Football rumours: Please please me, says Kenwright

That was the weekend that was

ACCORDING TO the News of the World, Paul McCartney could become the new owner of Everton when the theatre impresario Bill Kenwright asks the former Beatle to head up his takeover bid. Kenwright, who went to school with McCartney, wants to buy Peter Johnson's 68 per cent stake in the club and hopes to persuade McCartney to dip into his pounds 500m fortune to help fund a pounds 60m bid for control.

According to the People, Arsenal see Liverpool's Rob Jones as a replacement for ageing Lee Dixon and are ready to swoop with a cut-price pounds 250,000 offer for the 27-year-old full-back, whose contract expires in the summer. Meanwhile, the News of the World reckons Arsenal have a bigger target at Anfield, namely Robbie Fowler, who is stalling on a new contract and may be prised away for pounds 6m.

The Mail on Sunday predicts that Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier could tempt Coventry's unsettled defender Jean-Claude Wallemme to stay in England despite problems settling. Houllier reportedly thinks the 31-year-old former Lens captain could be a short-term answer to Liverpool's defensive problems.

While the Express says Manchester United have been knocked back in their bid to sign Ajax goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, both the People and Mail agree a fresh move for Lens midfielder Marc Vivien Foe is in the offing, especially - the People says - because Blackburn manager Brian Kidd wants him too.

The People says Leicester could make a pounds 2.5m bid for striker Arnar Gunnlaugsson after the Icelandic international expressed his discontent with Bolton's pay offer.

The Mail says that Gerry Francis's QPR revival - they have won five of their last seven matches - could be undermined by enforced sales after the club's bankers asked for a pounds 6m overdraft to be reduced to pounds 2.5m by 1 January.