As gambles go the one made by Mark Bosnich came to spectacular fruition yesterday, to the tune of £6 million, when he completed a move from Aston Villa to Manchester United under the Bosman ruling.

The Australian goalkeeper had rejected offers from Roma and Juventus, as well as overtures by Liverpool, hoping against hope that United, the club who first brought him to English football a decade ago, would renew their interest.

Last Thursday, within hours of securing the Treble, United's manager Alex Ferguson made his first contact with the player. A four-year deal was completed - to be formally initiated on July 1st - which will pay Bosnich an estimated £30,000 a week for the next four years.

"If I wanted to go for the money I could have lived like a king for the rest of my life, and another life, and another one after that," said Bosnich. "But always at the back of my mind was the thought that if I waited until the end of the season, I might get a call from here. I gambled, really, and it paid off."

That risk was the easy part, of course. Far more difficult will be taking over from Peter Schmeichel, the Dane who amazed even his staunchest admirers with the manner in which he brought down the curtain on his United career.

"For me that was the greatest bait," claimed Bosnich. "Wherever I was next season, in Italy or Spain, I couldn't have lived with myself if I knew I had turned down the challenge of following Peter Schmeichel."

Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier placed another piece in his expensive close-season jigsaw puzzle yesterday when he agreed to pay £3.5 million for the Blackburn Rovers centre-back Stephane Henchoz.

The international defender is in his native Switzerland receiving treatment on a long-standing groin problem but is expected to fly to Merseyside in the next two weeks to complete the transfer.

Houllier rekindled his interest in Henchoz after two unsuccessful attempts to sign the Bayern Munich defender Markus Babbel.

Leeds United have been told they will have to pay £7.5 million to prise Kieron Dyer from Ipswich Town. The Leeds chairman, Peter Ridsdale, is understood to have offered £5 million for the midfielder, who handed in a transfer request after Ipswich's play-off defeat by Bolton Wanderers.