Leeds ready to pay £18m for Rio

Ken Dyer13 April 2012

West Ham were today bracing themselves for a fresh bid from Leeds for their £18 million-rated defender Rio Ferdinand.

The Yorkshire Premiership club, who tomorrow meet Spanish giants Real Madrid in the Champions League, have so far been unsuccessful in tempting West Ham with a £15m offer for the 22-year-old defender but are now poised to raise the bid by another £3m.

Ferdinand was again outstanding in West Ham's 1-0 victory at Elland Road on Saturday, and Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale reinforced his interest afterwards. West Ham have consistently said they want to keep Peckham-born Ferdinand at the club and would anyway prefer to sell him abroad.

The reality is however that, should Leeds, as anticipated, match the club's £18m valuation, the board would be unlikely to reject it, particularly with the continuing uncertainty over the future of the transfer market.

West Ham fans would naturally be aghast if their young hero left, particularly at a time when he has just broken into the England team and looks set for an extended run.

The club have however always said that they value the player at £18m and would not stand in Ferdinand's way should he want to go.

The suspicion that West Ham need a quick injection of cash in order to help fund their new £35m west stand would seem to be unfounded, however. The project has already been financed by long-term loans and it is likely that the vast majority of any transfer for Ferdinand would be made available to manager Harry Redknapp to buy a replacement.

Redknapp meanwhile could be heading for frank discussions with Italian striker Paolo Di Canio following the weekend's events.

Di Canio, who has not endeared himself to some of his clubmates including Ferdinand following critical comments in both his recently-published book and a club magazine article, did not travel to Leeds on Friday after refusing to travel on the coach and declaring himself unfit with a stomach upset.

The West Ham manager subsequently made some pointed remarks following the 1-0 win at Elland Road, saying that Leeds was a difficult place to play and that "not everyone in your team wants to come here."

The volatile Italian did, in fact, miss the corresponding match last season with injury as well as the away games at Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle, Southampton, Watford and Manchester United plus the home matches against Everton and Southampton.

Redknapp has already intimated that he is unlikely to change his side for next weekend's trip to The Dell and relationships between the pair have palpably deteriorated in recent weeks, especially following injudicious remarks from Di Canio about the club and some of his teammates.

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