Inter reject Ronaldo loan

Internazionale yesterday dismissed speculation that their former World Player of the Year, Ronaldo, would be joining the Brazilian club Flamengo on loan. The statement came after the player had reportedly said he was in favour of a temporary return to his home country.

Internazionale yesterday dismissed speculation that their former World Player of the Year, Ronaldo, would be joining the Brazilian club Flamengo on loan. The statement came after the player had reportedly said he was in favour of a temporary return to his home country.

"There is no chance of Ronaldo going to Flamengo," a spokesman for Inter said. "Ronaldo wants a light comeback and he agrees with our ideas. A loan move would be the opposite of a light comeback. We want him to return without pressure and in his own time."

Ronaldo underwent an operation in April after his latest injury setback when he ruptured a knee ligament barely seven minutes after coming on as a substitute in the Italian Cup final against Lazio.

The former Leeds United striker Tony Yeboah, facing tax evasion charges in court next month, has agreed on a settlement in which he will pay German authorities DM400,000 (£137,000), his lawyer, Thomas Kruppa, said yesterday.

Yeboah, who now plays for Hamburg, allegedly failed to pay tax on around £750,000 he received after extending his contract with Eintracht Frankfurt in 1993. Kruppa said he hoped the 34-year-old Ghanaian international's court hearings, set for 3 and 8 August, would be cancelled, thus enabling him to play in Hamburg's Champions' League qualifier against Brondby or KR Reykjavik.

The Bayern Munich midfielder Stefan Effenberg is mulling over an offer from the Germany coach, Rudi Völler, to come out of international retirement. "The situation, as Rudi explained it to me, gave me reason to rethink things," the 31-year-old Effenberg said.