Today's other stories in brief
Pay hike for Rooney
Wayne Rooney will be offered a new contract at Manchester United worth £90,000 a week after manager Alex Ferguson said he was determined to keep the 20-year-old at Old Trafford for a "lifetime".
Rooney, who still has four years left to run on his current £45,000-a-week contract, has publicly stated his desire to extend his stay at United beyond the terms he agreed on his arrival from Everton in August 2004.
While United are under no pressure to extend the player's deal, the club are determined to avoid the long-running saga that saw negotiations with Rio Ferdinand drag on for over a year before he finally put pen to paper at the start of last season.
The club offered further proof of their contract policy yesterday when both Park Ji-Sung and Mikael Silvestre signed contract extensions. Park is now committed to United until 2010, while Silvestre's deal expires a year earlier.
United's most recent signing, the Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak, is expected to make his debut against Sevilla at Old Trafford today after completing his transfer from West Brom. Kuszczak will sign a three-year deal at United once his initial loan expires next June. The deal saw Wicklow-born defender Paul McShane (20) and goalkeeper Luke Steele (21) join West Brom on three-year contracts.
United yesterday appealed against the red cards shown to Rooney and Paul Scholes in last Friday's friendly win over Porto in Amsterdam.
Meanwhile, Rangers have signed United midfielder Lee Martin (19) on a loan deal until the end of the year.
James makes his move
David James has completed his move to Portsmouth from Manchester City. The 36-year-old goalkeeper passed a medical and agreed personal terms with the Fratton Park club on the day he was left out of the England squad.
Portsmouth are expected to start the season with James as his number one, because of injuries to Dean Kiely and Jamie Ashdown.
Kahn reaches milestone
Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn made his 500th Bundesliga appearance in yesterday's season opener against Borussia Dortmund.
Kahn (37) played his first Bundesliga game in 1987 for Karlsruhe and it was an unpromising start, as his side lost 4-0 to Cologne. He joined Bayern in 1994 and has since won the Champions League and seven league titles, as well as two German Player of the Year awards.
He lost his place as Germany's number one shortly before the World Cup and retired from the international game after the tournament.
Bayern won a second successive league and cup double last season and Kahn remains the first choice for the Bavarian side.
Bellamy to miss out
Craig Bellamy's assault trial will fall on the same day as an important international fixture, a judge confirmed yesterday.
The Liverpool and Wales striker faces a trial before Cardiff magistrates' court from October 10th-12th, accused of common assault of two women in a nightclub.
On the evening of October 11th, Wales face Cyprus at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium in a Group D qualifying match for the Uefa Euro 2008 tournament. The Republic of Ireland will also compete in Group D in the qualifiers.
Big names shun Reading
Reading manager Steve Coppell has revealed club record bids for two World Cup players have been rejected. The Premiership newcomers, who make their top-flight bow at home to Middlesbrough in eight days, have been thwarted in their bid to sign John Mensah of Ghana and Ivory Coast's Emerse Fae.
Both play in France, with defender Mensah (25) at Rennes and midfielder Fae (22) under contract at Nantes.
Coppell confirmed neither would be coming to the Madejski Stadium. He said: "We made an offer and they turned it down. Both clubs said to us it doesn't matter what you offer he is not for sale. So in those circumstances you don't keep knocking.
"But it's not too late to sign someone for the first Premiership game, absolutely not. If I felt it was the right man for the right job I would put him straight in."
Real use Baptista as bait
Real Madrid are willing to send Julio Baptista to Arsenal in their bid to land Jose Antonio Reyes.
The Spanish side know Arsenal came close to signing Baptista in the past when he was a Sevilla player. Now club president Ramon Calderon, frustrated at missing out on Kaka and Arjen Robben, is willing to offload Baptista in bid to close a deal for Reyes.
According to El Mundo, Deportivo Arsenal and Real are around €10 million apart in their valuation of Reyes, and Baptista could bring down the asking price. He only joined Real last summer but struggled to hold down a regular first-team place during his first season in Madrid.
In brief . . .
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has publicly insisted wantaway defender William Gallas will remain at Stamford Bridge . . . Netherlands coach Marco van Basten dropped Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy when he named an 18-man squad to play the Republic of Ireland in Wednesday's friendly at Lansdowne Road . . . AC Milan have decided to follow in the footsteps of Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina by taking their appeal against the sentence in the Italian match-fixing trial to the national Olympic Committee . . . Republic of Ireland midfielder Colin Healy (26) is expected to make his debut for new club Barnsley at Colchester today after signing on a one-year contract . . . Nottingham Forest have appointed former Tottenham manager David Pleat as football consultant.
