The board of Liverpool Football Club has agreed to sell a 30 per cent stake in the club to Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawtra that will bring around £60 million, according to Thai government sources.
The Thai cabinet has approved plans for a fund-raising scheme, probably a lottery, to raise sufficient cash for the purchase. Liverpool's acceptance of the offer, despite a rival bid from Liverpool fan Steve Morgan, was apparently telephoned to the Thai government on Monday. The Thai PM said he was '60 per cent confident' that a deal would go through and he said: "The talks are still on-going but I am hopeful a deal will be concluded by the end of the week."
It looks likely that Manchester United are set to benefit from Leeds United's relegation with a cut-price, bargain £5 million purchase of Alan Smith.
The Leeds striker was named in the stand-by squad for Euro 2004 on Monday but any move to Old Trafford is likely to be put on hold until after the tournament despite Smith coming out and publicly stating that he would see nothing wrong with a move to Leeds' biggest rivals.
Smith is now acting in his own self-interest as he said: "I want to make sure that the move I do make is the right one for my career and the right one for Alan Smith. That is vital, so I am not in any rush.
"If you are going to move on from the club you have always been at all your life, the next move is a massive step in your career. I have to see what comes in and who wants me and make my decision from there."
In response to the barracking he received at Stamford Bridge, Smith is believed to have made a rude gesture in response, although he can understand the supporters' fears at losing one of their best players. "The fans want the best for their club," added Smith. "Me moving on won't help Leeds unfortunately, but it will help Alan Smith. I have got to think about my own career now."
Birmingham boss Steve Bruce is already licking his lips at the prospect of a new look strike force of Emile Heskey and Mikael Forssell - and the Portugal-bound England centre forward has not even put pen to paper for the Blues yet.
Bruce is confident an initial £3.5m deal will be ratified this week and he says: "I think that it is a great signing for us. He is an England centre forward. He is 26 and he has 40 England caps.
"He is going to play in Portugal at the European Championships and I think that he will start for England. It shows you how far we have come as a football club when you can sign the England centre forward.
"I will never forget the night when he played for England against Germany when I thought he was awesome. I am looking forward to working with the lad and it is a great big signing for us."
David Beckham's sending-off for Real Madrid at the weekend had repercussions for Martin Keown on Monday as the England captain was banned by his club from playing in the Arsenal stalwart's testimonial against an England XI.
But after some 11th-hour bargaining Beckham was allowed to kick off the game and actually spent THREE MINUTES on the pitch before being replaced by Paul Gascoigne. The game, which Arsenal won 6-0, featured a hat-trick from Joes Antonio Reyes.
* Don't miss our tribute to Martin Keown here on givemefootball later today.
