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Rooney rejects Inter's approach for six-year Everton contract

Alan Nixon
Monday 13 January 2003 01:00 GMT
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Wayne Rooney has shown his loyalty to Everton by turning down an approach from Internazionale.

The 17-year-old has attracted the interest of the Serie A side and they sounded out his camp about taking out an option on him. The club's director of football, Gabriele Oriali, made contact after hearing that Real Madrid had expressed a similar interest and yesterday confirmed they were keen. "I appreciate Rooney a lot," Oriali said. "If there is going to be a case where you can sign an option on him we would be prepared."

Inter were told, however, that Rooney is not interested and wants his future resolved in the next few weeks. Rooney's agent and Everton's owner, Bill Kenwright, are due to sit down and thrash out a six-year contract shortly.

Inter have now turned their attentions to Perugia's Nigerian youngster Cristian Odobo and they have also confirmed they fancy Ryan Giggs but are unlikely to buy him from Manchester United.

Oriali added: "Giggs is probably the best left winger in the world and I can't say we are not interested in him. But it is wrong to say we are buying him."

Liverpool have signed a leading prospect from the Republic of Ireland in the midfielder John Paul Kelly, for a signing-on fee thought to be £125,000.

The Liverpool manager, Gérard Houllier, made his name by capturing French youngsters but the club's youth side have pulled off a coup by landing the 15-year-old from Lourdes Celtic.

The Irish side, who unearthed Damien Duff among many others, have seen Kelly head for Anfield despite interest from other sides including Leeds and Celtic. Kelly chose Liverpool because he supported them as a child and fancies his chances of making the grade on Merseyside.

The Football Association has turned down an invitation for the England team to visit Zimbabwe in May because they considered it inappropriate given the current political situation in the African country.

England play a friendly international against South Africa in Durban on 22 May and were offered a fee to set up a pre-match training camp in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe's government has attracted widespread criticism for its land-reform programme.

David Davies, acting chief executive of the FA, said yesterday that the offer had been declined immediately. The FA's decision comes as England's cricket team face increasing pressure from the government to pull out of a February 13 World Cup match in Zimbabwe. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive, Tim Lamb, said the issues could not be compared.

"We spoke to David Davies in the week and he was very keen that the FA should not be seen to be scoring a point over the ECB here," he said.

"It's much easier to make a decision when another organisation has already gone in and tested the temperature of the water . . . it's a very different scenario, we're talking about a cricket World Cup match instead of just a friendly.

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