Paper round: Simpson set for Chelsea

Simpson has been locked in contract talks for much of the season at St James’ Park and has recently rejected an offer to stay at the club for one more year, according to the Sunday Mirror.

The 25-year-old rejected a £25,000-a-week deal earlier in the season, hoping to persuade the club to change their mind based on his form.

But Newcastle are sticking firm with the offer and now Chelsea are looking at the Mancunian to fill their problematic left-back spot.

Chelsea are also in the running to sign Dutchman Luuk de Jong from FC Twente (Mirror Sport).

“Luuk is an ‘English style’ striker, made for English football,” Twente manager Steve McLaren said. “I am just ­desperate to keep him one more year in Holland. But I ­realise that will be difficult.

“Luuk is big, strong, brilliant in the air and scores goals so easily. He has every quality a top class striker needs to have for a big club.”

Twente have already received offers from Borussia Moenchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen of £12 million but De Jong is thought to be keen on a move to England.

Chelsea face competition from Manchester United, Liverpool, Newcastle and Tottenham for the 21-year-old, however, after the Dutch international scored 32 goals this season.

Emmanuel Adebayor could be on his way to Paris St Germain after the French club expressed an interest in the 28-year-old, according to the Star on Sunday.

Tottenham boss Harry Rednkapp is reportedly keen to keep Adebayor - loaned to Spurs from Manchester City this season - on a permanent basis. But the Togo striker's £170,000-a-week pay packet was a sticking point for Tottenham.

Those wages are not a problem for Qatari-backed PSG, who will offer City a £12m fee - though they face competition from Juventus and AC Milan.

Birmingham City manager Chris Hughton is to become the new boss at West Brom regardless of whether he takes the Blues back into the top flight via the play-offs, according to The Sun.

And finally, the Sunday Express reports that Trevor Brooking has denied that he stopped Harry Redknapp from getting the England job over a feud between the two stretching back to 1994.

The paper claims that the bad blood dates back to when Redknapp took over from Billy Bonds as West Ham manager, but Brooking denies that his relationship with Redknapp had any bearing on the decision-making process: "It’s a non-starter. That didn’t come into the decision making at all," he said.