Liverpool will move for Manchester City defender Kolo Toure on a free transfer once his contract expires in June.

With Jamie Carragher having retired, Liverpool are looking to sign two centre backs and Schalke's Kyriakos Papadopoulos is a leading target.

Toure is in the United States as part of City's post-season tour but the proposed move to Anfield is likely to progress quickly once he returns.

The 32-year-old joined City from Arsenal in July 2009 for £14m.

The expected signing of the Ivory Coast international goes against the Liverpool owners' preference for buying youth and he would be the first player over the age of 24 that Brendan Rodgers has signed since taking charge at Anfield.

Norwich defender Sebastien Bassong has been named the club's player of the season after his debut season at Carrow Road.

The Cameroon international joined the club from Tottenham Hotspur at the start of the season and has made 35 appearances for Chris Hughton's men, the fourth most in the squad.

Bassong, who has scored three times and made two assists this season, edged out teammates Robert Snodgrass and Bradley Johnson into second and third place respectively to earn the Barry Butler Memorial Trophy.

Snodgrass made the most club appearances this season for the club in his debut season with 39, while he is also joint top scorer alongside Grant Holt.

Chelsea and Manchester United have joined the chase for Egyptian wonder-kid Ramy Rabia, Sky Sports reports.

The 19-year-old centre-half has emerged as one of the hottest properties in Africa.

The Al Ahly stopper made his club debut aged just 17 and he already has five full caps for Egypt.

Rabia is set to captain Egypt at the Under-20 World Cup in Turkey next month, and a host of clubs are ready to continue monitoring him.

Borussia Dortmund, Lille and Schalke are all known to be keeping tabs on him but now Chelsea and United have joined the list of suitors.

Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse is a target for German giants Borussia Dortmund.

Champions League finalists Dortmund are expected to lose their star striker Robert Lewandowski, who is set to join fierce rivals Bayern Munich but has also been linked with Manchester United and Chelsea, this summer.

That has left Dortmund desperate for new options in attack and the prolific Cisse is one possible target this summer.

The 27-year-old Senegal international joined Newcastle from Freiburg for £9million in January 2012, and hit 13 goals in his 14 appearances last season.

Ivory Coast striker Arouna Kone was among the stars as Wigan stunned Manchester City 1-0 at the weekend to lift the FA Cup trophy for the first time.

The African star with the blond dyed hair troubled City throughout with his running and now turns his attention to keeping the cup winners in the Premier League.

Unfashionable Wigan visit Arsenal on Tuesday and host Aston Villa on Sunday, needing to win both ganes to be sure of avoiding relegation.

ENGLAND

Peter Odemwingie looks set to play his last match for West Brom against Manchester United on Sunday.

The Nigeria forward, 31, has had a turbulent year at the English Premier League club, who disciplined him for his critical outbursts on Twitter.

In January, he tried to engineer a move to QPR without permission and has not started a match for the Baggies since.

Manager Steve Clarke said: "His future will be decided in the summer. I don't think he'll be here next season."

Harry Redknapp has criticised Stephane Mbia for allegedly asking for a return to Marseille on Twitter.

The Cameroon midfielder's account sent a tweet to Joey Barton, who is on loan at the Ligue 1 side from QPR, on Monday asking: "@Joey7Barton Do you want rechange your seat with me ? #QPR #OM".

The former OM player later claimed that his account was hacked, but Redknapp did not accept the player's reasoning for the incident.

"If they spent more time on the practice ground instead of tweeting, they would be better footballers," The Mirror quotes Redknapp as saying.

A planned friendly match involving English Premier League club Liverpool in Cape Town on May 21 has been scrapped, the organisers said Friday.

Liverpool were scheduled to meet top-flight side Ajax Cape Town, but the South African Premier Soccer League (PSL) said the fixture could be staged only after the domestic season ends on May 25 with the national cup final.

The organisers said this week they had a plan 'B' -- widely believed to be a team including footballers from various Cape Town clubs -- but this has fallen through.

PSL rules forbid international club friendlies during the season as the body fears visits by high-profile clubs like Liveprool would divert media attention from local competitions and anger sponsors.

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has declared himself fully fit to face Wigan in Saturday's FA Cup final.

The Ivorian played only 45 minutes of Saturday's Premier League draw with Swansea because of fatigue and also sat out the midweek win over West Brom.

"Sometimes it is difficult to play all the games at the same level and to avoid injury," said the 29-year-old.

"But we have worked on ensuring I stay injury-free and concentrated on delivering at the weekend."

Midfielder Stephane Mbia has been fined by QPR after a message on his Twitter account appeared to suggest he wanted to return to his former club Marseille.

The Cameroonian moved to the Premier League club last summer, with Joey Barton going on loan to Marseille.

He was unable to help QPR avoid relegation and on Wednesday a message was sent to Barton from Mbia's Twitter account asking to swap clubs.

Mbia said he was not responsible but Rangers have punished the 26-year-old.

QPR spokesperson Ian Taylor wrote on Twitter: "The club has concluded its investigation following a series of Tweets which appeared on Stephane Mbia's official Twitter account.