Leeds United have abandoned their bid to sign Norwegian international midfielder John Arne Riise from French champions Monaco.
Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale, on holiday in the south of France, said yesterday he had made another offer for 19-year-old Riise but that it had been rejected.
"I spoke to the club and they reiterated he is not for sale at any price," Ridsdale said. "The price is not the issue." Leeds made an initial offer for Riise earlier this month.
"John Arne Riise will not be a Leeds United player this season," confirmed Ridsdale. "Monaco are refusing to sell him at any price," he said.
Ridsdale now has just three days to strengthen the squad ahead of UEFA's midnight deadline on Friday, with hopes of new faces fading fast for manager David O'Leary.
O'Leary yesterday urged Leeds fans not to return to Istanbul for their potentially-explosive Champions League clash against Besiktas in October.
Speaking for the first time about the draw, which also paired Leeds against European giants Barcelona and AC Milan, O'Leary said: "I was disappointed when I heard we would be going back to Istanbul. It was a bad experience the last time.
"Although I am sure we will get good hospitality, I don't like tempting fate and to go back so soon afterwards, I just hope nothing happens. I would urge supporters not to go back because it leaves nothing to chance."
Meanwhile Leeds will play most of next month's Champions League matches without striker Mark Viduka after Australian soccer officials declined to release him from Olympic commitments.
Leeds had hoped the 24-year-old Australian striker, who signed from Celtic during the summer, would be released from Olympic duty in Sydney after FIFA requested that Olympic soccer teams select players aged only under 23.
The decision means Viduka could miss up to seven Leeds United games whilst in Sydney.
Liverpool confirmed last night that Christian Ziege has finally been registered as their player.
The long-running saga concerning Ziege's release by Middlesbrough, despite the fact that he signed a contract with Liverpool at the weekend, has at last come to a conclusion.
Glasgow Rangers have offered in the region of $15 million for Espanyol striker Raul Tamudo Montero. Tamudo, 22, said that although he wanted to stay with the Barcelona club, the chance of earning in the region of a million dollars a year was too good an offer to refuse.
"That will set me up for life," he said. Under contract until 2003, Tamudo has been given until Friday to make up his mind on the move.
Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, currently undergoing treatment in a Cuban clinic for cocaine addiction, has applied to join an Argentine second division side. Now 39 and suffering from heart problems brought on by his constant use of the drug, Maradona sent the organisation a fax from Havana asking to join his brothers Raul and Hugo in the All Boys club, the AFA said.
Telecommunications company Eircom Plc is the new official sponsor of Republic of Ireland's national soccer team, the FAI announced yesterday.
The sponsorship deal, which is beginning two years ahead of schedule due to the early withdrawal of the previous sponsor, car company Opel, runs until 2012 and will span three World Cup and three European Championship campaigns.
