Aston Villa's manager John Gregory is ready to make a £10 million offer for Juninho in an ambitious attempt to pair the Brazilian with Dwight Yorke in a formidable front partnership.
Gregory appears determined to demonstrate to the unsettled Yorke that Villa are genuine contenders for honours in the face of an almost certain new initiative by Manchester United for the striker after United's projected £9 million deal for Milan's Patrick Kluivert broke down yesterday.
Villa's manager already has about £15 million to spend on players. Now Gregory wants to prise Juninho away from Atletico Madrid and hopes to start negotiations when the Spanish club play Chelsea in Arnhem today.
The fear for Gregory is that Villa's chairman Doug Ellis, if he sanctions a deal for Juninho, may insist on recouping by selling Yorke in a straight cash transfer of around £12 million. Gregory called United's initial £8 million offer for York "derisory".
In Italy, Milan's spokesman Paolo Tarozzi shrugged off the failure of United's initative for Kluivert, despite the chairman Martin Edwards's plans to discuss personal terms with the Dutch World Cup striker tomorrow. "Nothing is certain in football," said Tarozzi, who said Kluivert, despite his reported desire to leave, had now asked to stay.
Keith Gillespie's proposed £3.5 million transfer to Middlesbrough has been called off by the Teesside club. The 23-year-old Newcastle winger had held preliminary talks with Bryan Robson's side at the weekend but worries over the ankle injury the Northern Irish star suffered before the FA Cup final have forced Boro to withdraw from any deal.
Scotland skipper Colin Hendry is set to complete his move to Rangers within the next 24 hours. Blackburn initially asked £5.15 million after rejecting Rangers' bid of £2.5 million. But it now seems that the two clubs have got together to pave the way for Hendry's Ewood Park exit for a fee of around £4 million.
Harry Redknapp is optimistic of having Trevor Sinclair back in training by Thursday after tests revealed he had suffered nothing more than a touch of food poisoning. Sinclair had given the Hammers a scare on Sunday when he was rushed to hospital after being struck down by a mystery illness while playing golf.
David Unsworth's transfer back to Everton has still not been completed - four days after the deal had been agreed. It is believed that the move hinges on Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis and Everton supremo Peter Johnson rubber-stamping the move with a phone conversation, but as yet neither has been able to contact the other. Sheffield Wednesday have completed the signing of Dutch international Wim Jonk for £2.5 million from PSV Eindhoven. The World Cup midfielder becomes Danny Wilson's first signing at Hillsborough since his appointment last month.
England international Michael Owen is as good as Brazilian superstar Ronaldo, the world's number one footballer. The claim comes from Liverpool skipper Paul Ince in the run-up to the prestige friendly against Inter Milan at Anfield tonight.
Sadly for 40,000 plus fans, Ronaldo will not be there to face England's new idol as he is still on his holidays.
Frank and Ronald de Boer and Ajax held four hours of talks in Amsterdam yesterday but failed to reach an agreement on the dispute over their six-year contract. The De Boer brothers lost their bid to break free from Ajax when the Dutch Football Association's arbitration committee ruled last week that they had not presented valid arguments to cut short their contracts, which were renewed for another six years only last year.
Nottingham Forest manager Dave Bassett is still hoping to revive the deal which would take Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Dougie Freedman to the City Ground for around £1 million.
