West Ham United are hoping to spark an auction for striker Dean Ashton.
The Sun says Aston Villa, Spurs and Manchester City are all chasing the £10million-rated striker - despite West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola saying he will not sell.
Zola is desperate to hang on to the England striker with vultures already circling Craig Bellamy, Matthew Upson and Rob Green.
Ashton, 25, has been out with an ankle injury since September but is scheduled to return in the reserves in early January.
Zola thinks Ashton has an outside chance of being fit for the Premier League trip to Newcastle on January 10 - just in time to show potential buyers what he is made of.
The manager said: "Dean is in rehab and seeing his physio. He's doing very well but I don't how long he will be out for.
"Hopefully it'll be the very beginning of the New Year."