The top stories from papers and websites - 01 August 2012

• West Ham have offered Andy Carroll a mind-boggling £36million contract in the hope of luring him away from Liverpool.


• Real Madrid are threatening to pull out of their chase for Luka Modric - because Tottenham want more money up front.


• Norwich striker James Vaughan is set to snub a loan move to Celtic by joining Blackburn instead.


• Stoke have bid £2million for Wolves winger Michael Kightly.


• Jermaine Beckford is being lined up for a £2million return to Leeds.


• Swansea want to hijack Blackburn's bid for Simon Cox.

• Andy Carroll will be offered a £100,000-a-week contract to join West Ham, as Sam Allardyce refuses to give up on his pursuit of the Liverpool striker.


• Manchester City are lining up a stunning £35million move for Real Madrid star Gonzalo Higuain.


• Wigan are poised to sign Real Mallorca centre-half Ivan Ramis in a £4million swoop - after he was snubbed by West Ham.


• Blackburn want Arsenal's South Korean striker Park Chu-young on a season-long loan - to stand in for Leon Best.


• Fulham and Blackburn are locked in a £6million battle for Huddersfield hotshot Jordan Rhodes.


• Portugal's Manuel Fernandes is a £7million target for Liverpool.

• FA chairman David Bernstein has vowed to step up the fight against racism.


• Sir Alex Ferguson has backed Javier Hernandez to silence his critics and prove he is no one-season wonder for Manchester United.


• Kolo Toure is set to turn down a move to Turkey and see out the final year of his contract at Manchester City.

• Manchester United and Arsenal are stepping up their interest in Victor Wanyama with scouts due to watch the Celtic midfielder in Wednesday night's Champions League qualifier with Helsinki.


• Trabzonspor are keen on Manchester City defender Kolo Toure.


• Tottenham are monitoring Lyon left-back Aly Cissokho.


• Aston Villa defender Alan Hutton is in talks over a move to Stoke.


• Darren Bent looks set to be Aston Villa's new team captain.


• Lee Clark has lined up Steve Watson for a place on Birmingham's coaching staff.


• Clint Dempsey has edged closer to a move to Liverpool after pulling out of Fulham's pre-season training camp.


• Newcastle are ramping up their bid to sign FC Twente defender Douglas Texeira.


• Tim Cahill has not ruled out the possibility of returning to Everton on loan during the MLS close season.

• FA chairman David Bernstein has warned of the "tough" consequences for the misuse of Twitter.


• Juventus have hinted that they are losing interest in Arsenal striker Robin van Persie.

• The collapse of Rangers has cost the SPL a massive £17million from one TV deal alone.


• Celtic reject Morten Rasmussen will seal a £150,000 move back to Danish outfit Midtjylland in the next 24 hours.


• Alejandro Bedoya's agent says the midfielder could yet stay with Rangers after Helsingborg's interest in the USA star faded.


• Rangers boss Ally McCoist hopes to snap up striker Craig Beattie within 24 hours and hasn't given up hope of Bocanegra and Dorin Goian staying put.

• Liverpool will allow Craig Bellamy to rejoin Cardiff City.

• Barcelona are planning an £11.7m move for Arsenal midfielder Alex Song.


• Tottenham could turn their attention to Inter Milan's Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar.

• Tottenham are considering joining the hunt for Andy Carroll.