Spurs eye Beckham bid

Beckham left Tottenham Hotspur's academy to sign for Manchester United on his 14th birthday and the rest, as they say, is history.

The North London club are reportedly preparing a bid to steal the record-breaking England midfielder from under the noses of Milan when his loan at the San Siro expires in the summer.

The Sun points to Spurs boss Harry Redknapp's fondness for resurrecting the careers of veteran players.

It also argues that Tottenham's ability to put the LA Galaxy man squarely in the vision of England manager Fabio Capello ahead of the 2010 World Cup will sway the former Real Madrid man.

GS doubts it though. Any move to Spurs will only happen if Milan decide not to sign him as it is unlikely that he would choose Spurs over the Rossoneri.

Milan are by far the bigger club, will be playing in the Champions League next season and the slower pace in Italy suits Beckham's game perfectly.

They are also unlikely to let him go after a series of impressive performances helped fire Milan to second in Serie A, not to mention the inevitable spike in shirt sales.

Furthemore, Capello is more than happy that Beckham is plying his trade at his beloved Milan, not least because it keeps him away from the distracting media hysteria he faces in England - and saves his legs from a shoeing at the hands of Emanuel Pogatetz.

The same paper's claim that Manchester City boss Mark Hughes is looking to offload captain Richard Dunne to Sunderland makes several assumptions.

The first is that Hughes will still be at Eastlands in the summer, with City's owners yet to prove they share the same patient, long-term vision as Villa supremo Randy Lerner.

The second is that Ireland defender Dunne would want to drop from City to Sunderland, as there are several bigger clubs that can offer a higher level of football than Ricky Sbragia's side, not least Villa.

The third is that Sunderland will be able to afford him - while they are not in the bottom three, they are anything but safe and it is highly unlikely they will shell out £5 million and £35,000 a week if they are in the Championship.

Sunderland have also been linked with relegation-doomed West Brom duo Jonathan Greening and James Morrison, although Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh has ruled himself out of a move to the Stadium of Light. He would rather join Tottenham.

The Daily Express reckons that the latest injury to Craig Bellamy could force City boss Hughes to think twice about a big-money bid for Blackburn Rovers striker Roque Santa Cruz.

This may not initially make sense as having another striker would both cover and compliment Bellamy. But the reasoning is that two injury-prone forwards are worse than one.

Paraguay striker Santa Cruz has only played eight league games so far this season after a series of injuries, although his public insistence that he will leave for a bigger club in the summer appears to have had something to do with his absence.

The former Bayern Munich man has also been linked with Liverpool and Tottenham, who will probably lose one or both of Darren Bent and Roman Pavlyuchenko in the summer.

Aston Villa may be forced to sign a new defender with Martin Laursen's career under threat.

Laursen has been a key influence in Villa's return to the upper echelons of the league and it is no coincidence that their slump came after his knee injury recurred.

The Dane could be set for surgery that would rule him out for nine months and, at the age of 31, he is considering hanging up his boots.

Fulham stopper Brede Hangeland and Milan's on-loan Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos could be brought in, while the aforementioned Dunne would be an experienced option.

Blackburn and Wigan are both considering bids in the region of £4m for Bristol City midfielder Marvin Elliott.

The 24-year-old former Millwall player can also play at right-back and would be the ideal signing for Rovers, for whom there are doubts over the long-term fitness of cruciate ligament injury-victim Brett Emerton.

Wigan, who are guaranteed a place in the Premier League and are still in with a shot at European football, would be the more prestigious option for the Londoner, although the likelihood is that boss Steve Bruce would look for a bigger-name signing should winger Antonio Valencia be sold to Real Madrid, Manchester United or Chelsea.