Savio's passport to Chelsea move

Savio, a transfer target for Chelsea, has successfully acquired a French passport and with it a possible method of facilitating his move to Stamford Bridge.

Savio, a transfer target for Chelsea, has successfully acquired a French passport and with it a possible method of facilitating his move to Stamford Bridge.

Real Madrid's Brazilian forward qualifies for an EC passport because his wife is French. Now Savio - who would not ordinarily have earned enough Brazil caps to qualify for a United Kingdom work permit - hopes to be on his way to Chelsea in a £9m deal.

Chelsea have until tomorrow to sign players before the deadline for Uefa Cup eligibility expires and the club could tie up the transfer quickly because of Savio's new-found availability.

The Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke will miss Trinidad and Tobago's next two World Cup qualifying games after withdrawing from the squad. Trinidad and Tobago have already secured their place in the final round of Concacaf qualifiers.

The Leicester City striker Tony Cottee has agreed to sign for the First Division's bottom club, Norwich City, after meeting the Canaries' manager, Bryan Hamilton, over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Leicester may yet defy Uefa by not travelling to Yugoslavia for their Uefa Cup tie against Red Star Belgrade on 21 September, according to their goalkeeper, Tim Flowers.

"I know it's not absolutely cast iron that we're definitely going yet," Flowers said. "I know David Davies from the FA has voiced one or two concerns and I think there's going to be a meeting."

Bristol Rovers are demanding that their match against Notts County be replayed after the County player Craig Ramage failed to return the ball following an injury to Rovers' defender Steve Foster on Saturday.

Rovers' goalkeeper Nicky Culkin had thrown the ball into touch to allow Foster to receive medical attention, but County defied etiquette to retain the ball and, from the resulting move, score a late equaliser while Foster was off the pitch.