United set to win race for Duff's signature

SOCCER/Transfer news: Damien Duff is set to disappoint Liverpool by moving to Manchester United this summer. The 24-year-old Blackburn Rovers winger is wanted by both clubs, but United manager Alex Ferguson appears to have won the battle and Duff is expected to leave Ewood Park for a fee as high as £10 million at the end of the season.

The United chairman Peter Kenyon said yesterday that Ferguson would have to sell players before he can recruit, but the Old Trafford club are still in a strong position financially. Although the club's profits, announced yesterday, were not as high as anticipated, they were nonetheless £31 million for six months.

In football's current climate £10 million is a high figure, but for blue-chip players such as Duff, the market remains competitive.

The arrival of the gifted, left-footed Irishman is sure to have implications for Ryan Giggs, who has been linked consistently with a move to Inter Milan and who is bound to feel some pressure from Duff's arrival.

Duff has been at Blackburn since 1996 and has been an influential attacking force for the Lancashire club. His form suffered a couple of years ago, but at last year's World Cup Duff flowered into one of the tournament's most promising players. United wanted him then but Duff stayed at Ewood for another season.

Now Duff is set to depart, and while Blackburn will be annoyed that he is leaving, the income will enable the Rovers manager Graeme Souness to purchase two or three players around the £2 million mark.

For Liverpool, Duff's decision to choose United means their search for a natural winger to give them the width deemed necessary for their development goes on. Duff was one of Gerard Houllier's key targets and some at the club may have assumed that he would eventually arrive. That could explain why Liverpool declined the offer of Harry Kewell in January's transfer window. Kewell was offered to Liverpool the same week Jonathan Woodgate joined Newcastle United.

Leeds are believed to have wanted £6 million for the Australian, but either because Liverpool did not have the funds at the time, or because they preferred Duff, the offer was rejected. But Leeds are still in the position of having to sell and the move could now be resurrected in the summer, when the Anfield club should have more money available.

The Brazilian international Kleberson has again stated that he wants to move to a Premiership club when the transfer window opens in the summer.

"It is a dream for me to play one day in England," the midfielder said yesterday. "I believe I am ready to take this challenge."

The fact Newcastle's manager Bobby Robson was in the stands for Portugal's 2-1 win against Brazil at the weekend has also left the World Cup-winner feeling hopeful the St James' Park club will be the ones who sign him.

The 23-year-old was close to joining Newcastle, who had an offer rejected in January, and then his club, Atletico Paranaense, refused to sanction a loan deal. With Kleberson's contract due to expire in February 2004, Atletico might be more keen to do business now.

Kleberson, who began the World Cup on the bench before replacing Juninho in the team and establishing a match-winning partnership with Gilberto Silva, still speaks with the Arsenal midfielder.

"He talks about how well contested the matches are in the Premier League," Kleberson said. "In Brazil the game is more based on individual skills; in England teams play quicker and with more tactical awareness."

Kleberson is studying English and married his 16-year-old girlfriend Dayane when the Newcastle move was in the offing. "If a transfer (had) happened, there was no way I would have left Brazil without her," he said.

Marcos, meanwhile, the Brazil goalkeeper who plays for Palmeiras, the only other member of the World Cup winning side still in the country, says his club are still in contact with Arsenal despite him visiting the Londoners in January but failing to sign.

Huddersfield's players, many of whom have not been paid for five months, have agreed to go unpaid for the rest of the season if it helps save the club, £10 million in debt and in the hands of administrators.

The former Portsmouth manager Graham Rix has applied for the vacant manager's job at Southend.

The English FA have decided not to punish Aston Villa following the crowd disorder at their derby game against Birmingham City on March 3rd. The match at Villa Park, which Birmingham won 2-0, was marred by two sendings-off and a number of incidents of crowd trouble. Police made 40 arrests and two policemen were injured.

The Leicester City manager Micky Adams has refused to commit himself to the club despite the increasing likelihood of their promotion to the Premiership. Instead the former Fulham manager, linked of late with a return to the London club, will wait until the summer when their financial situation will be more clear.

Guardian Service