Steve McManaman last night ended speculation about his future when he confirmed he would join Real Madrid at the end of the season. His advisers held talks with the Spanish club yesterday and clinched a five-year deal which will instantly elevate the England forward to multi-millionaire status.
The advisers emerged with a deal worth £14 million to the 26-year-old Liverpool-born player which begins on July 1st. Real officials were flying to England last night for McManaman to sign a pre-contract deal, although he will see out the season before leaving as a free agent.
McManaman said in a statement: "I am extremely sad to be leaving Liverpool FC. However the opportunity to be playing football for Real Madrid, the current European and world champions, is too good to turn down and it helps me further my ambition to test myself in another top European League."
Silvio Maric, the highly talented and much coveted midfielder of Croatia Zagreb, is expected to join Newcastle next week. The St James' Park club would not confirm this, but yesterday the 23-year-old, a key member of the Croatia team who finished third in the World Cup, said from a training camp in Spain: "Everything is over in Zagreb. I want to go and I will join Newcastle. That is my decision."
Maric's arrival would bring the number of non-British players at the club to nine and that figure will further increase if Raimondas Zutautas, a Lithuanian, impresses during a week-long trial.
FIFA has been asked to arbitrate over the Marko Viduka transfer saga after Croatia Zagreb reacted angrily at receiving a payment of £900,000 from Celtic. The Croatians had expected £3 million for the Australian striker, who is now back at Parkhead after a seven-week absence when he complained of stress.
Athlone Town manager Joey Malone was still hoping yesterday that he might salvage his attempt to have Paul McGrath register with the club for the rest of the season after the story was, he says, blown out of all proportion by a national newspaper.
Malone says that he had been talking to McGrath a couple of weeks ago and that the former Manchester United and Aston villa star had mentioned how much he was missing playing these days. The Athlone boss suggested that he might, the next time he was home, come and train with the club's first team squad and then mentioned the possibility of registering him in case he might fancy a game.
"It would cost nothing to sign him and it would mean that the option of playing was there if he wanted to but that was where the whole thing ended up because he didn't get back to me before Friday when the Star rang me and told me he was running with the story."
