Glenn stays firm on Di Canio

Ken Dyer13 April 2012
Macclesfield 0 West Ham 3

Manchester United will need to increase their bid by at least £1 million if they are to tempt Premiership rivals West Ham to part with Italian striker Paolo Di Canio.

West Ham manager Glenn Roeder has confirmed that United made an undisclosed bid for Di Canio on Friday, but that it was rejected by the Upton Park club.

It is understood that the bid was around the £2m mark, but that West Ham would need to be offered at least £1m more than that before they would consider allowing the volatile 33-year-old to go.

Roeder confirmed today: " Manchester United made a faxed bid for Paolo, but it was rejected. The ball is now back in their court.

"Either they will be back on with an improved offer or, if not, I would like to think they will tell us they have ended their interest so that all of us know where we stand."

United are expected to contact West Ham with an improved offer within the next few days, but the east London club need to clear £3m to make the deal worthwhile.

Whatever his foibles, the controversial forward remains a potential match-winner and Roeder is aware that he will be extremely difficult to replace. The £3m transfer fee for Di Canio, however, would allow Roeder to add to his meagre first-team squad and also enable him to seek, in addition, a loan replacement with the money the club will save on the wage bill, thought to be in the region of £25,000 per week.

One possibility would be former Aston Villa striker Savo Milosevic, currently with Italian club Parma.

West Ham, who beat Macclesfield 3-0 in the FA Cup third round yesterday, have been drawn away again - this time to the winners of the Chelsea v Norwich replay.

Roeder said: "I've been involved in three cup ties as West Ham manager and every time so far we've been drawn away from home.

"It's a tough tie and, should it be Chelsea, it will mean we meet them twice in the space of a week since we are due to go there in the Premiership the weekend before the next round of the FA Cup."

Roeder looks certain to be without John Moncur for that match, since the experienced midfielder faces a two-match suspension after being sent off 10 minutes from time at Macclesfield by referee Jeff Winter.

Moncur, who has been dismissed already this season while playing for West Ham's reserves, received an initial yellow card for a foul on Macclesfield midfielder Chris Byrne.

But then, following a melee involving players from both teams, a second yellow was followed by a red card for pulling Byrne back up to his feet.

Moncur admitted: "I thought it was harsh. I was booked twice, head-butted and then sent off in once incident. I said 'Come on mate, up you get' and then this fella ran in and nutted me. I said to the ref that I was only picking him up and why had he booked me and he said it was the way I picked him up."

West Ham teams of the past would perhaps have capitulated to a committed Macclesfield side.

However, Roeder's team produced aworkmanlike performance, taking the lead just before half-time through Jermain Defoe and adding two more in the second half, a second goal for Defoe and the first of the season for Joe Cole.

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