Heinze Hotting Up

Last updated : 29 July 2007 By Editor

Heinze:

"I am on holiday, but may return next week and say more.

"For now I am a United player, but I am not saying anything else.

"I don't want to think about it and I don't want to think about football. I am on holiday and only want to think about the things I don't during the season."


PA:

Juventus chief Jean-Claude Blanc has refused to rule out a bid for Manchester United defender Gaby Heinze.

United chief executive David Gill admitted yesterday they wanted to sell the Argentina international - who is available for £6.8 million - to a foreign club.

"The team is very strong," said Blanc. "But we'll see if something can happen with Heinze.

"I'll have to speak with [coach] Claudio Ranieri and [sports director] Alessio Secco about him."


David Gill:

"There is this famous letter. I wrote to Heinze and his agent to give them an indication of what value we require for, effectively, an overseas transfer.

"If there is overseas interest and the valuation is right I can see him moving on."


Express:

The Manchester United boss is furious that Heinze has instructed Liverpool's lawyers to secure his move from Old Trafford to Anfield.

But Ferguson insisted he is confident United will win any legal battle - then ordered Heinze back to training.

He said: "We are aware he is taking legal advice and is using Liverpool's solicitor. Well, I hope he is a good one because we are confident of our position.

"It doesn't concern me whether he is using Liverpool's lawyers because he has either got a case or he hasn't."


The Guardian:

Gabriel Heinze's solicitor is to ask the Premier League to intervene in the row that is threatening significant damage to the precarious relationship between Manchester United and Liverpool. Richard Green will contact the league asking for an arbitration panel to be set up to decide whether Sir Alex Ferguson is wrong to prevent the Argentinian from becoming the first player to move from Old Trafford to Anfield since Phil Chisnall 1964.

Green, a senior partner at the Liverpool office of Hill Dickinson, has been appointed after Ferguson instructed United's board not to do business with Liverpool. United had informed Heinze's adviser, via fax, that the defender could leave if they received a bid of around £6m but when Liverpool made that offer last week it was dismissed. The row has escalated to the point that Heinze is unlikely to be considered for first-team action when he reports for training , having had an extended break because of the Copa America.

He can expect a hostile reaction from Ferguson, who is shocked to discover the extent to which his player seems determined to join United's rivals, the 29-year-old having employed solicitors who specialise in legal matters for Liverpool. "We're aware that he is taking legal advice," a bullish Ferguson said last night. "I just hope it's good advice because we are confident about our position."

When it was pointed out to Ferguson that Heinze had employed solicitors with close links to the Anfield club, the United manager said: "It doesn't worry me because he has either got a case or he hasn't."


The People:

When Alan Smith - sucking oxygen through a tube - heard the rat-a-tat-tat of bottles breaking on the ambulance door, relations between Liverpool and Manchester United fans had reached a new low.

And they have remained at the same nadir.

To watch a football match between these two great clubs is a privilege, to witness the bile in the stands is not.

The verbal and physical animosity that surrounds these games is one of the few remaining scars on a league which has been diligently cleaning up its hooligan act.

Which is why the Gabriel Heinze saga is an opportunity gone begging.

It is now clear that the mutual loathing is not restricted to the cheap seats.

Sir Alex Ferguson ended last season by saying he would toast Liverpool's Champions League Final demise with a decent red. He has paved the way for the new one by refusing to allow Heinze to become a decent red.