United in £30m bid to sign Ferdinand
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United will test Leeds' resolve to hold on to Rio Ferdinand with a British record bid of around £30m in the next few days.
The Old Trafford chief executive Peter Kenyon has been in secret talks with Leeds for weeks and will hope that the formal offer, which goes to the the Yorkshire club's plc, is acceptable. United had asked for an answer a fortnight ago and been told by Leeds that they needed time to consider the move for Ferdinand. In the absence of a satisfactory answer, United will now put it in writing and pile the pressure on the Elland Road board.
The bid would go a long way to wiping out Leeds' debts, although the downside is huge because of the bad feeling between the supporters of both clubs and the message it sends out about the size of their relative ambitions and bank balances.
Despite alleged interest from other clubs at home and abroad, Manchester United are the only outfit with genuine desire to sign Ferdinand.
The classy displays of Ferdinand at the highest level in the World Cup have marked him out as one of the best defenders in the modern game.
The Old Trafford manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has urged his directors to make every effort for Ferdinand and United are convinced that the 23-year-old's ambition, plus the prospect of playing in the Champions League next season, will tempt him to move. However there is still plenty of ground to cover, with the test being how far Manchester United will go with the bid and whether Leeds can afford to say no for long.
Indeed some of those close to Ferdinand are not optimistic that the transfer will go ahead. One leading source said last night: "It is still unlikely that Manchester United's valuation is big enough for Leeds."
United's move is not just ambitious but also desperate. Their other targets, France's Lilian Thuram and Italy's Alessandro Nesta, are proving difficult to sign. Thuram, whose age is also against him, has signalled that he would be prepared to stay at Juventus while Lazio's Nesta is wildly priced at £35m and may prefer to stay in Italy.
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