High noon for Rio's grands

Ferdinand stays behind as Ridsdale sets new deadline for move to Old Trafford

Leeds United have given Manchester United until noon today to match their valuation of Rio Ferdinand. On Friday, Leeds rejected a bid from Old Trafford believed to be in the region of £30m, and Sir Alex Ferguson is widely reported to be ready to raise his offer for the England centre-half.

Ferdinand, no doubt exhausted from this tortuous journey to an inevitable destination, cited "mental fatigue" as his reason for not travelling with the rest of his Leeds team-mates yesterday, as they left on their pre-season tour to China, Thailand and Australia.Though it is significant that Ferdinand decided to remain at home, it told you something about the gulf that still existed between the two clubs yesterday that Ridsdale returned to his family holiday in the South of France.

The deal will surely be completed soon, but the new deadline shows that Leeds will not be bullied into settling for much less than their original valuation. As he checked in his bags at the airport yesterday, striker Mark Viduka joked about the speculation surrounding Ferdinand. "Is he going to go?" the Australian said. "That's the million-dollar question." Actually, it is more like the £35m riddle.

Before rejoining his loved ones, Ridsdale released a short, and clearly ironic, statement regarding the future of his club captain. It read: "Rio Ferdinand has told us that he feels the recent intense transfer speculation has left him mentally fatigued and unable to play football. He has asked to be omitted from the tour of the Far East and Australia.

"We respect Rio's wishes and while the first-team squad are away he will be assessed by our medical staff and continue his pre-season training programme at our Thorp Arch training ground." The press had gathered early at Leeds-Bradford airport yesterday morning to see whether Ferdinand would be boarding the team plane. When he did not, speculation quickly grew that a deal had been struck.

United were said to have tabled a second, improved bid late on Friday, thought to be £29m. But, although that offer was £9m higher than the first, it did not secure the release of Ferdinand. The question now for the Manchester United board is whether they can justify spending the GDP of a small country on a 23-year-old centre-back. If they do, Ferdinand will become the fourth most expensive player in football history, behind France's Zinedine Zidane, Portugal's Luis Figo and Argentina's Hernan Crespo.

The loss of Ferdinand, who so impressed during the World Cup with a series of assured performances, will undoubtedly hurt Leeds. Ray Fell, the supporters' club chairman, said that the Elland Road faithful were "sad but resigned" to the fact that Ferdinand would be leaving. "At long last we are going to have a conclusion to this saga," he said. "Most fans will be happy about that. No one likes selling top players to other top clubs and this is a difficult one for fans to stomach. Manchester United showed a few weaknesses last year and you don't look to your own club to help them solve them."

It must be said, though, that nearly doubling your outlay on a player in just 18 months represents excellent business. Ferdinand was bought from West Ham in November 2000 for a then record fee for a defender of £18m. Although Ridsdale has put up a fight in public, it is understood that he is resigned to Ferdinand's departure. Credit, then, must go to the Leeds chairman for skilfully negotiating the transfer so far. Indeed, should Ferdinand swap the white of Leeds for the red of Man-chester United, the Yorkshire club would considerably reduce their debts. A deal in the region of £35m would more than halve the reported £60m they owe to the banks.

In the highly unlikely event that Ferdinand really does return to Thorp Arch, he will rub shoulders with four other Leeds players who have stayed behind. David Batty, Gary Kelly, Nigel Martyn and Seth Johnson have all been allowed to miss the tour. A fifth, Lee Bowyer, was putting the final touches on his £9m deal to Liverpool, which will be completed tomorrow.

Liverpool and Leeds had agreed on the fee more than a week ago, but the transfer ran into difficulties over the player's personal terms. Bowyer reportedly wanted more than the £35,000 a week Liverpool were willing to pay, while he was also said to be in dispute with Leeds over the payment of a £1m legal bill from his two trials. The midfielder was missing when Liverpool flew out to France for a pre-season friendly against Le Havre on Friday, but Ridsdale said "the deal was done", and Bowyer should be joining his new team-mates at a training camp in Switzerland.

Two Leeds players who did leave with the tour party were the Frenchman Olivier Dacourt and Republic of Ireland striker Robbie Keane. Dacourt had made it clear he would not quit Leeds unless a move, either to Arsenal or Juventus, was completed before yesterday. He will therefore stay in Yorkshire for at least one more season.

As for Keane, he is keen to prove his worth to the new manager. How Terry Venables would have loved that sort of commitment from another one of his players.