Chelsea wanted to buy England defender Ledley King - but refused to pay Tottenham’s £20million asking price.

Blues boss Jose Mourinho revealed their bid after new centre-back Ricardo Carvalho joined up with the squad.

"We had five or six players we were looking at and last week we arrived at the conclusion Ricardo was the perfect choice," said Mourinho.

"For a normal defender from England [King], they wanted the same money as Carvalho." (The Sun)

***************

Real Madrid will deliver an official bid for Patrick Vieira at the beginning of next week, according to the Daily Mail.

Real president Florentino Perez reportedly agreed with fellow board members yesterday that the campaign to sign Vieira should be stepped up and completed as quickly as possible.

Arsenal have not given up hope that their captain will stay, but have conceded privately that the only likelihood of that is if Real fail to meet his personal terms.

***************

The Moores family are poised to recapture a major role at Everton through the move by Lord Grantchester to back Paul Gregg’s bid to invest £15million in the troubled club.

Labour peer Lord Grantchester, a grandson of Sir John Moores, who held control at Goodison Park for more than 30 years, was a director until losing his place on the board following the Bill Kenwright-led takeover four years ago.

Lord Grantchester said: "I share a great desire in seeing Everton achieve a bright future and understand changes need to be made.

"I look forward to hearing the proposals from the board." (Daily Mail)

***************

Freddy Shepherd last night immediately demanded results to match Newcastle’s investment after completing the £2.5million signing of Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt.

He said: "We’ve got a huge wage bill at Newcastle and we want results. We’ve got to do it this season.

"All the ingredients are there - the best stadium and the best training facilities.

"I wouldn’t be going into it if I didn’t think we could be challenging the top three." (Daily Mail)