Villa want Spurs goal ace and other red-hot gossip

Aston Villa hope to reinforce their striking options by signing Robbie Keane from Tottenham for £11m. The Irish international is currently on loan at Celtic where he has rediscovered his goal scoring form. Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko are all ahead of him in the pecking order at Spurs. Elsewhere, Serie A giants Juventus are lining up a £12m bid for Tottenham's Wales international full-back Gareth Bale; Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini wants exciting young Italian striker Mario Balotelli, who is currently out of favour at Inter Milan; and Fabio Capello has been reassured that Manchester United will not play Wayne Rooney against Bayern Munich if there is any risk to his long-term fitness.