Leeds to forfeit £1.75m on Ferdinand transfer

Leeds United yesterday agreed to accept £1.5m instead of £3.25m from Manchester United as the final settlement on Rio Ferdinand's transfer to Old Trafford. The Yorkshire club's willingness to forfeit the £1.75m difference - in return for immediate payment - suggests they have stepped up their efforts to raise the £5m needed for short-term survival by tomorrow.

This in turn suggests they hope to stay afloat unaided until the end of the season, which would give the chief executive, Trevor Birch, more time to find the right buyer rather than rush into a deal with a mysterious consortium of Yorkshire businessmen.

Senior Leeds executives will make the next vital step to raising the £5m today when they meet the players and ask them again to take a wage deferral of around 30 per cent until the end of the season.

Birch may also exercise the option of asking the former managers David O'Leary, Terry Venables and Peter Reid to defer severance payments arising from their dismissals.

Selling players to raise money is an option that Birch has consistently ruled out, although Danny Mills could yet see his loan to Middlesbrough made permanent if a price can be agreed.Birch will also have his resolve tested by Tottenham, who made a revised £2.5m bid for Paul Robinson last night. Spurs would pay for Robinson and then allow him to stay at Elland Road this season. They had previously bid £5m for Robinson and James Milner.

Leeds held further talks with the Yorkshire consortium yesterday about a proposed £20m rescue plan. "We're at a very delicate stage," said the consortium's representative, Gerald Krasner, who has declined to name anyone else involved.

The midfielder David Batty indicated yesterday that he had been hurt by accusations that the Leeds players had betrayed the club. "Certain people have taken our decision to delay wage deferrals as an opportunity to 'shift blame', and have waged a character assassination campaign against me and a few players to turn the fans against the team," he said. "I can assure you none of the lads have ever said they wouldn't take a wage deferral."