With the Monday sport sections full of reports about unpleasant chants, players storming out of their matches to wait at bus stops and one man's refusal to shake another man's hand, transfer rumours are thinner on the ground than a discarded cigarette paper. But despite having let in a soft one yesterday, difficult to type Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny is believed to be attracting come hither looks from Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, who is interested in bringing the Polish goalkeeper to Camp Nou next summer with a view to making him Victor Valdes's long-term successor. Elsewhere in the Arsenal defence, CaughtOffside.com report that Arsène Wenger is preparing to bid for Ajax duo Jan Vertonghen and Christian Eriksen.

Born in Sint-Niklaas, East Flanders, the 24-year-old Vertonghen wears the captain's armband at Ajax, is a Belgian international team-mate of Thomas Vermaelen and normally plays centre-back, but can line up anywhere on the left or as a defensive midfielder if required. His 19-year-old team-mate Eriksen hails from Denmark, was born on Valentine's Day 1992 and was the youngest player to participate in the last World Cup. An attacking midfielder who took home the man of the match fizz following his country's 2-1 defeat to England in a friendly earlier this year, Eriksen earned plaudits from his manager, Morten Olsen, and opponents Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand for his excellent performance.

Footybunker.com report that, having helped put Arsenal to the sword yesterday, Spurs midfielder Luka Modric is on the verge of signing a new long-term deal worth £105,000 per week that will keep him at White Hart Lane until 2015, or at the very least until Chelsea turn his head with the offer of a deal worth £106,000 per week. The site also reports that Real Madrid will offer Carlos Tevez an escape route from Manchester City by offering the German international defensive midfielder Sami Khedira and a few quid in exchange for the chippy Argentinian. Paris St-Germain and Internazionale are also interested in offering Tevez a new home.

Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Newcastle and Manchester City are all taken with the cut of Caen midfielder/striker M'Baye Niang's gib, if newspaper reports in France are to be believed. The 16-year-old of Senegalese extraction is a French youth international and made his debut for the Ligue 1 club last April, scoring his first goal as senior player a fortnight later in a match against Lens.

After failing to force his way into the Everton first team since signing from Aves last year, the Portugal U-21 striker João Silva, currently on loan at Vitória Setúbal, has said he will consider leaving the Toffees if he "receives assurances of first-team football elsewhere". Benfica are believed to be interested in securing his scrawl.

And in a news story that isn't a rumour but helps pad out today's risibly slim pickings, the Everton manager, David Moyes, has gathered up all the loose change their fans flung at Craig Bellamy and Luis Suárez towards the end of Saturday's Merseyside derby, and used it to put a down payment on the Bradford midfielder George Green.

The 15-year-old Bantam cost the Toffees £350,000 up front in a deal that could end up being worth £1.75m to the League Two side. Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle, Rangers and Bayern Munich were also believed to be interested in the Dewsbury-born prodigy, who inked a contract with Everton on Saturday, then brought home a copy for his mum to stick to the fridge. "This is one of the highest deals ever for a 15-year-old from a League Two club," said the Bradford City chief scout, Archie Christie. "But George is the best I've seen in his position at his age. He could become another Wayne Rooney or Paul Gascoigne."