Old Trafford denies any deal with Eriksson

Sven Goran Eriksson was not offered the chance to manage Manchester United last year – even though Sir Alex Ferguson believes the Swede would have made an ideal successor.

Ferguson and the Old Trafford chief executive, Peter Kenyon, have tried to clarify their positions over Eriksson and in the process left a huge question mark over the Swede's commitment to the national team.

It was reported yesterday that Ferguson had claimed United had "shaken hands" on a deal which would have seen Eriksson installed as manager at the start of the current campaign.

The Scot yesterday admitted that he was not certain such an agreement existed and Kenyon quickly added that Ferguson's theory was not true. However, in admitting that interviews had taken place, Kenyon did not clarify whether he had spoken to Eriksson, increasing the likelihood that he was among the selected candidates.

"We never concluded a deal with Sven," said Kenyon. "On the basis that Sir Alex was going to retire, we had to do the right thing for Manchester United. We interviewed several candidates and our job was to get the best possible man."

Eriksson was widely linked with the post at the time, as was Celtic manager Martin O'Neill and Milan's Fabio Capello, although Kenyon insisted he secured his first-choice candidate when Ferguson changed his stance and signed a new three-year contract.

Fifa finally ruled on Steve Marlet's transfer yesterday – but Fulham and Lyon must wait for up to a fortnight before discovering the written verdict from world football's governing body. Fulham are refusing to pay the French club the final £2.5m of Marlet's £11.5m fee agreed in August 2001.

Plans to experiment with a fourth official acting as a "goal judge" during next month's World Under-20 Championship have been postponed, Fifa said yesterday.

The proposed system will instead be in place on an experimental basis at the World Under-17 Championship in Finland in August. Fifa said the experiment had been postponed because its International Board had had insufficient time to introduce rules regarding an additional referee.