*Liverpool are bracing themselves for interest in star striker Luis Suarez from Real Madrid and possibly Barcelona

*Gus Poyet is the favourite to replace Sam Allardyce as West Ham boss

*Chelsea’s Ashley Cole has offers from Liverpool and Manchester City

*West Ham and QPR are planning a move for Chelsea defender John Terry

*Frank Lampard has been offered a two-year contract by LA Galaxy, but wants to stay at Stamford Bridge

*Manchester City intend to outbid neighbours Man United for Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas

*Alan Pardew will not be sacked by Newcastle this summer

Liverpool are bracing themselves for a battle to keep Luis Suarez this summer.

It is understood that Real Madrid and possibly Barcelona will make a move for the Uruguayan striker.

That Suarez signed a new long-term deal with the Liverpool striker just four months ago does not affect his availability.

As predicted by Football Grapevine, the new improved deal which saw Suarez’s wages move into the region of £200,000-a-week, meant that his sell-on fee clause of £40million was struck off.

But it is understood there are clauses in the new deal that would trigger a sale in the vicinity of 100m euros (£82m).

Real Madrid are favourites to move in but Barcelona could challenge.

I understand though it is Suarez’s dream to play for Real.

Poyet favourite to replace Allardyce at West Ham

Gus Poyet has emerged as the favourite to become the next West Ham manager with Sam Allardyce facing the sack this week.

The Hammers hierarchy remain torn about keeping Allardyce or undergoing a change of direction.

But Football Grapevine sources have been told that Hammers supremo David Sullivan was less than impressed with Allardyce’s recent remarks that his ambition was bigger than that of the club.

There will be a summit meeting this week about the way forward and it is likely the club will part company with Allardyce.

Sunderland boss Poyet is now a favoured replacement but Michael Laudrup, Malkay Mackay, Slaven Bilic, Glenn Hoddle and former boss Alan Pardew are names that are also being discussed.

If Allardyce is sacked this week then his next point of destination could well be Aston Villa – or Sunderland.

I am hearing

Ashley Cole is the most in-demand free transfer this summer.

Tottenham are the latest club in for Cole who I hear has proposals from Manchester City and Liverpool.

I am also hearing

West Ham will make a move to sign John Terry. And so will QPR if they get promoted.

BTW

There is fury among many Football League and non-League clubs about the Greg Dyke’s ridiculous B-team proposal.

In a nutshell, it is likely a new division between the Conference and Football League will create a glass ceiling for aspirational non-League clubs who would see a road block for progression, as well as undermining struggling Football League clubs.

Plugs will be be pulled.

Behind the spin the whole idea seems more about helping elite clubs get around Financial Fair Play regulations than developing young talent.

Why trust yet another blueprint for the future devised by the FA or Premier League marketeers?

So-called club academies have failed. So has the hugely expensive St George’s HQ. Both big ideas were ignited by big noise blueprints of previous new FA regimes.

What the FA should be looking at is not cheap talk about helping grass roots football (nice soundbite) but actually really helping it.

For instance, take the case of Cray Wanderers.

This is the second oldest club in the country. It plays in the sixth tier. It also has a very good local community and youth policy.

But the club is homeless and currently groundshares with Bromley FC. Owner Gary Hillman has good plans to build a new ground and facilities back in its original area in St Paul’s Cray and St Mary Cray. Yet planning permission is blocked.

But the FA offer no support and neither does the existing Conservative-led council but ahead of local elections UKIP does.

Does the FA want be outdone by UKIP?

Dyke and his cronies who get seduced by a new idea brochure should actually go down and see what’s happening at the grassroots of football in this country.

It’s actually quite good.

It just needs a bit more help to nurture the vast pool of talent that exists – and also to make sure that some of the kids who slip through the net bounce back.

Lampard’s LA Galaxy deal, City in for Fabregas and Pardew safe for now

Frank Lampard has been offered a two-year deal to move to LA Galaxy. But he wants a new one-year deal with Chelsea.

Manchester City are ready to outbid Manchester United and lure Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona.

Alan Pardew will not be sacked by Newcastle this summer. My source tells me he is still 100 per cent backed by owner Mike Ashley despite fan dissent.

Finishing in the top 10 is what was required of Pardew by the Sports Direct owner.

Behind Arsene Wenger, Pardew is the second-longest reigning manager in the Premier League after taking over in December 2010.

I-Say

Mon: After seeing Luis Suarez crying at the end of Liverpool’s collapse at Crystal Palace, Stoke’s Robert Huth argues that crying on the pitch should warrant a three-match ban. A bit strong but I get his point. It’s becoming pathetic watching so many players blubbing.

Tues: UEFA hit Manchester City with a £50million fine for apparently breaking FFP rules then Villareal are fined £10,000 for the banana -throwing incident involving Barcelona’s Daniel Alves. It shows you where their priorities are. Finances not principles. Perhaps Alves and his mates should buy 10,000rotting bananas and dump them on UEFA’s doorstep.

Weds: Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho fails to make Brazil’s World Cup squad – as if we needed to know just how much talent they have their disposal.

