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Leeds 'disappointed' as Villa agree £3m fee for Robinson

Gordon Tynan
Friday 27 June 2003 00:00 BST
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The Leeds United chairman, Professor John McKenzie, has said he is "personally very disappointed" by Paul Robinson's desire to leave Elland Road.

McKenzie yesterday accepted a bid of around £3m from Aston Villa for the England goalkeeper, but said it was only agreed after it became clear Robinson had set his heart on quitting Leeds.

McKenzie issued a statementwhich read: "I am personally very disappointed by Paul's decision to seek to leave Leeds United. The reality is that he has been unsettled for some time. With regard to Aston Villa, the club quite properly asked permission to talk to Paul and we agreed.

"He and his advisors need not have taken the matter any further if he had not wanted to join that club and we did not interfere in any way. Only when Doug Ellis, the chairman of Aston Villa, told me that Paul was keen to join them and had informally agreed personal terms did I enter into detailed negotiations."

McKenzie also said he was unhappy with the £3m fee agreed for Robinson, but felt the situation needed to be resolved as quickly as possible to avoid disrupting the manager Peter Reid's preparations for the new season. Reid said he has no plans to replace Robinson, and like his chairman he is comfortable with Nigel Martyn and the young goalkeepers Danny Milosevic and Scott Carson.

One club who may be disappointed by the deal are Manchester United, who had cast a speculative eye over Robinson. But a consolation could be the arrival of Ronaldinho, whose proposed transfer could move closer to fruition today.

The Brazilian's club, Paris St-Germain, are set to resume training under the new coach, Vahid Halilhodzic, and the first issue that the club must resolve is United's reported £11m offer for the 23-year-old.

The Brazilian World Cup winner has attracted interest from Real Madrid, Barcelona and United. However, United are marginal favourites to sign him and have plenty of money to spend after the departure of David Beckham.

Ronaldinho's brother and agent, Roberto Assis, believes that PSG, who had earlier said they would hold on to the player, are gradually accepting that he will leave the Parc des Princes this summer.

"Every good player wants to join a team like [Manchester United] and we are happy that they have shown an interest in him," said Assis, who has been the player's guardian since their father died when Ronaldinho was eight. "We will talk with PSG and I think he will leave. The situation is fairly straightforward now that Brazil are out of the Confederations Cup. I expect the talks to last until Friday."

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