NOT MUCH CHANCE OF THIS THEN

Manchester United have been warned they will have to pay in excess of £23m if they want to prise Mahamadou Diarra away from Lyon as their big summer transfer. The Mali midfielder is reputedly high on Sir Alex Ferguson's wish list but the French league leaders announced yesterday that any prospective purchaser would have to pay more than the sum Chelsea spent on Michael Essien last year.

United's interest in Diarra is still unconfirmed but Ferguson travelled to San Siro to watch Lyon take on Milan in last week's Champions League quarter-final. The Spanish sports daily Marca has also claimed that Real Madrid were informed of United's desire to sign Diarra when they initiated their own talks with Lyon's chairman Jean-Michel Aulas.

Lyon's stance is that they want to keep their best players "even if a good deal is possible", although they made similar noises before agreeing to sell Essien. The Glazer family might however be put off by Aulus's declaration that Diarra "would be more expensive than Essien".