A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Jewell confirms interest in St Leger

SEÁN St Ledger was continuing to weigh up his options last night amid reports a number of clubs, including one Serie A outfit, have sought to sign the 27-year-old Republic of Ireland defender since he was transfer listed by Leicester City, reports Emmet Malone.

Ipswich Town boss Paul Jewell confirmed his interest with his pursuit likely to have been stepped up in the wake of Damien Delaney’s exit due to injury from the FA Cup defeat by Hull City at the weekend. Jewell, who is also said to be eyeing up Derby County’s Paul Green, may face competition from a number of Championship sides, with Leeds United amongst those interested, as well as a top-flight Italian club.

Another fine Messi year ends with Ballon d'Or

LIONEL MESSI was last night awarded the Fifa Ballon d’Or for the third successive year.

Barcelona’s 24-year-old Argentina striker beat team-mate Xavi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo to the title of the world’s best player.

Messi, man of the match in the Champions League final in 2011, also won the Primera Division, Spanish Supercopa, Uefa Super Cup and Club World Cup last year.

Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic were both included in the world XI dominated by Spain-based players.

Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola was named coach of the year; Alex Ferguson was given the Fifa presidential award for services to football and Brazilian 19-year-old sensation Neymar won the Fifa Puskas award for the best goal of 2011.

FIFPRO WORLD XI: Casillas (Real Madrid), Alves (Barcelona), Pique (Barcelona), Ramos (Real Madrid), Vidic (Man Utd), Iniesta (Barcelona), Alonso (Real Madrid), Xavi (Barcelona), Messi (Barcelona), Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Rooney (Man Utd).

Hughes set to be named QPR boss

MARK Hughes is set to take over as Queens Park Rangers manager and has been promised significant funds by the club's owner, Tony Fernandes, to strengthen his squad this month, with the England forward Darren Bent a principal target, reports Dominic Fifield.

The former Wales, Blackburn and Manchester City manager spent yesterday in talks at Loftus Road and is expected to be confirmed as Neil Warnock’s replacement in the next 24 hours. Hughes, who has been out of work since departing Fulham in the summer, would be joined by his customary backroom team headed by Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki.

Hughes said talks had gone “really well” but that there was “still a lot to discuss”. He is due to return for further discussions this morning.

Bent, who moved to Aston Villa only a year ago from Sunderland for around €22 million, has been identified as a key target, with QPR having managed only 19 goals in 20 games this season.

Keane on course for Villa debut

REPUBLIC of Ireland captain Robbie Keane trained with Aston Villa for the first time yesterday and is expected to be unveiled by the club to the media on Thursday morning although a spokesman admitted he was not sure whether the loan deal would be formally completed last night. “There’s no delay,” he said, “It’s just about the formalities and it will be sorted out over the next day or two.”

Keane could make his debut against Everton on Saturday.

Celtic could face cup bogey team

CELTIC could face another meeting with cup bogey side Inverness in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup. Inverness, who have twice knocked Celtic out of the tournament in recent years, will host Neil Lennon’s side if they beat Dunfermline in an East End Park replay. Rangers will face 2010 winners Dundee United at Ibrox. St Johnstone will be looking to beat Hearts at Tynecastle for the second year running.

The draw, conducted by Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas and former Italy coach Marcello Lippi, gave Hibernian a home game against Dundee or Kilmarnock. Aberdeen have a chance to avenge their 2008 semi-final defeat by Queen of the South when they host the Dumfries side.

Motherwell welcome Morton to Fir Park while First Division leaders Ross County will visit the winners of the replay between St Mirren and Hamilton.

SCOTTISH FA CUP – Fifth round draw: Hibernian v Dundee or Kilmarnock; Motherwell v Morton; St Mirren or Hamilton v Ross County; Inverness CT or Dunfermline v Celtic; Ayr v Falkirk; Rangers v Dundee Utd; Hearts v St Johnstone; Aberdeen v Queen of South. Ties to be the weekend of February 4th-5th.

Trading on Rangers shares suspended

RANGERS suffered another financial blow yesterday when trading on their shares was suspended because of their failure to submit audited accounts.

Rangers published their annual financial figures on November 30th but they were not signed off by an independent auditor and the club subsequently failed to meet the six-month deadline from the end of their financial year.

Rangers chairman Craig Whyte quickly responded to the Stock Exchange’s suspension by downplaying the merits of being listed on the market and revealed he was considering withdrawing from it after the first anniversary of his takeover in May.

Rangers said their failure to meet their obligations was down to an ongoing dispute with British Revenue and Customs, which is due to come before a tax tribunal next week.

Saha racially abused on Twitter

LOUIS Saha was subjected to foul-mouthed racial abuse on Twitter, it has emerged.

The French striker, who plays for Everton, was told “go back to France ya f****** n*****” after the account of a fan was allegedly accessed without permission.

It emerged on the day British politicians called for an inquiry into racism in football, claiming the English FA and individual clubs were “dragging their feet” over the issue.

Saha (33) retweeted the offensive message, received on January 4th, and added his own comment in reply, saying: “Don’t attached (sic) urself with the club. U disgrace.”

The account which sent the message has now been deleted and Saha later updated his 80,000 Twitter followers telling them an investigation was carried out and the offensive tweet was sent without the user’s authorisation by a work colleague.

Saha also said the abuser had been suspended from his job.