Football transfer rumours: Chelsea back in for Genk's Kevin De Bruyne?

A number of things have amazed the Mill in recent days. The news that Americans consider pornography to be a more contentious moral issue than state-sanctioned executions . Images of turncoat dinosaur Gunnersaurus Rex cosying up to a Tottenham player . And the discovery of new life forms at the back of its fridge. But not nearly as many things as must have bewildered poor David Beckham . "I have had a lot of offers and I must say that I'm amazed, at my age, I've had so many," tootled the greatest thing to happen to replica football shirt sales since the invention of polyester. "It's been a bit of a surprise," he added, before trailing off into a stunned silence as he noticed that for the second day running the sun seemed to be rising in the east. Yes, clubs seeking to sign Becks is one of football's great inevitabilities – right up there with Sepp Blatter talking rubbish, Arsenal taking one pass too many and stories claiming that this time Newcastle really are going to sign themselves a new striker. Today's protagonist in that department is a familiar one – Sochaux's Modibo Maiga, the Mali international for whom they failed to seal a deal over the summer. The word is that the move could be resurrected in January for £7m-£8m. Of course, Newcastle could also be one of the many football clubs "put on alert" (insert your own image of a flashing Mike Ashley siren here) that Alessandro Del Piero will be available in the summer after the Juventus president, Andrea Agnelli, confirmed that this would be the forward's last year with the club. On the plus side, Newcastle could offer Del Piero the opportunity to continue wearing his beloved black and white stripes. On the negative, they don't play in the MLS, which is almost certainly where he's headed. Speaking of America, Roberto Martínez is plotting a January trip to Texas to scoop up FC Dallas's somewhat unimaginatively named George John . The centre-back had been lined up for a move to Blackburn in the summer, until Venky's filled their player-with-interchangeable-first-and-surnames quota by signing Scott Dann instead. Shifting our sights back to Europe, the Genk winger Kevin De Bruyne hopes to impress Chelsea sufficiently this evening that they come back in with a fresh bid for him in the January window. Hulk says he doesn't mind where he winds up, but appears to have added the words "Chelsea target" to the front of his name by deed poll. There have been mercifully few updates on Chelsea's interest in a certain Tottenham midfielder of late, but according to Metro the "new Luka Modric", Dinamo Zagreb's Mateo Kovacic , is set to turn down Arsenal in favour of a move to Manchester United. Elsewhere, Eric Abidal reckons Manchester City want to buy him (and who are we to argue?), Tottenham are after Barcelona's defensive prospects Martin Montoya and Marc Bartra , and Derek McInnes looks set to become the new manager of Bristol City .