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Spurs poised to sign Keane as deadline causes transfer frenzy

Alan Nixon
Saturday 31 August 2002 00:00 BST
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The transfer fortunes of Tottenham Hotspur, Bolton Wanderers and Real Madrid were entwined yesterday as tonight's midnight deadline loomed.

The Leeds United striker Robbie Keane was poised to beat the deadline by signing a £7m deal for Spurs, who were selling Oyvind Leonhardsen to Aston Villa while still holding out hope of signing Fernando Morientes from Real Madrid and making cheeky enquiries about Michael Ricketts at Bolton. Wanderers, for their part, were attempting to sign Ivan Campo from Real.

Spurs have managed to knock down Leeds from their original £9m asking price, a sum which was agreed with Sunderland during the close season, only for Keane to reject the move. The figure represents a £6m loss on the striker, who joined Leeds for £13m from Internazionale in December 2000.

Bolton turned down a £5m offer for Ricketts last night and criticised the Londoners for the way they handled the enquiry. Their manager, Sam Allardyce, said: "I am extremely disappointed by Tottenham and the way they have upset Michael. Spurs have got nowhere near our valuation. They have conducted their business very poorly in terms of keeping it between us and them."

Ivan Campo, the Real Madrid centre-half, flew in to sign a year's loan deal last night, agreeing to the switch after weeks of haggling.

Leonhardsen, meanwhile, joined Villa on a free transfer. The Norwegian international, who was in the last year of his contract, has not figured in Glenn Hoddle's plans. The former Wimbledon and Liverpool midfielder is the third person aged over 30 to be signed by Villa in the past week after the capture of Mark Kinsella from Charlton and Ronny Johnsen, who had been released by Manchester United.

United, meanwhile, completed the signing of the Spanish goalkeeper Ricardo from Real Valladolid for £1.5m. The 30-year-old signed a three-year contract and his registration was pushed through in time to make him eligible for today's trip to Sunderland.

The Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier, not wishing to be left out, attempted to sign the Turkish World Cup player Hasan Sas. Houllier was willing to pay Galatasaray £2.5m for the 26-year-old, who only has a year to run on his contract.

Houllier was also close to doing a deal for Feyenoord's Australian midfielder, Brett Emerton, but club insiders said that the sides were still far apart on their valuations, with Liverpool only willing to offer around £6m.

Ajax welcomed Jari Litmanen back to Amsterdam as he completed his free transfer from Liverpool. The Finnish forward has fallen out of favour at Anfield since the signing of El Hadji Diouf and has re-joined the Dutch champions on a four-month contract.

Charlton have signed the the former Swedish international winger Jesper Blomqvist after he became available as a free agent. Blomqvist, who cost Manchester United £4.4m when he signed from Parma in 1988, has moved to The Valley on a one-year contract after being released by Everton at the end of last season.

West Bromwich Albion were trying to break their transfer record for the third time this week with a £3.3m offer for Ipswich's central defender Hermann Hreidarsson. The Icelandic international rejected a move to The Hawthorns earlier this month.

Southampton have offered £3m for Auxerre's Senegalese left-winger Khalilou Fadiga. Gordon Strachan, the Saints' manager, was hoping to conclude negotiations last night after the French club accepted the offer and the African World Cup player agreed to the move.

However, the Auxerre coach, Guy Roux, dug in his heels and asked for more money, claiming he could not find a replacement quickly enough to come in for the Champions' League.

In Italy, Internazionale re-opened talks with Real Madrid over the possible sale of Ronaldo to the European champions but once again the clubs appeared to have failed to reach agreement.

The Inter president, Massimo Moratti, said the clubs had opened discussions again in Monacoafter the meeting of the G14 cartel of leading European clubs but that he had turned down an offer of £25m plus the Real forward Pedro Munitis.

The G14 group yesterday reluctantly agreed to accept controversial changes to the Champions' League, starting next season, when the second group phase will disappear. At the same time, four new clubs, including Arsenal, were added to the influential body bringing the total number of G14 representatives to 18 – although the name will remain unchanged.

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