Thurs: Louis van Gaal comes out and says he’d love to be Manchester United boss but says he is still talking to other clubs. Really? Surely the Dutchman is not playing games with United ?

Fri: Malkay Mackay drops his £7.5m claim with Cardiff and makes an out of court settlement. It seems like he is clearing the way to get a new job at West Ham or Norwich, perhaps.

Libero

The accepted equation of a World Cup squad is three keepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and four strikers – 3-8-8-4 if you like.

But as Jamie Redknapp pointed out in his Sportsmail column at the start of the week, often a couple of defenders end up being excess baggage.

And in the knockout stages, it can only help if you have extra options upfront.

After all, you only need one striker to get injured and one suspended and you start to worry where the goals will come from. Surely it makes sense to take five front men.

But England don’t exactly have a plethora of options in the attacking department. It is why Danny Welbeck, who has been a regular under Roy Hodgson, and who can operate as wide man willing to work back, is likely to make the squad along with Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge; both of whom one would expect to start.

So who else does Roy take?

Rickie Lambert has stated his case but I think Jermain Defoe AND Andy Carroll should get the nod.

Defoe remains a great goal poacher and is ideal to bring on as a sub.

He now has the maturity and mentality to come off the bench, be switched on straight away and score goals as he proved so often in his latter days at Tottenham.

His move to Canada for the last half of the season should not be an impediment. In fact the change of scene and more regular game time away from the spotlight could prove the ideal preparation.

Carroll gives the obvious alternative option and he can be a game breaker. Former England boss Glenn Hoddle agrees. ‘Yes, I’d take Defoe and Carroll,’ he told me.

‘If you are chasing a game then Jermain is the ideal sort of striker to have on the bench. He has a habit of coming on and scoring goals.

‘As for Andy Carroll, people make the mistake that with him in the team it’s all about the long ball.

‘It’s not if you start hitting in diagonal balls towards him. And I know for sure the Italian or Brazilian defenders won’t fancy the prospect of coming up against him. Don’t forget, back in my day Mark Hateley was very effective for England for a period. I think if you have the alternative of a big striker then have it as an option.

‘Besides, Carroll is a much a better player than many people seem to think.’

This would be my 23: Hart, Foster, Ruddy ; Johnson, Baines, Shaw, Jones, Jagielka, Cahill, Caulker; Gerrard, Lampard, Oxlade –Chamberlain, Barkley, Sterling, Wilshere, Lallana, Milner; Wellbeck, Sturridge, Rooney, Defoe, Carroll.

FOTB

It’s surely time the PFA stepped in and told their players to stamp out stamping.

Hull’s David Meyler was lucky to escape retrospective punishment after an incident involving Manchester United’s Adnan Januzaj last week. Meyler is now clear to play in the FA Cup final.

As long as football remains a contact sport there are always going to be bad fouls and pushing and shoving. It’s part and parcel of the game.

Stamping is not. It’s premeditated, cowardly, spiteful and potentially very dangerous. Stamping can cause serious injury.

Moreover it shows an utter lack of respect to a fellow professional.

PFA supremo Gordon Taylor should send out a memo and remind players that they should put the foot on the ball not the man.

Back Heel

It’s a big week for English football. The Premier League title is decided. The play offs go into over drive. It’s the FA Cup final next Saturday.

Then next Sunday for Londoners of a certain age there is the prospect of turning back the clock and watching a group of ex-stars battle it out at Brisbane Road. For younger fans it offers an opportunity to have a glimpse at the past… and some paunches.

F30 Legends sponsored by William Hill has been set up by Glenn Hoddle, and sees teams from Chelsea, West Ham Arsenal and Tottenham take each other on.

To make it competitive the matches are 15 minutes each way with roll and roll off subs.

There is also a sin bin. As it stands Paolo di Canio is favourite to be the first man to be sent there.

Chelsea, who will have Gianfranco Zola in their side, won it last year and are favourites again.

Hoddle will be getting his boots on too.

Here is a reminder of Hoddle in his pomp.

I Bet

The last time West Ham went to the Ethiad Stadium they were humiliated 6-0 in the Capital One Cup semi-final.

No doubt some Manchester City fans want a similar outcome so they can celebrate winning the Premier League in showboating style. They can get 25-1 on that.

But if that’s their attitude, that’s where they could come unstuck.

West Ham might be seen as walkover but down the years they have put a spanner in the works of title parades. Just ask Manchester United fans.

City are 1-7 on to win the game. A better bet though is Coral’s 8/5 for City win but West Ham also to score.

And Andy Carroll has scored five Premier League goals against City – more than he has against any other opponent.

Carroll is a tasty 14-1 to be first scorer, the same price as a West Ham win. The draw which will still deliver City the title is 8-1.

Y-Factor

I was chatting with Ian Wright during the week and he told me his knee is causing him so much jip that he needs an operation.

It’s one of the downsides that many ex professionals face, especially when they have had pain killing injections during their career.

Wrighty told me that he once had SIX cortisone injections in one week in said knee to get him through two big games.

Like me, Wrighty wonders why cortisone injections are still allowed since they are obviously performance enhancing in the sense that they are performance enabling.

They would also seem potentially more damaging than some other banned substances.

—Daily Mail