Tony Yeboah could find safe haven in the blue shirt of Everton if the Merseyside club's protracted search for a new forward officially reaches crisis point over the next 24 hours. Everton rekindled their attempts to sign Nottingham Forest's Dean Saunders yesterday, but with the two clubs so far unable to agree to a fee, a deal is by no means certain.

Howard Kendall is believed to be offering around £600,000 for the 33-year-old but Forest manager Dave Bassett is looking for around £1 million.

Yeboah's career at Leeds United has ended in all but name after a series of highly public fall-outs between the Ghanaian international striker and the club's hard-line manager, George Graham.

Indeed Yeboah, along with three other Elland Road malcontents, was even left off Leeds' official team photographs three weeks ago.

Although unfit and currently training alone in Germany, the 31year-old striker is also wanted by Middlesbrough who see him as a natural replacement for Italian Fabrizio Ravanelli, whose departure from Teesside is regarded as more of an inevitability than a possibility.

Graham's desire to offload Yeboah is such that he is likely to accept any bid in excess of £700,000 for a player who cost Leeds more than £3 million two years ago.

Yeboah was discussed at boardroom level by Everton last week.