LONDON: Everton manger David Moyes said on Thursday they are no nearer to agreeing to a permanent deal with midfielder Li Tie due to the "too high" asking price of the Chinese club Liaoning.

"Li Tie did well for us last year, but the fee that his club is asking for, I feel is too great for his worth," he told evertonfc.com.

"It is also too high a price for us, especially in the current climate."

Li Tie, 25, was loaned to Everton last season as part of the sponsorship deal between the English premier league side and Chinese telecommunication company Kejian. His loan expired on June 30.

The Chinese inter-national's move to Everton has been deadlocked due to the disagreement over the fee as Liaoning demanded at least 1 million pounds (US$1.62 million) while Everton insisted on 600,000 pounds (US$972,000)

Kejian originally agreed to fill the gap by paying Liaoning 400,000 pounds (US$648,000) to ensure Li's permanent move but withdrew after another unidentified Chinese enterprise weighed in.

But the transfer talks are continuing as Li, along with Zhang Shuguang, chief executive of Liaoning, boarded a plane on Thursday to London.

Everton, who failed to qualify for next season's European competitions, has felt the pinch of money as they abandoned a plan to move to a new stadium at King's Waterfront in Liverpool due to the rising costs of the project.

But they seemed to be generous in their bid to sign Fulham midfielder Sean Davis by offering a fee of 3.5 million pounds (US$5.67 million).

The offer was turned down immediately by the London club, which said their evaluation of Davis was at least double the given price.

Li has been regarded as a good bargain for Everton not only because he comes from a country with mouthwatering market potential but also for his impressive technical merits on the field.

His premier league debut has earned attention from English media and became a reported target of other English premier league clubs such as Newcastle United and Leeds.

But Li made no secret of the fact that he would like to return to Everton, although the talks between the Blues and Liaoning have dragged on for about two months.

Moyes, though thinking the asking price was not what Li deserves, also expressed his welcome to having Li back in the squad.

"He is coming back over on Thursday and we are more than happy to have him over here, training with us and hopefully we might get something sorted out," he said.

"It would be good to have him in the squad because he played a part for us last year, but at present that is not the case."

Xinhua

(China Daily 07/12/2003 page7)