Football: Evans after Dominguez

Liverpool hope to sign the Portuguese winger Jose Doming- uez in a pounds 2m deal this weekend. Roy Evans has been in contact with Dominguez's club, Sporting Lisbon, and is set to beat John Tosack's Deportivo La Coruna to his signature.

Ruud Gullit has failed with a bid to sign the Milan defender Paolo Maldini, but Chelsea have been rewarded with a prestigious friendly against their manager's old club next month. However Chelsea's England under-21 defender Michael Duberry is out for the season after snapping his left Achilles tendon in training.

Jurgen Klinsmann said yesterday he received offers to return to England but rejected them to concentrate on winning the German title with Bayern Munich. "A few inquiries came but I rejected them all flatly," Klinsmann said. "I haven't thought about where I might go later."

The Manchester United and England defender Phil Neville has been speaking about the glandular fever that has left his season in ruins. "I wear a heart monitor during training and it lets me know if I'm doing too much," he said. Neville was first taken ill on Christmas Day.

Arsene Wenger has defended himself against claims that Arsenal's signing of 17-year-old Nicolas Anelka from Paris St-Germain had been underhand. "Uefa makes the rules and they have to be applied," Wenger said. "If Uefa decide we have the right to transfer him we will. If not we will publicly apologise."

Birmingham have signed Swedish winger Anders Limpar from Everton until the end of the season in a pounds 100,000 deal. Limpar is eligible for next weekend's FA Cup fourth-round game with Stockport, when he is expected to make his debut.

The battle for control of Nottingham Forest has intensified as the consortium involving author Phil Soar and former Spurs chairman Irving Scholar increased its bid, adding an extra pounds 5m to its two separate offers each worth around pounds 23m.