Birmingham poised to sign Morrison

The Birmingham City manager, Steve Bruce, is about to shatter the club's transfer record by signing the striker Clinton Morrison from Crystal Palace for a fee of £5m.

Bruce has gone back to his old club for the Republic of Ireland international, who was his original choice to play up front when the Blues clinched promotion last May. However, a fruitless search which included targets such as the Italian striker Massimo Maccarone, Internazionale's Mohammed Kallon, the Polish World Cup player Emmanuel Olisadebe and the French Under-21 international Pierre-Alain Frau brought him back to Morrison.

Talks between the clubs have begun again and a deal should be completed that will see Morrison follow his former manager to St Andrew's.

As a replacement, Palace are trying to sign the Wimbledon striker Patrick Agyemang for £1.5m in a double deal that may also see the Norwegian defender Trond Andersen move from Selhurst Park's tenants to its owners as well.

Birmingham are also keen on Wimbledon's Kenny Cunningham but have set up a loan move for the Paris St-Germain right-back Bernard Mendy if Cunningham's wages prove too expensive for them.

Middlesbrough are close to signing the Paris St-Germain midfielder Edouard Cissé for £2.6m. The 24-year-old, who has been to Teesside for talks, is likely to move to the Riverside after Boro decided not to buy the Nigerian World Cup squad member Justice Christopher.

The Blackburn Rovers striker Ben Burgess is poised for a £400,000 transfer to Stockport County. Burgess is back at Blackburn after a season-long loan at Brentford where he was among the leading scorers in the Second Division and the Stockport manager, Carlton Palmer, expects to complete the signing of the Republic of Ireland Under-21 international by the end of the week.

Bolton's Stig Tofting faces a court appearance in his native Denmark ­ and a possible 18-month prison sentence ­ after he was charged with assault by Copenhagen police.

The World Cup player hoped that the incident at a cafe after his country's elimination by England would be ignored by the authorities as the two "victims" were happy to accept his apology. However Tofting has now been told he must appear before a Copenhagen court in October.