Bowyer turns his back on Leeds

Lee Bowyer has been placed on the transfer list after turning down the offer of a five-year contract to stay at Leeds United for reasons described as "a career decision".

The £15m-rated midfielder has been in talks since December, but has rejected the final offer from Leeds, believed to be worth around £2m a year. The Leeds chairman, Peter Ridsdale, said the club would now reluctantly listen to offers.

"Lee's accountant, David Geiss, has informed us that the terms of the contract are not the issue, but that Lee has made the career decision to move on," Ridsdale said in a statement released yesterday.

"Given the support the club has shown Lee during the past turbulent 30 months, we are disappointed to have this reached this juncture. We are surprised that this is the outcome after months of what appeared to be positive talks."

The 25-year-old Bowyer joined Leeds from Charlton in July 1996 for £2.7million – a British record fee for a teenager at the time.

Ridsdale has already warned that Leeds will have to off-load some of their more highly valued players over the summer after they failed to qualify for the Champions' League. Speculation has since surrounded the likely candidates, with Robbie Keane, Olivier Dacourt, Harry Kewell and even Rio Ferdinand all the subject of transfer rumours.

A drawn-out court case – after which he was put briefly put on the transfer list for failing to accept a club fine – prevented Bowyer from fulfilling his World Cup ambitions, although the England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, has intimated the midfielder will be included in his plans for the Euro 2004 qualifiers.