Tottenham last night refused to comment on reports linking them with a £6 million bid for Atletico Madrid midfield player Radek Bejbl. Spanish sports daily newspaper Marca reported yesterday that Spurs had made a $10.9 million bid for the Czech international, but that it had been rejected.
A spokesman for Spurs refused to comment on the reports.
An offer of £5 million from Italian club Parma was also reportedly rejected. It is believed that Atletico manager Raddy Antic is reluctant to let Bejbl go until he has found a replacement.
Bejbl has struggled to win a first-team place since moving to the Spanish club after starring in the European Championship in England in the summer of 1996.
Spurs manager Gerry Francis has made no secret that he is still looking for a midfield playmaker to boost his struggling team, and Bejbl fits the bill.
In the past year Francis has spent nearly £20 million on seven players. He has signed Les Ferdinand, David Ginola, Steffen Iversen, Jose Dominguez, Ramon Vega, John Scales and Allan Neilsen.
But he is believed to have more money available and has been scouring the Continent this season in search of top quality players.
Meanwhile, the club's chairman, Alan Sugar, has made his peace with striker Les Ferdinand. Sugar upset the £6 million striker when he told a student union that he had had to pay an inflated transfer fee for the record summer signing from Newcastle.
Ferdinand hit back by daring Sugar to sell him if he wasn't satisfied with the deal.
But Francis insisted yesterday that the pair had patched up what was nothing more than a "misunderstanding."
"Alan has had a word with Les and put the record straight," said Francis. "Les is perfectly happy with the situation. There were a lot of things from the chairman's speech which were taken out of context."
Crystal Palace striker Ivano Bonetti yesterday joined Italian Serie B side Genoa. Bonetti, who has signed a two-and-a-half year contract for Genoa, had played only 50 minutes for Palace. He appeared as a second-half substitute in Palace's 3-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday.
Coventry City manager Gordon Strachan has signed a new fiveyear contract with the Midlands club. Strachan last night confirmed that he has signed the contract which will keep him at Highfield Road until 2003.
Everton's Howard Kendall is considering a £500,000 bid for Norwegian goalkeeper Thomas Myhre (22).
The keeper is on trial from Viking Stavanger and impressed Kendall with an outstanding display for Everton's reserves against Blackburn's second string on Wednesday.
He will continue to train with the club and Kendall said: "He has been with us all week and comes highly recommended. He has been impressive in training and performed very well in the reserve match.
Terry Venables will be held to his contract as coach of Soccer Australia despite a growing list of clubs chasing the services of the former England manager.Portuguese giants Benfica and Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna have been named.
