Manchester United are to make a second bid to prise Louis Saha away from Fulham, having been encouraged that the player is still keen to move to Old Trafford.
United failed with a £5.5 million bid before Christmas and Fulham have made it clear they do not want to sell the French forward, particularly in the middle of the season, when it would be difficult to find a replacement.
The London club have repelled United's advances so aggressively the Premiership leaders are not as optimistic as they were about concluding the transfer, but they are still willing to give it a go. Uppermost in their minds is that Saha and his advisers have not joined the Fulham hierarchy in rejecting the move out of hand.
On the contrary, Saha has called it his "dream move", although for it to happen United will have to increase their offer significantly. Fulham are under no financial pressure to sell and it might need a bid closer to £10 million to make them reconsider.
It is clear, though, Saha remains Alex Ferguson's leading target. Even though Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be back from a knee injury within three weeks, the United manager is acutely aware he needs another striker in case Ruud van Nistelrooy is injured.
United lawyers are still waiting for the English Football Association to clarify in writing the reasons
behind the eight-month ban on Rio Ferdinand for his missed drugs test. An appeal against the sentence is expected to follow.
Meanwhile, Quinton Fortune believes United could go on to reflect on the victory at Middlesbrough as a defining moment in the season. The South African full back claims the feeling in the dressing-room is that those types of victories win titles. That was the message put over by captain Roy Keane after the game.
"Keano was saying when he came in that it was the type of result that wins championships, a great result," Fortune said.
l Real Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz says he hopes to end to his first season in charge by seeing his team meet his former side Manchester United in the Champions League final in May.
"It would be a dream final," Queiroz said yesterday. "It would be fantastic to see Real face up to United and that is the final I want to see."
The former Portugal coach was Ferguson's assistant last season but left after just a year when he was offered the job of replacing Vicente del Bosque at Real.
Despite some criticism of his tactical decisions in early matches and difficulties in dealing with a shortage of cover in defence, Queiroz believes his first six months at the club have been a success.
"I think things have gone well so far because we have reached January in a comfortable position thanks to the motivation and confidence of the team."
Real lead the Primera Liga by two points from Valencia following an impressive run of form in December, when they defeated neighbours Atletico, arch-rivals Barcelona and high-flying Deportivo Coruna.
They also beat Porto to book their place as the only undefeated team in the last 16 of the Champions League and survived a scare from second division Leganes to qualify for the second round of the King's Cup.
"We are on course to achieve our objectives," said Queiroz. "But of course we haven't won anything yet and it is on our achievements that we will be judged at the end of the season."
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