Kevin Keegan will try to lure Germany's World Cup striker Miroslav Klose to Manchester City should he fail with his £7 million bid for the Leeds United striker Robbie Fowler. Daniel Taylor reports.
Although Fowler remains Keegan's first-choice target, there have also been preliminary negotiations with Klose's representatives in Germany.
Kaiserslautern are willing to sell the prolific forward for £5 million to ease their debts and Klose's advisers have been touting him around Europe.
City's hierarchy have still to make official contact with their counterparts at Leeds, but their initial inquiries have established that Fowler is available for the right price.
Keegan is willing to spend all of the £8 million he has available before the transfer window closes on January 31st. Leeds are seeking a figure closer to the £11 million they paid Liverpool for Fowler last season.
It has also become clear that the 27-year-old is not actively seeking to leave Leeds, despite effectively becoming the fifth-choice striker at Elland Road. Even so, further behind-the-scenes talks will take place today, probably resulting in an official bid over the next 48 hours.
Keegan was last night completing a loan deal until the end of the season for Marseille's Algerian midfielder Djamel Belmadi.
Meanwhile, the Birmingham City manager Steve Bruce completed the signing of Christophe Dugarry yesterday but was immediately forced on to the defensive, denying that the France striker had joined the club simply to boost his pension fund.
The 30-year-old Dugarry, who has joined the club from Bordeaux, has agreed to play for Birmingham until the end of the season and will extend his contract for another year if the club retain Premiership status. A fee, understood to be in the region of £1 million, would then become payable for a player who made 55 appearances for France and kept Thierry Henry out of the World Cup winning side in 1998.
He has also played for Milan, Barcelona and Marseille, but his retirement from international football, coupled with a disappointing second spell at Bordeaux, has fuelled the impression that Dugarry is a spent force.
Dugarry has failed to score in 13 games for Bordeaux this season and has been sent off twice but Bruce is adamant the player he describes as "Birmingham's biggest ever signing" is hungry to succeed in the Premiership.
"If money had come into it he could have quite easily just put his feet up in Bordeaux because he still had two-and-a-half years on his contract left with them," Bruce said. "He's treated like a king there because it's his home-town club and of what he has achieved in his career since beginning it with them. His family are also from there, he's got two young children, a boat and a vineyard, which he is giving up to come here and play for Birmingham.
"When he came to my house 10 days ago for a cup of tea and to discuss moving to Birmingham all he wanted to do was talk about football. He told me he wanted to play in England and his arrival has come at just the right time for us."
Guardian Service
