O'Leary hoping to complete £4m move for Matteo

David O'Leary has confirmed his interest in the Liverpool defender Dominic Matteo. The Leeds manager said on the club's official website that he hopes to finalise a deal for the 26-year-old in the next two days.

David O'Leary has confirmed his interest in the Liverpool defender Dominic Matteo. The Leeds manager said on the club's official website that he hopes to finalise a deal for the 26-year-old in the next two days.

Although O'Leary did not say if a fee had been agreed, the player is rated at around £4m and O'Leary hopes to have Matteo in his squad for the visit of Everton on Saturday.

Matteo, who can play at left-back or in the centre of defence, won a call-up to the England squad two seasons ago but has committed his international future to Scotland and is set to make his debut next month. His place in the Liverpool line-up has been put in jeopardy by the expected arrival of Christian Ziege from Middlesbrough.

Newcastle United are facing a fight to keep their French left- back Didier Domi after Valencia made a £4m move. The target for the European Cup runners-up had been Ziege. One snag for the deal is Newcastle's £6m price tag for Domi.

Kevin Pressman's record-breaking red card may have cost him his place at Sheffield Wednesday, with Thomas Myhre about to take his place. Pressman faces a ban for his 13-second dismissal at Wolves and may not get back into Paul Jewell's side, with the Everton goalkeeper set to sign for Wednesday in a £500,000 deal. Myhre was on loan at Birmingham City last season and is likely to jump at a permanent switch to Hillsborough.

Richard Cresswell has turned down a £800,000 move to Preston North End to stay at Sheffield Wednesday. The former England Under-21 striker decided to stay with the Hillsborough club despite a fee being agreed.

Matthew Le Tissier is fit for Southampton's Premiership opener at Derby on Saturday. The 31-year-old was considered a major doubt for the game at Pride Park after limping out of last weekend's 2-1 friendly defeat to Real Sociedad with a calf injury. But the former England midfielder, who has only just recovered from surgery on a hernia problem, said yesterday that that the injury is not as bad as was first feared.

The Spanish international striker Alfonso became a Barcelona player yesterday after weeks of negotiations. Alfonso signed a four-year contract with a buy-out clause of 15,000m pesetas (£55m).

Zinedine Zidane has said he finds the transfer fees paid recently by Europe's biggest clubs "ridiculous". He said: "It's meaningless. When I hear in my own case people talk about 500-600million francs (£47-60m), I find this ridiculous. There are no limits anymore."

Fifa, the world governing body have lifted a ban on the use for international matchesof Harare's National Stadium, where 13 people were killed in a stampede last month. The game was abandoned with 10 minutes to go with South Africa leading 2-0.