Today's award for most over-the-top treatment of a football-related story goes to The Sun with their latest announcement - that Manchester United and Liverpool are at war over Gabriel Heinze! Strong words indeed, The whole issue is also getting the Daily Star stirred up; they are claiming that Sir Alex is looking into whether the whole fiasco could be treated as a possible ‘tapping’up’ offence.

Now there are many sides to this story; firstly there's the whole arch-rivalry to contend with. Clearly the two sides really despise each other, secondly you can understand why Ferguson does not want to let one of his top players join a side with similar aspirations at home and in Europe.

Surely at some point you just have to let go. If Heinze really wants to leave, and if, as claimed, he wants to join Liverpool, then that is up to him. It does irk me slightly that contracts are more worthless than ever in football and the idea of buying out your contract is going to make situations such as this far more commonplace. It seems that Gabby-Gate will rumble on a little longer - God only knows what kind of reception he will get from United fans!

Meanwhile, Liverpool are also eyeing up Real Madrid midfielder Javi Garcia (various). The 19-year-old tough-tackling midfielder attracted a lot of attention when he helped Spain to the Under-19 European Championship last summer. But he is going to find it hard to break into Bernd Schuster’s first-team plans as there is a long list of young talent on the periphery plus many world-class midfielders also no doubt blocking the possibility of his first appearance in La Liga.

Add to this growing reputation the fact that Javi is also the cousin of Luis Garcia, who left Liverpool for Spain earlier this month, and you have all the hallmarks of a good rumour that may or may not hold any water. Would he have any more luck piercing the Liverpool squad? That is open to debate as Rafa Benitez also has a fair few world-class internationals at his disposal.

According to the Daily Mirror, newly-promoted Serie A side Juventus are set to make a £3m bid for Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos. When young Philippe first arrived on the scene he had all the grace and composure of a freshly-born calf, and I was one of the first to unfavourably compare him to the great Latvian defender Igor Stepanovs (very unkind I know). But now I have somewhat changed my tune.

Senderos is nowhere near being the finished article, but there is something for Arsene to work with there and he is well worth keeping faith in. He is, after all, still only 22. Last season he was plagued by injury and suspensions and I am sure that Gunners fans will be hoping to see more from the Swiss international in various states of disfigurement (he always seems to be nursing a broken nose or some other battlefield injury, in a Terry Butcher manner). Whether or not this bid is real or a figment of Fleet Street imagination is another matter. My suspicion is that this deal is never going to happen.

It is looking increasingly like AC Milan will not after all make a move for much-maligned former World Player of the year Andriy Shevchenko (various), and Jose Mourinho has now pointed out that the chances of the Ukrainian getting a regular run at the first team could be limited, dependent on tactics. He is reported as saying that "If we play 4-3-3, it leaves Sheva in a fight with Drogba and Claudio Pizarro, that's obvious. If we play 4-4-2, then Sheva, Pizarro and Drogba will fight for two positions.''

 This is all well and good and makes perfect sense but maybe there is something in the subtext here in these comments, such as for instance why is he pointing this out at all? I am pretty sure that Andriy knows full well he is not on his best game (and wasn’t for most of last season) - but why ram the point home, unless Mourinho just wants to make it perfectly clear he had no say in the signing the first place and wants to make it even clearer that he is not exactly a big fan?

He went on to say:  "But I don't want to speak about individuals at this moment. Some players get their form after two days, others take longer." Chelsea are still waiting to see Shevchenko at full power, but it could be that he has nothing left in the tank.

Chelsea midfielder Claude Makélélé has apparently turned down offers from Villarreal, PSG, Olympiakos and the MLS to stay at Stamford Bridge (The Guardian). This is good news for the Blues; he isn’t seeking to gain a fortune from what might be his last big move.

 Makélélé is a class act who could also help with the likes of Jon Obi-Mikel. The talented French international seems to epitomise the footballing expression of be a ‘true-pro’ who always has a smile on his face, even when Shevchenko misses the target yet again.