Sport in Short: Football

LENNIE LAWRENCE, the Middlesbrough manager, wants a definite decision from the Charlton forward, Robert Lee, over his future today. The 26-year old Lee has accepted personal terms to move to Ayresome Park for around pounds 650,000, but has asked for time to consider the transfer.

NAPOLI have rejected a dollars 4.5m (pounds 2.5) offer from Sevilla to buy Diego Maradona, and claimed yesterday that they had received an dollars 8m offer from Marseille. Napoli have agreed to release Maradona from his contract for this season, but set a price of dollars 9m for the 31-year-old Argentinian. Fifa officials will meet representatives of Sevilla and Napoli on Monday to try to resolve the long-running dispute.

RUUD GULLIT, of Milan, has asked to be left out of the Dutch squad for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Norway in Oslo for personal reasons. Dick Advocaat, the Dutch coach, has replaced his captain with Gaston Taument of Feyenoord. The Ajax defender Sonny Silooy returns to the squad for the first time since January 1989, replacing PSV Eindhoven's Berry van Aerle, who has a torn muscle.

FERENCVAROS, the Hungarian club, have asked Uefa to reverse the result of Wednesday's 4-0 European Cup first-round, first-leg defeat at Slovan Bratislava, during which scores of fans were brutally beaten by Slovakian commandos and police. 'We think that the events decisively influenced the result of the match,' Istvan Szivos, the Ferencvaros president, said.