LIVERPOOL are hoping to have Czech Republic star Patrik Berger cleared for their opening game at Middlesbrough on Saturday.
The midfielder, a £3.2million signing from German champions Borussia Dortmund, is waiting for a work permit from the British Department of Education and Employment, but the club are confident that he will be cleared to play.
Indeed, Liverpool believe that the paperwork will be through in time for him to be registered for the first two rounds of the European Cup Winners' Cup campaign, with UEFA's deadline passing tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Liverpool have been issued with a come and get me plea by Kubilay Turkyilmaz, the Swiss striker who tormented England's defenders and scored from the penalty spot in the 1-1 Euro 96 opener at Wembley in June.
Anfield boss Roy Evans saw Turkyilmaz score twice for Swiss champions Grasshoppers Zurich in a 5-0 European Cup romp last week and the player has said "I would willingly go to Liverpool They would be my first choice. They have a young team and much prestige."
That is good news for Evans, who would face competition for the £3 million rated 29 year old from German team Bayern Munich and Deportivo La Coruna of Spain.
Liverpool's defender Rob Jones admitted yesterday that he feared his career was over when he went for a scan on his back. He will be out for at least three more months, but expects to make a complete recovery.
Jones missed England's Euro 96 campaign when an initial scan revealed a damaged back vertebrae.
A follow up scan yesterday confirmed the injury is only 80 per cent healed and Jones will not be able to resume training until it has done so fully. That is expected to take at least three months.
"I feared the worst when I was told I needed a scan but the good news is that it is healing and I should make a complete recovery.
I had feared it might he the end of my career, he explained.
Queens Park Rangers chief executive Clive Berlin has rebuffed Leeds' latest attempt to take Trevor Sinclair back to the Premiership.
The Yorkshire club said yesterday that they had filed an official bid for the England under 2 winger thought to be in the region of £5 million, and were awaiting a response from Loftus Road.
But Berlin responded by saying that Rangers were not prepared to sell the highly rated winger. "I can confirm that Bill Fotherby, the chairman of Leeds, has been in contact about Trevor," he said on Clubcall. "He was told that Trevor is not for sale and no figures were mentioned. But he seems to be carrying this on through the media and not direct to the club.
Newcastle United defender Robbie Elliott has agreed terms with Blackburn Rovers but his transfer fee is likely to be settled by a tribunal after the clubs could not agree a fee.
