IS RIO LEEDS` BIG MONEY TARGET?

At the Leeds` Player of the Year party Ridsdale told the audience about the 7.2 million arrival of Olivier Dacourt admitting: "This is a club record fee, but I doubt that this is still the case by the end of the summer. "

The jovial Yorkshire chairman, who has been widely praised for his poise and dignity after the death of two Leeds fans in Turkey, admitted that young manager David O`Leary was keeping him busy, adding: "The only problem that David is giving me is getting used to signing all the zeroes on the cheques."

West Ham`s Rio Ferdinand would be expected to cost more than the £10.7 million record transfer fee paid for a defender -set by Manchester United when they purchased Jaap Stam from PSV Eindhoven two years ago.

Ferdinand, who was recently named in Kevin Keegan`s provisional 28 man squad for Euro 2000, has long been considered one of the hottest prospects in English football, and has, in the past, admitted that his ambition for trophies may lead to him uprooting from the Upton Park club that brought him through their youth ranks.

There have been suggestions from the press that several Italian clubs are watching the 21-year-old, with Italian sports daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport, suggesting that Milan are keen to bring the youngster to the San Siro in the not-too-distant future.