Madrid make a bid for Gravesen

EVERTON: Real Madrid last night tested Everton's resolve to keep hold of Thomas Gravesen until the end of the season by faxing a formal £1.3 million bid to the Goodison club. They rejected it immediately, leaving the Spaniards to go away and contemplate their next move, reports Dominic Fifield.

Everton are expecting to raise more than £2 million for the midfielder and are prepared to retain the services of an unhappy player until the summer if necessary, when the midfielder is out of contract at Goodison and would join Real for nothing.

Gravesen's agent John Sivebaek has been in Spain this week securing a pre-contract agreement with Real, with a four and half year contract worth £40,000 a week all but signed.

With that safety-net in place, Real are now attempting to bring the transfer forward and are expected to return with an increased offer, having offloaded Fernando Morientes to Liverpool yesterday for £6.3 million.

Real are keen to have Gravesen in place and ready for the remainder of their Champions League campaign, which begins with a tie against Juventus next month.

Recruitment of the Dane would place a question mark over the future of several of their established midfielders, David Beckham among them. The new coach Wanderley Luxemburgo is already understood to have his doubts as to whether the England captain is the man to sit in central midfield.

"It's not a question of Thomas wanting to leave Everton," Sivebaek said last night. "He's happy there, but this is Real Madrid we're talking about. This type of opportunity might never come again."

Reports in Madrid last night, however, said a deal had been agreed and that Gravesen was expected in the Spanish capital sometime today. The report on www.marca.es - a source usually well-informed about Real Madrid - said the Dane would undergo his medical. Barring unforeseen problems he would then sign a three-and-a-half year deal, with the fee expected to be in the region of £2.1 million.

LEEDS: Leeds again stand on a financial precipice after Sebastien Sainsbury's proposed takeover finally collapsed yesterday. Sainsbury has still not given up all hope of saving the club, but following his decision to pull out of a potential £25million buy-out, Leeds stand on the brink of administration, potentially within the next three months.

Despite the current board, led by chairman Gerald Krasner, having reduced debts from a staggering £104 million to around £25 million during the 10 months of their tenure, the club continue to haemorrhage money at an alarming rate. It is understood given Leeds' current liabilities, it would take £40 million to stage a takeover, but more shocking is the fact the club will lose £10 million over the next six months. Such losses have resulted in Sainsbury's backers withdrawing their funding.

Leeds will now be desperate to do a deal with either Chelsea or Liverpool for young goalkeeper Scott Carson. The club have met representatives from both sides over the last 24 hours and although no deal has been finalised Leeds could push through a transfer as they are in need of the funds it would bring.

AGENTS FEES: English Football League chairman Brian Mawhinney has called for greater regulations on the use of agents in the game after a new report showed a sharp increase in third party transfer payments made by clubs. The league's second six-monthly Agents' Fees report revealed its member clubs spent £5,024,789 over the period since June - an increase of over £3.6 million from the equivalent period ending last summer.

Leeds were by far the biggest spenders on agents, paying out £1,553,688 in the period of the report as they sought to sell off their highest wage earners following relegation from the Premiership.

Last season's other relegated clubs, Leicester (£405,000) and Wolves (£306,121) were the next biggest spenders.