Soccer Shorts: Tottenham, who according to Bayer Leverkusen have agreed to match their £10 million asking price for Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov, revealed yesterday that initial tests by the Health Protection Agency into the suspected food poisoning outbreak are inconclusive, despite the discovery of a virus in one of the affected players.
The report showed one player was suffering from a virus that could have been responsible for the outbreak of illness among other players. But it also reveals that the virus was not present in another player who was suffering from the same symptoms. Spurs are now awaiting the results of further tests before they hope to be able to pinpoint the cause of the illness which affected so many of their players.
Forest still Keane
Nottingham Forest will reportedly make another offer to Roy Keane about becoming their manager. Forest have been linked with the former City Ground favourite to try to lead them back to the Premiership. But the former Manchester United star has one year left on his Celtic contract and said on Wednesday night he will not decide until after a family holiday.
Elliott withdraws
Republic of Ireland striker Stephen Elliott has withdrawn from the Republic of Ireland squad to face Chile in Dublin on May 24th. Elliott has undergone surgery on his problem ankle after an injury-plagued season in the Premiership but expects to be fit again in four weeks' time.
Gallas wants out
William Gallas is ready to buy himself out of the remaining year of his contract at Chelsea unless the Premiership champions agree to sell him within the next two weeks. The move is allowed by Fifa rules, and would cost the 28-year-old French defender £5 million.
Juve board resign
The entire board of directors at the Italian champions Juventus resigned yesterday following days of revelations over embarrassing telephone interceptions involving their top management.
The Italian football federation is investigating the content of tapped telephone conversations between Juve's general manager Luciano Moggi and a federation official responsible for selecting referees.
Alonso okay for final
Liverpool's chances of claiming a seventh FA Cup have been bolstered after Xabi Alonso emerged unscathed from his first training session since straining ankle ligaments at Portsmouth on Sunday and he is now set to start tomorrow's final. The Spanish midfielder was able to take part in the warm-up and many of the routines without reporting any reaction to the injury.
City release 10
Stuart Pearce has released 10 Manchester City players including loanees Kiki Musampa and Albert Riera and defender David Sommeil. Dutch midfielder Musampa returns to Atletico Madrid with winger Riera heading back to Espanyol, while Sommeil's contract has expired. Goalkeeper Geert de Vlieger and Danish defender Mikkel Bischoff have also been released along with reserve-team players Tuomas Haapala, Ian Bennett, Karl Bermingham, Paul Collins and Michael Ward.
In brief . . .
The Portuguese press have linked Sven-Goran Eriksson with the vacancy at Benfica. Portsmouth's former Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld has been told he can leave Fratton Park. Rangers pair Kris Boyd and Chris Burke marked their Scotland debuts with two goals apiece in a 5-1 win over Bulgaria in a Kirin Cup friendly in Japan yesterday. Ipswich have parted company with manager Joe Royle by mutual consent.
