Soccer News: Everton have opened talks with Wayne Rooney's agent, Paul Stretford, over the proposed new five-year deal to keep the England striker at Goodison Park.
Rooney, who is recovering from a broken metatarsal bone sustained at Euro 2004, has been granted time off after returning from Portugal and has gone abroad on a two-week holiday.
Discussions will continue in his absence, although Everton are braced for the negotiations to be protracted and remain unconvinced that the 18-year-old will re-commit himself.
For all the tentative interest from Manchester United, Chelsea and Real Madrid, no club has yet made a formal offer to sign Rooney, who has two years to run on his current deal, although Old Trafford remain the most likely destination should he reject Everton's contract offer.
The Everton manager, David Moyes, who has limited funds at his disposal, will seek to raise about £1 million pounds by selling Tomasz Radzinski to Fulham. The Canada international, who will link up with the rest of the Everton squad on their pre-season training camp in Austria next week, has rejected a new three-year contract at Goodison Park.
Middlesbrough unveiled their third signing of the week yesterday following Michael Reiziger and Mark Viduka, and as anticipated it was Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Keith Lamb, the club's chief executive, said Hasselbaink would not be the last recruit. Middlesbrough are are expected to take Boudewijn Zenden back to the Riverside on a permanent transfer from Chelsea and they are believed to have returned to Stamford Bridge for what will be their final summer signing - Geremi.
The 25-year-old midfielder is surplus to requirements at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho and had a successful 12 months on loan at Middlesbrough the season before last. However, there is also strong interest from Galatasaray.
Geremi was one of those rotated regularly by Claudio Ranieri last season and was unable to establish a regular starting place. It is not known how much Middlesbrough will have to pay Chelsea.
Hasselbaink (32), joined on a free transfer, signing a two-year contract, and he immediately echoed Viduka about Middlesbrough's Champions League aspirations. "If we could do something there it would be a magnificent achievement, it'd be history."
The former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Crossley, meanwhile, is set to move to Leeds and become the first-choice goalkeeper at Elland Road.
The Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan expects to tie up the move of the Leeds and England defender Danny Mills early next week.
Mills (27), met City officials yesterday and reached an agreement in principle to join the Blues on a free transfer.
The West Ham midfielder Kevin Horlock has signed for Ipswich Town on a free transfer. The 31-year-old Northern Ireland international has agreed a two-year contract with an option for a third year.
The former England manager Glenn Hoddle appears to be out of the running for the vacant role as France national coach.
Reports from France suggest that Laurent Blanc, Jean Tigana and Raymond Domenech are still in the running after the French Football Federation yesterday announced that their shortlist consisted of three names.
The former Senegal coach Bruno Metsu withdrew his interest once it became apparent he was an outsider and Rene Girard, a former assistant national coach who was also on the original list of six contenders, is thought to have been ruled out of contention.
The French federation president, Claude Simonet, who will name the successor to Jacques Santini on Monday, said: "A problem was posed in relation to his (Hoddle's) relations with the national coaching body. His salary also proved a problem."
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