From the Sunday People:
Rio Ferdinand's staggering new contract demands will cast a giant shadow over Manchester United for weeks - and possibly months - to come.
Amazingly, it will take TWO top agents to sort out the huge figures being discussed because the England star is looking for a hike in both his salary AND image rights.
Ferdinand's contract will be sorted out in talks with his agent Pini Zahavi and United's board as he looks for a top line of £150,000 a week, the biggest contract in the game.
However, Ferdi's "commercial" side is handled by Jerome Anderson's company and their lawyers will also have to pay careful attention to his image rights.
It is a doubly complicated issue because United are wary of raising their salary ceiling too high and sparking trouble with other players looking for more cash.
And the Inland Revenue are keeping a close eye on image rights payments to top players because it is seen as a possible abuse of the tax system.
Ferdinand wants a massive double-your-money rise - as The SP revealed last week - to about £120,000 PLUS £30,000 a week in image rights.
He is already on a basic salary of about £60,000 a week and extras in image rights. The SP understands that Ferdinand has 20 per cent of his total package rated as image rights, but this could even be increased in future.
United have been paying image rights deals for the past few years, with David Beckham paving the way as stars tried to cash in on the profits the club makes on merchandise featuring their names and images.
Now many of the Old Trafford stars - and even boss Sir Alex Ferguson - have big chunks of this cash ploughed into their pay packets.
New signings such as Wayne Rooney have also signed up under this scheme, but it is becoming a big topic of discussion with the taxman.
United want a quick resolution to the talks but insiders reveal it will take a long time to work their way through the different areas.
And Ferdinand is happy to let his agent take the heat in the meantime as he waits for a big pay-day - with the alternative that he is sold or plays out his contract and goes for nothing.