Festive headlines of the "Ba: humbug!" variety are likely to be prevalent in the coming weeks, if speculation that a certain Newcastle striker has turned down improved terms of £70,000 per week turns out to be true. Even though such wages would smash the club's pay structure to make Demba Ba (for it is he) the club's highest earner, ahead of bubble permed Argentinian centre-half Fabricio Coloccini, his representatives are holding out for considerably more.

Presumably because at this festive season of the year it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time, the Senegalese striker's "people" want their client to earn a weekly stipend of not a penny less than £90,000 according to yesterday's People. And with Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal and Galatasaray all believed to be preparing offers for the man who currently sits joint third alongside Luis Suárez in the Premier League goalscoring charts, Newcastle fans are entitled to feel concern about the possibility of their star striker having his head turned, not least because the release clause in his contract is a fairly derisory £7.5m.

One man who'll be keeping a close eye on Ba-related developments at St James' Park is Brendan Rodgers, who needs to raise £17m to fund the purchase of Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge and Blackpool's Thomas Ince and may horsewhip Andy Carroll back to Newcastle to get his hands on it. Currently recuperating from injury while on loan at West Ham, Carroll may well relish the opportunity to return to the home-town club he claims he didn't want to leave that time Liverpool made the £35m offer that probably still prompts raucous hoots of laughter in Geordie ale-houses to this day. In what seems a slightly diva-ish determination to make today's Rumour Mill all about them, Newcastle are also confident of landing Lille and France international right-back Mathieu Debuchy in the January window.

The Mirror reports that Manchester United have stolen a march on assorted rivals scrambling for the affections of Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha by agreeing to pay £15m for his services then loan him back to the sarf London club so he can help with their promotion push.

Although L'Equipe claims that Arsenal have all but agreed a fee of £4m for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, it's argumentative pink Italian counterpart La Gazzetta dello Sport has got all up in the French newspaper's grill with its insistence that Internazionale are still hopeful of signing the Schalke and Holland striker.

That nasty looking hamstring twang suffered by Mohamed Diamé in West Ham's defeat at the hands of Liverpool yesterday could prove a blessing in disguise for Sam Allardyce: the Senegal playmaker could be sidelined for three months, a state of affairs which may cause Arsenal to think twice about preparing their rumoured bid.

Thierry Henry could begin his third spell at Arsenal with an appearance in their FA Cup third round tie against Swansea on 6 January, if talk linking the New York Red Bulls striker with another loan spell at the Emirates turns out to be true. In speculation that sounds just as tedious as last year's identical chatter, the two clubs are currently haggling over the length of time the striker will spend back in north London.

With LA Galaxy striker Robbie Keane also twiddling his thumbs during the MLS close season, Aston Villa, Norwich City and QPR are all rumoured to be interested in recruiting the Irishman on a short-term loan deal. The player himself doesn't seem too bothered and is claiming he would rather put his feet up for a few months.

And finally, the Southampton manager, Nigel Adkins, is so desperate to bring Gary Hooper the 424.5 miles from Celtic Park to St Mary's that informed Rumour Mill sources suggest he has offered to pay for the Celtic striker's coffee at Knutsford Services and his M6 toll fare in the hope it will entice him south.