Lee Bowyer's proposed move to Liverpool appeared to have stalled last night after a second day of talks over personal terms left the Leeds midfielder's £9 million transfer unresolved. Dominic Fifield reports
Gerard Houllier agreed the fee with the Yorkshire club last week and resumed talks - already held over from Monday - with Bowyer and his advisers yesterday. But, though the Merseysiders are confident that a deal can still be concluded, the player returned to Yorkshire after another day spent haggling over the financial package on offer, leaving the French manager on tenterhooks for a while longer.
Liverpool have offered the 25-year-old midfielder a five-year contract worth around £35,000 a week, a considerable rise from the £17,000 a week he earns at Elland Road. Nevertheless Bowyer, who was ordered to pay legal costs of almost £1 million this year after being found not guilty of all charges in relation to an assault on a student, is holding out for considerably more.
The delay has not only left Liverpool fretting. Leeds, still waiting on Rio Ferdinand's decision over his future, had been hoping to receive a large slice of the £15 million they need to raise this summer by selling their unsettled midfielder. Should compromise not be reached on Merseyside, Bowyer would return to Yorkshire leaving Leeds looking elsewhere to raise the required money.
Ferdinand's procrastination has hardly helped their planning. The chairman Peter Ridsdale has yet to receive a formal offer from Manchester United or a transfer request from the England centre-half, and reiterated his intention to turn down any such demand from the player should it come.
"Someone, somewhere seems to be conducting this whole business through the media and I find that very disturbing," said Ridsdale. "How can I respond to anything when, as far as I'm concerned, Rio is contracted to Leeds?
"The only thing that I can confirm is that if Rio Ferdinand hands in a transfer request it will be turned down. He is going nowhere. Where does he think he is going? Into thin air? We've had no offers whatsoever so it amazes me how he has a choice to make."
Indeed, the only central defender who confirmed he was keen to leave Leeds yesterday was Michael Duberry (26) who signed a five-year deal only last December but will be allowed to leave for less than the £4.5 million paid to sign him from Chelsea three years ago.
"Michael has told Terry Venables how he feels," said Duberry's agent Phil Graham, whose client could now move to Bolton Wanderers. "For a long time now Michael has felt he needs first-team football."
Duberry's departure would leave Leeds short of options at the back should Ferdinand be lured across the Pennines. To that end the 23-year-old, who is 18 months into a six-year contract, could be forced to stay in Yorkshire until January 2004 under FIFA's transfer regulations. Should he walk out on the club before that three-year point he would risk a four-month world-wide suspension with the club that signed him forced to pay compensation to Leeds.
Meanwhile, Everton have extended their search for a new goalkeeper by opening preliminary talks with Fenerbahce for the Turkish international Rustu Recber, having grown frutstrated with Derby County's £7 million valuation of Mart Poom.
Recber, who played a major part in Turkey's third-place finish at this summer's World Cup, has a year remaining on his contract in Istanbul but Fenerbahce are anxious to cash in on him and would accept a deal amounting to around £5 million. Everton are hoping to agree on an initial down payment with the rest of the fee to be paid in installments.
With negotiations ongoing while Everton continue their pre-season preparations in Austria, manager David Moyes yesterday dispatched his goalkeeping coach Chris Woods to France to watch Bohemians Prague's Kamil Contofalsky at last night's friendly against Le Havre. The 24-year-old Slovakian represents a cheaper - if less well known - option should a deal founder.
The West Bromwich Albion manager Gary Megson is set to end speculation regarding his future at the club by signing a new three-year contract.
Bolton have signed another French defender, the 20-year-old Bernard Mendy, from Paris St-Germain on a one-year loan, with an option to make the deal permanent at the end of the season. "He's a very young and highly rated full-back, and to get him from under the noses of some top European clubs is amazing," said their manager, Sam Allardyce.
Middlesbrough are reported to be close to completing a deal for the French midfielder Edouard Cisse. "I feel that Middlesbrough is right for me," the 24-year-old PSG player said. "I want to play for \ McClaren."
Guardian Servic
