The Daily Mail reports that negotiations have begun with Nike over a new deal. The old agreement, which was worth £303 million plus a profit of sales over 13 years, expires in 2015 but the paper claims that negotiations are about to get going for a similar long-term deal. Nike have an exclusive six-month window for negotiations that officially begins in February.
United are expected to press for the stratospheric 10-figure deal on the basis of two things: first, that their shirt sponsorship deal has risen six-fold since the old agreement was signed, and second that Rory McIlroy alone is to be given £156m for a 10-year deal to wear Nike clothes and have the company's logos on his clubs.
Tottenham are looking to make a big-money signing from Celtic - but it's one of their back room staff rather than a player who is under consideration.
Spurs want to bring in Celtic's chief scout John Park as their director of football, the Daily Mail reports. But the London side will have competition: after unearthing gems such as Victor Wanyama, Park is considered one of the best talent-spotters in Europe and will also be courted by Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool.
The ongoing race row that has rocked English football takes up plenty of space in the back pages, with Jason Roberts - whose decision not to wear a 'Kick it Out' t-shirt prompted several other players, including Rio Ferdinand, to follow suit - speaking to several papers.
"I wasn't trying to lead a protest. I was speaking for myself," Roberts explains in the Daily Mail.
"I speak to players who are exasperated by the suggestion that the fight against racism has been won, simply because bananas are no longer throw and monkey noises aren't made.... Yes, (that marks) progress. But we can't decided that it is good enough."
Roberts also defended the players - including Ferdinand - who have looked into creating a separate black players' union, even though he himself has not been involved in that. "It shows that the existing union is not doing enough," he says.
It seems that the very threat might prompt the action that is needed, however: the Guardian claims that football's governing bodies are desperate to prevent the creation of any such separate union, and reports that the FA is reviewing the severity of punishments given out for racist abuse in the wake of reaction to John Terry's four-match ban.
Everton may have to do without the services of Landon Donovan in the second half of the season, according to the Daily Mirror.
The American striker has been a big hit in his loan spells at Goodison Park and has an open invitation to sign up once again in the New Year.
But apparently the 30-year-old wants to go and find himself by backpacking to far-off lands. "Right now, I need time to think and that is impossible to achieve while I am playing," he said. "I plan to spend a lot of time travelling to distant places, alone. I'm not sure where."
The Mirror reports that Brazilian side Santos are favourites to sign Florent Malouda from Chelsea in January, though Lyon and Vasco da Gama are both still in the running.
And West Ham are trying to sign Sochaux left-back Sebastien Crochia in January, The Sun claims, though they face competition for the £2m-rated 21-year-old from AC Milan.
