Middlesbrough lead chase for Ricketts with £4m bid

The Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren is making a £4m bid for Bolton Wanderers' unsettled striker Michael Ricketts.

McClaren joined the hunt for Ricketts yesterday and is prepared to offer cash. Boro have money to spend in the transfer window and are desperate for a forward. McClaren, who was part of the England set-up when Ricketts received his only cap last season, thinks the unpredictable attacker could be the answer.

Bolton have also been contacted by Tottenham about a swap deal involving the versatile Gary Doherty, but Wanderers would prefer cash.

Ricketts has an unhappy relationship with his manager, Sam Allardyce, but he has shown his talent with a run of goals lately. However he could be sold at the right price, and Boro are close to agreement.

Allardyce said: "Tottenham have made an inquiry and are talking about exchanges, which is not acceptable for a player of Michael's talent.

"I could do damage with the money if there was a sale. I can bring in some top-drawer foreign players with that.''

His Birmingham City counterpart Steve Bruce is in talks with Montpellier about a £2m move for Cameroon's World Cup defender Bill Tchato.

The United States international Tony Sanneh has turned down the chance to join West Bromwich Albion from the Germany Bundesliga club Nuremberg after failing to agree personal terms.

The Sunderland striker Kevin Kyle has committed his future to the club after signing a three-year extension to his contract. The 21-year-old Scotland international will remain on Wearside until 2006.

Southampton's Latvian striker Marian Pahars needs an ankle operation which is likely to keep him out of action for another six weeks. He has missed the last two months through injury and had the ankle in plaster for a fortnight before Christmas in a quest to help the injury through rest.

The Tottenham wing-back Christian Ziege returned to the training ground yesterday for the first time since being rushed to hospital last month for emergency surgery.

The German international had an operation on a muscle in his left thigh after suffering what he thought was a dead leg in the 2-2 home draw with Charlton Athletic on December 26. He was told he could be out for up to 12 weeks.

At hospital, he was told the blood build-up was so great his leg would have to be cut open to relieve the pressure. He then suffered complications with the stitching of the wound.

The Everton manager David Moyes gave a trial to the Polish World Cup midfielder Piotr Szierczewski yesterday. The 30-year-old former Marseilles captain flew to Merseyside to play in a closed-doors game in an attempt to win a contract at Goodison.

Szierczewski was one of Poland's better players in a dismal World Cup campaign and is a seasoned veteran in French football.

The Preston manager Craig Brown has moved to sign the Celtic goalkeeper Jonathan Gould in an 18-month deal. The 34-year-old is Brown's second recruit from Celtic this week, after the striker Simon Lynch made the move.