Things are looking a whole lot rosier in the blue half of north London. Whatever people think of the cack-handed way in which Martin Jol was treated, the installation of Juande Ramos seems to be doing the trick.

Three wins and a draw from his first four games in charge of Tottenham is a decent start and now the rumours are flying around as to who the new man wants to bring in. It just so happens that two of his primary targets are also being chased by table-topping Arsenal, that is if you believe what you read.

The two players in question are both strikers, firstly Sevilla's want-away Alexander Kerzhakov, the 24-year-old Russian who started well with the Spanish club but now finds himself behind Luis Fabiano and Fredi Kanoute in the pecking order.

'Even though Sami Hyypia has done well this season, Rafa [Benitez] needs more in the way of talent to boost his defence'


Alexander’s agent, Sandor Varga, said: "He'd love to play in England - that would be his first choice and his style would be suited to the English game. I know that in the past both Spurs and Arsenal were watching him." (Various)

Another striker appearing on many clubs radars, but most notably north London, is prolific Brazilian sensation, albeit in the Eredivisie, Afonso Alves (The Guardian).

The 26-year-old is in spectacular form in the distinctly average Dutch league, and has managed an incredible 10 goals in four starts, yes that's correct. These stats shouldn’t be taken too seriously as the standard of football in this league, especially when you take the big guns out of the equation, isn't too great. I think any big money move would be a mistake. Manchester City are apparently also lining up a £6m move for the striker. I don't expect Afonso to move to London though, and I don't think that either Arsenal or Spurs are in urgent need of strikers anyway. Put these down to lazy paper talk.

Two other bitter rivals battling over a player are Liverpool and Manchester United who both have a strong interest in Racing Santander defender Ezequiel Garay (The Guardian & Daily Mirror).

The adaptable Argentine can play as a wing-back as well as his more preferred position as centre-back and is an exciting prospect and at just 21 has a lot to offer. Both United and Liverpool could use his services, and even though Sami Hyypia has done well this season, Rafa needs more in the way of talent to boost his defence. Real Madrid are also said to be sniffing around and, given their bright start to the season, it could be that Ezequiel opts to stay in the La Liga.

Celtic are apparently looking in earnest into the possibility of signing Scottish international striker James McFadden from Everton for £4million in the summer (Daily Express).

It seems that Celtic are scoring freely enough in all competitions, with Aussie Scot McDonald proving a bargain buy and Jan Vennegor of Hesselink doing pretty well. However they've lost Kevin Miller and with Maciej Zurawski off form and out of favour I guess it makes sense to set sights on a quality striker. But is McFadden that man? I don’t think so.