Arsenal star Jack Wilshere to replace Gerrard at Liverpool?

Liverpool's quest to find a player to fill Steven Gerrard's boots continues as Arsenal scout around for defensive reinforcements and Chelsea try to tie down one of their biggest stars.

• Liverpool are lining up a "sensational move" for Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere. Metro says that the 23-year-old injury-prone Gunner has been identified by Reds' boss Brendan Rodgers as the "perfect replacement" for Steven Gerrard, who will join LA Galaxy at the end of the season. To validate its claim, Metro points out that the Liverpool Echo is also carrying the story with the Merseyside paper claiming that Liverpool will table a £25m bid for Wilshere. Sidelined since November with injury, the England playmaker has been in the headlines recently for all the wrong reasons, caught smoking for the third time in little over a year. Despite that Metro says Rodgers is "ready to take a punt" on Wilshere. Only trouble, claims the Echo, is whether the Reds would be willing to meet the Londoner's demands, namely "a pay rise on his £80,000-a-week wages".

• Not for the first time in recent days, according to the Daily Star at least, Arsenal and Liverpool have been "rocked" by news from the Bundesliga. Earlier in the week it was the revelation that Marco Reus wanted to sign on for another stint at Borussia Dortmund that sent tremors through the Emirates and Anfield, now it's the news that on-loan centre-back Matija Nastasic "wants to join Schalke on a permanent basis". The Man City youngster was packed off to the German outfit earlier in the season, but the 21-year-old was apparently being eyed up by Arsenal and Liverpool with a view to a summer purchase. But in an interview with German rag Bild, Nastasic declared: "I am very happy here and... after the season we all have to talk and see what the best solution is. But for sure, I would like to stay here. I take a long view with Schalke."

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• Might Arsenal be "lining up a move" for Real Madrid full-back Fabio Coentrao? That's the claim made by the Daily Express, which reports that the Portugal defender is no longer required by Real Madrid, to the delight of Gunners' gaffer Arsene Wenger. The 26-year-old, capped 47 times by Spain, is seen by the Nutty Professor as a more reliable alternative to Nacho Monreal and Kieran Gibbs. But the Express says if Arsenal are serious about landing Coentrao it will cost them £20m.

• According to Goal.com Chelsea are confident Eden Hazard will commit his future to the club by penning a new deal imminently, one that "will make him the highest-paid player in the club's history". Earlier this season the Belgian magician was linked to both Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, but Jose Mourinho believes Hazard will pledge his troth to the Bridge before long, and he even managed to joke that there was only reason he had yet to sign along the dotted line. "I am buying a nice pen," quipped the Portuguese. "I need a bit of time to go to Sloane Street and buy a proper pen... and after that I think there is not a long time to go!"

• Dubbed by the Daily Mirror as the "bad-boy" of Southampton, Dani Osvaldo has ended what the papers says is his "Premier League nightmare" by signing for Boca Juniors. The Argentina-born Italy international joined the Saints from Roma in the summer of 2013 in a £15m move, played just 13 games before joining AC Milan on loan. That didn't work out either and now Osvaldo is heading to Argentina on a £70,000 a-week deal that the Mirror says makes him "the highest paid player" in the country.