"Sources in Turin confirmed last night that Arsenal had registered their interest in 30-year-old Van der Sar. Juventus would want around £6.5m."

Coincidentally, this is thought to be the price Arsenal have offered Feyenoord for Jerzy Dudek, a deal thought to have stalled due to failure to reach a compromise between that and the Dutch club's position (£10m).

As they point out, this could be partly a matter of trying to put Feyenoord under pressure. Possibly a dodgy tactic, since other clubs are bound to be interested (and you could end up losing out on both). But if Arsenal think Dudek's not worth £10, they must be unsure that he'll replace Seaman adequately (let's face it, in today's market £10m isn't so much for such an important player).

Meanwhile Villa's Turkish defender Alpay is claiming that both Arsenal and Newcastle are interested in signing him (see eg TribalFootball). He says he's declined offers from Turkish clubs because he wants to stay in England for another 5 years.

He says "if the coach would allow it, I'd love to play for Arsenal." And really, it'd be foolish to read any more into it than that. Personally, there's only one Villa player I'm sure I'd like Arsenal to sign, but Wenger has said he doesn't believe in bringing players back to their old clubs....

Stefan Effenberg apparently won't be coming to England just yet after all. He said at the weekend that he'd leave Bayern to come to the Premiership. And his manager (and wife) Martina Effenberg has been quoted as saying, "What will happen next has been clear to us for quite some time. We will leave Munich and go to England."

But he has apparently responded to subsequent speculation (mea culpa) that this meant he'd be likely to leave this summer, as Bayern would want to cash in before the end of his contract, saying that he'll be with the Munich club till the end of that contract. ie it's Effenberg that'll be cashing in.

Finally, in talking about Graeme Souness's interest in Everton right-back Michael Ball, TheBeautifulGame claim that Arsenal have been interested for over a year, implying that we still are, and that Everton couldn't afford the alleged £6m fee.