silva and David Villa.

Even City aren't stupid enough to pay that much, and Henry-Drogba would be a far more cost-effective solution that would not require acclimatisation to the England game.

Chelsea, meanwhile, could make a move for Fiorentina's Portuguese defender Manuel da Costa as cover for John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho.

Da Costa, 22, is unsettled in Florence and is a favourite of Luiz Felipe Scolari, who called him up to the Portugal squad despite him only being half-Portuguese - through his father: Da Costa is French born-and-bred, has never lived in Portugal, barely speaks the language and has a Moroccan mother.

Sam Allardyce is at it again. Eidur Gudjohnsen has tired of being on the fringes at Barcelona and Blackburn have offered him first-team football, with Roque Santa Cruz likely to end up at Manchester City.

A loan move has been touted, and Allardyce is known to Gudjohnsen as it was he who presided over the Iceland striker at Bolton in the season that saw him earn a move to Chelsea in 2000.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson is preparing for life without Jimmy Bullard by bidding for Doncaster midfielder Brian Stock, who is being touted as the new, um, Jimmy Bullard.

Goal-scoring midfielder Stock plied his trade in the lower leagues until his mid 20's and rose to prominence at a side cutting their teeth in the Championship - just like Bullard.

Unlike Bullard, though, he does not have silly, Seventies hair and does not play the mandolin. Neither is he particularly good

Hodgson has not been impressed with how Dickson Etuhu has coped with filling in for the injured Bullard, while Leon Andreasen is viewed as no more than utility back-up.

The Whites have also been linked to Nuremberg's bustling Greek striker Angelos Charisteas.

The former Werder Bremen and Ajax man scored the winning goal against Portugal in the Euro 2004 final but, after a short spell at Feyenoord, his stay at Nuremberg was soured by their relegation from the Bundesliga.

He would cost £1.5m, although the German side's team manager Martin Bader said that "we are in no rush to sell Angelos and Fulham are in no rush to buy".

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has lost a massive wodge of cash in the credit crunch and Toon's transfer targets have been scaled-down accordingly. A couple of money signings are expected, but squad-fillers will be loans and free transfers.

One player who is probably going to don the black and white in the next week or so is former Rangers and Schalke winger Peter Lovenkrands.

The Dane has been on trial at St James' Park and, after impressing in a behind-closed-doors friendly with Carlisle, Joe Kinnear said that director Derek Llambias is "thrashing out some sort of deal to the end of the season". Which sounds a little violent but ultimately positive.

Former Dortmund defender Ahmed Reda Madouni is also on trial at the club.

West Ham's policy of bringing in cut-price players and making a profit seems set to continue with South Africa defender Bryce Moon the latest to catch Gianluca Nani's expert eye, Zenit St Petersburg striker Pavel Pogrebnyak has appeared on Bolton 's radar, Sochaux schoolboy Yven Moyo is being eyed by Manchester United while Germany Under-21 defender Serdar Tasci is expected to stay at Stuttgart despite interest from Arsenal.

Reda Maher / Eurosport