Ferdinand decision pledge to Venables

Rio Ferdinand yesterday said he would give Terry Venables a decision on his future within 48 hours.

The England defender, who has been linked with a £35m move to Manchester United, had talks with the new Leeds manager about his future. "I told Mr Venables I would give him a decision on what I wanted to do within 48 hours," he said.. "There are a lot of people I want to talk to about this."

Sam Allardyce, the Bolton Wanderers manager, has made a move for the French right-back Bernard Mendy, of Paris St-Germain, in his latest cut-price European excursion.

Mendy is due to fly in to sign for Wanderers today after a deal to bring him on loan for a season with a view to a permanent transfer was discussed over the weekend. The talented defender, who is ideally suited to playing at wing-back, has also been chased by the French side Lens as a possible replacement for the Senegal World Cup player Ferdinand Coly. However, Mendy has been pushed towards the Premiership by his representative, Willie McKay.

Mendy will fill one of Allardyce's problem positions, but he still needs a centre-back and a striker. The Bolton manager has been forced to look abroad because of domestic prices and the necessity of having to pay quickly for Premiership signings.

The Bolton chairman, Phil Gartside, said: "We would like to change the [Premiership] rule and bring us into line with the rest of Europe," Gartside said. "Over there you can buy players and pay for them in stages. But over here the money has got to be found within a year and that causes us and many like us problems.

"Even if Manchester United sign Rio Ferdinand from Leeds they will have to find that money inside a year or even go into debt for the first time." Gartside feels that the current rule also pushes up the price of Nationwide League talent.

"We went in for a First Division player and the price was £3.5m," he said. "He wanted a five-year contract at £500,000 a year. So that makes him a £6m investment. We have brought in Jay-Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff and Akin Bulent – three top-class players – for that money put together... the system just now is against us signing players here."

The Sheffield United manager, Neil Warnock, is ready to sign the goalkeeper Alan Combe from Dundee United for around £50,000.