Keane plays mind game

NEWS:Bill Beswick has been offering Roy Keane's players psychological help as Sunderland endeavour to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

The sports psychologist, who knows Keane from when he had a part-time role with Manchester United and the Sunderland manager was captain at Old Trafford, is best known for his work alongside Steve McClaren with Middlesbrough and, most recently, England.

Middlesbrough and England players hold mixed views about Beswick - a man described as McClaren's "guru" - but Keane remains a fan and yesterday explained: "I enjoyed chatting to Bill very much when I was a player and he has been in once or twice to talk to the players.

"You've got to try things and you just hope the players plug into it. Some people might want to see Bill one to one, others don't and they won't see him again. I generally think the players enjoy it, though. We don't tie them into a seat and make them listen for 90 minutes; it's all very casual."

This echoes Beswick's previous arrangement with Manchester United. "The position at United was also very casual," said Keane. "If you wanted to go to see Bill you went to see him. Some players never saw him, I saw him once or twice but I often couldn't get in because Gary Neville was always in there with him."

Meanwhile, Ruud van Nistelrooy is to have arthroscopic surgery for a problem with his right ankle.

The Real Madrid and Netherlands striker, who has flown to Amsterdam for the operation, has missed Real's last four matches in all competitions with a persistent swelling around the ankle joint and was absent from yesterday's training session.

The club do not know how long he will be out of action.

Inter Milan have denied accusations they made an illegal approach for Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb. Reports had suggested Inter held discussions with the 26-year-old Belarus international ahead of Arsenal's Champions League clash with AC Milan at the San Siro in Italy.

However, Inter rejected the claims in a statement released yesterday. It read: "With regard to yesterday's report in La Stampa newspaper and today's articles in the British press, carried also by Italian news agencies, FC Internazionale denies having met with the player Alexander Hleb, and has received no letter of complaint from Arsenal."