NEWCASTLE and Sunderland both feature heavily in today's top football transfer rumours.

Newcastle are looking at other targets after losing out to Benfica in the race to sign Argentine midfielder Pablo Aimar from Real Zaragoza. (The Independent)

Newcastle have had a £2m bid for England left-back Stephen Warnock rejected by Blackburn. (Daily Mirror)

Newcastle and Everton are locked in a £4m tug of war for Tottenham's Pascal Chimbonda. (The Sun)

Sunderland are closing in on the signing of Croatia striker Mladen Petric from Borussia Dortmund for around £5m. (The Sun)

Wigan plan to make Everton an improved offer for Sunderland target Andrew Johnson after having a £9m bid for the England striker rejected. (The Guardian)

Elsewhere, Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is convinced he will land Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov before the start of the season. (The Sun)

Ferguson has met United winger Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time in almost two months in a bid to stop the player joining Real Madrid. (The Guardian)

Barcelona are poised to make a £24m bid for Berbatov after missing out on Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor. (Daily Mirror)

Chelsea have rejected Barcelona's offer of a swap deal involving Samuel Eto'o and Blues forward Didier Drogba. (The Sun)

Liverpool will sell Andrei Voronin to a German club for around £3m to help finance the signing of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa. (Daily Mirror)

Reading striker Dave Kitson is set to complete a £5m move to Stoke. (The Sun, Daily Mirror)

England goalkeeper Scott Carson will join West Brom from Liverpool after rejecting a move to Stoke. (Daily Mirror, Daily Star)

Niko Kranjar will stay at Portsmouth after snubbing a £12m move to Monaco. (The Sun)

Pompey rejected Monaco's offer for the Croatia midfielder. (The Independent)

Portsmouth defender Noel Pamarot has snubbed a move to Hull City. (Daily Mail)

Blackburn boss Paul Ince hopes to pull off the £3.5m signing of Chilean midfielder Carlos Villanueva from Audax Italiano. (Daily Mirror)

Russian star Andrei Arshavin is worried his dream move to Barcelona from Zenit St Petersburg is on the brink of collapse. (The Sun)

Frank Lampard has told Inter Milan he will look elsewhere if his move to the Italian club from Chelsea is not completed soon. (Daily Mirror)

Leeds are set to sign Wolves' Jay Bothroyd in a £300,000 deal. (Daily Star)

Sheffield Wednesday have rejected a £1.75m bid from Wolves for defender Mark Beevers. (Daily Star)

Plymouth are keen to sign Crystal Palace striker Shefki Kuqi. (Daily Star)

Rangers boss Walter Smith will offer Daniel Cousin to Cardiff in exchange for the Bluebirds' Dutch defender Glenn Loovens. (Daily Record)

Ipswich want to sign former Manchester United wide man Quinton Fortune. (Daily Express)

Claude Makelele will be the first big-name player to leave Chelsea under new boss Phil Scolari. (The Sun)

Sebastian Larsson will demand showdown talks with Birmingham City chairman David Gold to engineer a move away from St Andrews. (The Sun)