Ince to meet McClaren for talks on Boro future

Paul Ince is set to hold talks with the Middlesbrough manager, Steve McClaren, to sort out his future after Christmas. Recent reports have suggested that the 33-year-old midfielder was ready to end his career in Italy as he did not expect to be offered a new contract at the Riverside Stadium once his current deal runs out at the end of the season.

Ince's agent, Steve Kutner, claimed the former Internazionale player was looking to sign a pre-contract agreement with a leading Italian club once he was in the final six months of his current deal in the new year.

But in an interview to be published in tomorrow's Boro matchday programme for the Premiership match with Southampton, Ince insists he will wait until the talks with McClaren before making any decision. "I have repeatedly said that I love playing for and captaining this football club," he said. "We have a brilliant set of supporters and the squad is a great bunch of lads. There will be no decision made until I sit down with Steve McClaren. At the moment I am just concentrating on playing football for Boro and I'm not thinking about anything else."

Mark van Bommel, a reported transfer target for Leeds United, is expected to be out for up to six weeks, PSV Eindhoven officials have revealed. The Dutch international midfielder suffered a knee injury after a challenge by Stefano Fiore in PSV's 1-0 Champions' League victory over Lazio on Wednesday night.

The Tottenham manager, Glenn Hoddle, says the club needed a player like their departed England defender Sol Campbell and believes they have found their man after the £8.1m signing of Dean Richards.

"We needed a Sol Campbell-type player," Hoddle explained. "Dean Richards is at his peak at 27 and improving. He attacks the ball in the area. He's a threat at set-plays. He's good in the air and a solid defender. His first thought, though, is to defend the goal. There are lots of similarities with Sol. He can be a major influence."

Hoddle hopes Richards will be able to marshal a Tottenham defence that has been suspect recently and believes the defender is now in a position to emulate Campbell by eventually getting into the England reckoning. Tomorrow's baptism of fire for Richards against the Premiership champions, Manchester United, will give the Spurs fans an indication of whether Hoddle is right.

The Portsmouth striker Mark Burchill will miss the rest of the season after suffering serious cruciate ligament damage. Burchill injured his knee in training and tests have revealed the former Celtic forward has torn a ligament. He will now undergo an operation in four weeks' time to repair the damage.

The Portsmouth manager, Graham Rix, said: "I'm not a physio so I can't say how long he will be out for, but it'll be a long time. We'll obviously miss him, there's no doubt about that."

The Crystal Palace manager, Steve Bruce, has put the China international Fan Zhiyi up for sale. Bruce has run out of patience after the 31-year-old defender, who recently promised to put club before country, decided to go to China for international duty after all.

"It's an awful situation," Bruce said. "He's a great defender, but he shook my hand and gave me his word that he wouldn't go to China. I'll consider any offers that come in for him."

The Football Association says it has not yet decided whether to overturn Dion Dublin's controversial red card during Aston Villa's 3-1 victory over Southampton on Monday night.

The striker was given his marching orders by referee Steve Dunn after tangling with the Southampton centre-back Tahar El Khalej, who fell to the floor, clutching his face. Television replays appeared to show little more than minimal contact between the pair.

An FA spokesman said: "I can confirm that we've received an appeal from Villa and it's being considered. But it's a bit premature to say that the red card has been rescinded."