Former European footballer of the year Hristo Stoichkov, who has graced the world's great soccer stages during a career for Barcelona and Bulgaria, has been invited to join Scottish first division club Airdrie.
Airdrie's new owner Steve Archibald, the former Barcelona and Scotland striker, confirmed yesterday he has spoken to the Bulgarian (37) who is currently playing with Chicago Fire in the US. Archibald bought Airdrie three weeks ago and believes he can tempt the player to New Broomfield, Airdrie's 10,000-seat stadium.
Archibald said: "It is not a publicity stunt, there is a very real chance of Hristo coming to Scotland."
Coventry City are set to complete the signing of Liverpool's David Thompson in the next 24 hours as they prepare to invest the first chunk of the £13 million Inter Milan paid for Robbie Keane.
Thompson held talks with City boss Gordon Strachan after the Liverpool accepted a £2.5 million bid and he has now agreed personal terms to bring his Anfield career to an end.
The England under-21 star, who has also been linked with Bradford and Sunderland, was not named in Liverpool's squad for this week's Belfast Carlsberg tournament because of an Achilles' injury.
But he is now expected to link up with the Coventry team on their tour of Belgium and Holland.
World Footballer of the Year Rivaldo has agreed a new deal to stay with Barcelona which will make him one of the highest paid players in the world. According to the Spanish press the Brazilian international has more than doubled his salary with the new contract going from £1.65 million a year to £4 million.
Rivaldo and his agent hammered out the deal late on Tuesday night with Barcelona's new president Joan Gaspart, despite renewed efforts by Italian Serie A giants AC Milan to recruit the 28-year-old player.
Middlesbrough midfielder Juninho has finally cut his losses and returned home to Brazil on a year's loan deal with Vasco Da Gama.
The 27-year-old, still officially an Atletico Madrid player, has opted to return to South America after Middlesbrough refused to meet the asking price to make his temporary move to the Riverside Stadium permanent.
Bryan Robson paid out £1.5 million last season to hand Juninho a second spell on Teesside. But the Spaniards, who were relegated from their top flight at the end of last season, wanted another £5.9 million before they would hand over his registration.
Spanish giants Real Madrid are launching a renewed bid in their campaign to acquire the services of France's Zinedine Zidane, the Spanish daily AS reported yesterday.
New club president Florentino Perez is ready to offer Serie A runners-up Juventus $50 million for the 28-year-old striker plus Brazilian midfielder Flavio Conceicao, who the club are in the process of negotiating a $16.6 million deal for with Spanish champions Deportivo La Coruna.
Conceicao (26) is being targeted by Juventus and with the money from Zidane's transfer the Italian side could also afford to recruit Italian international striker Christian Vieri from Inter Milan, AS reported.
Croatian striker Alen Boksic was on Teesside last night as Middlesbrough boss Bryan Robson looked to tie up his third transfer in a week. The 30-year-old Lazio player flew in to discuss terms and undergo a medical, with a view to completing a £2.5 million move.
Robson is keen to add the experienced striker to his squad after capturing Noel Whelan and Joseph- Desire Job, for a combined total of £5 million, this week.
Meanwhile, German defender Christian Ziege is still considering a possible move to Liverpool.
Alex Ferguson has cleared the way for Manchester United goalkeeper Mark Bosnich to join Celtic. During the summer Ferguson signed France's goalkeeper Fabien Barthez for £7.8 million. Barthez has inevitably been handed the number one jersey for the start of the new season ahead of the former Aston Villa man and Dutchman Raimond van der Gouw.
But Ferguson believes Bosnich is too good a goalkeeper to play second fiddle at United and has handed him the chance to play regular first-team football at Parkhead on a oneyear loan deal.
