United sign Australian wunderkind Davis

LONDON – Manchester United have signed a nine-year-old Australian wunderkind who is tipped to be as good as Wayne Rooney.

Brisbane-born Rhain Davis was snapped up by the Premiership champions after his grandfather sent a DVD of the youngster in action to Old Trafford. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was impressed enough to invite Davis, who holds a UK passport through his mother Leah, to move to England and train with the club.Rhain and his father Mark moved to Cheshire, close to United’s training base, last month and will soon be joined by the rest of his family.United striker Rooney is regarded as one of the best players in the world, but Rhain already shows enough promise to suggest he could emulate the England star’s success.To do so Rhain will first have to earn a full-time scholarship with United, which is awarded to promising 12-year-olds.* Meanwhile, Newcastle are close to signing Manchester United forward Alan Smith and Lyon defender Cacapa.The St James’ Park club have agreed a fee of around six million pounds for Smith and are now in talks with the England international, while Cacapa is also discussing personal terms.Cacapa, 31, is available on a free transfer, while Smith, 26, has also reportedly spoken with Newcastle’s local rivals Sunderland and Middlesbrough.But Sam Allardyce believes both players are likely to end up at St James’ Park.”Cacapa is top player and we will be delighted if we can pull this off as we regard him as a big capture,” he told Newcastle’s website.”Our fans should not be put off by the fact they may not have heard of Cacapa because he has certainly been heard of in England and France.”I’m hoping the Alan Smith deal will go through on Thursday.He has other clubs to consider but I’m hoping we are top of his list.”* Real Madrid, still not satis?ed with their squad for the new season, may chase up the man being touted as the “new” Zinedine Zidane, Marseille’s Samir Nasri, if they fail to net AC Milan’s Kaka, media reports said yesterday.Argentine Lucho Gonzalez of Porto has also taken Real’s fancy but 20-year-old French international Nasri is their prime target, according to AS and Marca.German coach Bernd Schuster is tracking the “new pearl of European football” in the words of AS.Nasri, French young player of the year, has nonetheless indicated he plans to stay at the Stade Velodrome for this season at least and his contract with Marseille runs to 2009.Marca added that Lucho, 26, is also in the frame with a 25-millioneuro price tag attached, although Lyon and Valencia are also after him.But Real’s moves for Chelsea’s Dutch winger Arjen Robben and Feyenoord defender Royston Drenthe appear to have stalled with their clubs wanting a respective 36 million and 17 million euros for their players.Nampa-AFPUnited manager Sir Alex Ferguson was impressed enough to invite Davis, who holds a UK passport through his mother Leah, to move to England and train with the club.Rhain and his father Mark moved to Cheshire, close to United’s training base, last month and will soon be joined by the rest of his family.United striker Rooney is regarded as one of the best players in the world, but Rhain already shows enough promise to suggest he could emulate the England star’s success.To do so Rhain will first have to earn a full-time scholarship with United, which is awarded to promising 12-year-olds.* Meanwhile, Newcastle are close to signing Manchester United forward Alan Smith and Lyon defender Cacapa.The St James’ Park club have agreed a fee of around six million pounds for Smith and are now in talks with the England international, while Cacapa is also discussing personal terms.Cacapa, 31, is available on a free transfer, while Smith, 26, has also reportedly spoken with Newcastle’s local rivals Sunderland and Middlesbrough.But Sam Allardyce believes both players are likely to end up at St James’ Park.”Cacapa is top player and we will be delighted if we can pull this off as we regard him as a big capture,” he told Newcastle’s website.”Our fans should not be put off by the fact they may not have heard of Cacapa because he has certainly been heard of in England and France.”I’m hoping the Alan Smith deal will go through on Thursday.He has other clubs to consider but I’m hoping we are top of his list.”* Real Madrid, still not satis?ed with their squad for the new season, may chase up the man being touted as the “new” Zinedine Zidane, Marseille’s Samir Nasri, if they fail to net AC Milan’s Kaka, media reports said yesterday.Argentine Lucho Gonzalez of Porto has also taken Real’s fancy but 20-year-old French international Nasri is their prime target, according to AS and Marca.German coach Bernd Schuster is tracking the “new pearl of European football” in the words of AS.Nasri, French young player of the year, has nonetheless indicated he plans to stay at the Stade Velodrome for this season at least and his contract with Marseille runs to 2009.Marca added that Lucho, 26, is also in the frame with a 25-millioneuro price tag attached, although Lyon and Valencia are also after him.But Real’s moves for Chelsea’s Dutch winger Arjen Robben and Feyenoord defender Royston Drenthe appear to have stalled with their clubs wanting a respective 36 million and 17 million euros for their players.Nampa-AFP