Manchester United still chasing £30m Arturo Vidal as Tottenham and Everton lead race for £15m Old Trafford forward Welbeck

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Manchester United are playing a game of cat and mouse with Juventus over Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal.

The word from Manchester on Friday was that the club were no longer interested in Vidal.

But 24 hours later there were suggestions in Italy that United raised an earlier bid of £30million to £35m.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch transfer targets Vidal and Cleverley showing their quality 

Time running out: Manchester United must move quick if they want to sign Arturo Vidal (right)

The situation highlights how United have been left to pay over the odds this summer to lure top-class players given they are out of the Champions League and how Louis van Gaal’s ability to make firm recommendations was hindered by his involvement as Holland coach at the World Cup. United also jetted off on a pre-season tour to America as soon as he took over.

But United do believe they have secured the services of versatile Dutch defender Daley Blind for £14m. The completion of the transfer of Marcos Rojo, though, is still in the balance over an issue with his visa and the complete severance of his third party status at Sporting Lisbon.

Danny Welbeck is set to be at the centre of the most hectic activity on deadline day.

Options: Danny Welbeck has been linked with several of United's Premier League rivals during this window

As revealed by Football Grapevine last week, Welbeck is surplus to requirements at Old Trafford. The player does not want to leave but will accept he has to move on for the sake of his career.

Tottenham appear to head the queue and while Arsenal have been on alert, manager Arsene Wenger said on Friday that he thinks he has enough strikers.

Spurs would be prepared to pay at least £15m for Welbeck and Everton are still in the mix but the player may prefer to go on loan, giving himself the chance to revive his United career down the line.

Hull City are set to challenge Aston Villa for Tom Cleverley, another United cast-off, as the transfer deadline turns into its usual last-minute scramble.

Clearout: Midfielder Tom Cleverley (left) is another playing heading for the Manchester United exit door

Andros Townsend could be on his way out of Tottenham with Queens Park Rangers set to make a bid.

Even though Townsend has won his way back into the England set-up he will become surplus to requirements at Spurs, especially if the club complete the signing of Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin.

Libero

Frank Lampard's retirement from international football saw much debate about why England’s so called 'golden generation' ended up with the wooden spoon. Time and again.

Bad management by the ridiculous Sven Goran Eriksson in particular as well as out-of-his-depth Steve McClaren and antique collector Fabio Capello are obvious reasons.

Predecessor to that trio Kevin Keegan was pilloried but I have a suspicion he would have got more out of the talented wave of players that emerged at the turn of the millennium.

I am convinced Glenn Hoddle would have, had he not been rushed out of office.

A few months ago I was in Hoddle’s company and we touched on what might have been post France 98.

He felt the future was bright given the players he had under his belt and those on the horizon and in general would have adopted a 3-5-2 system.

A team like this could then have emerged by 2002: David James, Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes, Ashley Cole, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen.

With a young and sharp Wayne Rooney to emerge and the likes of Gary Neville, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Jermain Defoe around to bolster the above team then by 2004 or 2006 the so-called 'golden generation' could have lifted big silverware.

And the future now under an increasingly hapless Roy Hodgson? As it stands it would seem more like a Plastic Generation.

All over: Frank Lampard called time on his England career after winning 106 caps

Bowing out: Lampard played his final game for England - the World Cup draw with Costa Rica

I am hearing

West Ham's hierarchy are poised to use the international break to decide on Sam Allardyce's future following a 3-1 home defeat by Southampton.

I understand co-owner David Sullivan is at breaking point and is beginning to think 'enough is enough'.

Tony Pulis ,David Moyes and Gus Poyet are top of a long list.

Under pressure: Sam Allardyce watched his West Ham side lose on their own patch to Southampton

I am also hearing

That Felix Magath is on his way out of Fulham - and soon. Chris Hughton and Alan Curbishley are two leading contenders to take over. 

Contenders: Chris Hughton (left) and Alan Curbishley have been linked with taking over the reins at Fulham

Back Heel

Last week Back Heel recalled England’s infamous 2-1 defeat by Norway after which the commentator Bjorge Lillelien went on a wonderful victory rant.

Clearer in the minds of many will be the 2-0 loss to Norway in Oslo in June 1993.

It was one of the games immortalised on the Impossible Job documentary about Graham Taylor’s reign aka Do I No Like That.

Taylor is on the bench with yes-man Phil Neal and Lawrie McMenemy in Oslo and the dialogue could have been scripted by Monty Python.

The Norway sequence (at 29.20 of the clip below) begins poignantly with a Taylor press conference the day before the game when he talks openly, but euphemistically, for the first time about Paul Gascoigne’s 'refuelling' habits.

It has been painful to see pictures over the past week as to where those 'refuelling' habits have led Gazza.

Watch the footage below…it’s likely to be more entertaining than Wednesday’s friendly against Norway at Wembley. 

BTW

It’s easy to castigate uber-rich players for not giving fig about punters or just doing PR charity stunts but Mark Bright, the former Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday striker now pundit, pointed me in the direction of Everton striker Steven Naismith. 

The Scotland international bought four tickets for the Chelsea game and has given them to some unemployed locals. I gather he pays for Christmas parties for the homeless in Liverpool and Glasgow. Top bloke.

Gesture: Steven Naismith has bought Everton tickets for unemployed people in Liverpool

Y Factor

Wayne Rooney’s 'appointment' as England captain raises the obvious question - why do we actually need to appoint a captain anymore? 

Back in the day when the England manager had a very small backroom staff the skipper became an extension of the boss with several 'managerial duties' to perform . 

Alf Ramsey saw Bobby Moore as his voice on the pitch, while off it Moore would often act as a conduit between the dressing room and the manager. 

Moore was also the head of PR before there was even a press officer let alone spin doctors around. 

Over to you, Wayne: Rooney takes the England armband following Steven Gerrard's retirement

Many captains since took on the mantle. But the meaning of the role has dwindled given the layers of the backroom staff and entourage. 

It’s good for the player of course. He stands to get even more sponsor endorsements. But for the team? 

Roy Hodgson says making Rooney captain doesn’t mean he is 'undroppable'. 

Natural born leader: Bobby Moore was the England captain when the Three Lions ruled the world in 1966

Let's see. Why not in future just give the captain’s armband to the player who has the most caps at the start of the game? 

As it stands that is Rooney. But from now on the position should be a symbol of seniority. Not some sort of sinecure.

I-Bet

Manchester City have got the toughest group of the four English clubs in the Champions League but I think they can get through it. So do most of the bookies who put them ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool to go all the way. It’s worth then taking a punt on City at this stage at 14-1 with Coral to lift the trophy with Chelsea half that price. But given the final is in Berlin and German football is on a crest of a wave, Bayern Munich at 5-1 looks a decent shout. Real Madrid are 10-3 favourites.

Stop Press

Benfica have made a £10m offer for Arsenal's Joel Campbell.