United awaiting Stam payment

Manchester United have denied claims by Lazio that the Serie A leaders have stumped up the £12m they owe as part payment of the transfer fee for Jaap Stam. United recently reported the Serie A leaders to Fifa for failing to keep up repayments on the transfer.

"The talks with Lazio are progressing," said Manchester United's spokesman Patrick Harveson. "We remain hopeful of reaching a satisfactory outcome. But as of today nothing has been finalised."

The Lazio director Massimo Cragnotti had said they had settled their debt with United and denied rumours that the club, which has been put up for sale, was in financial crisis.

"A lot has been said about our club which is not true," Cragnotti said. "We are not close to bankruptcy - we are a healthy outfit. We have numerous creditors and we have respected the payments to other clubs such as Manchester United and Valencia regarding transfer fees."

Rupert Murdoch, the News International owner, has been linked with a bid for Lazio but Cragnotti denied reports that any talks were planned. "There are no talks in progress with Murdoch," Cragnotti said. "And there will be no summit with him in the week."

· Newcastle United will travel to Barcelona for their Champions League Group A game on Tuesday without Alan Shearer as well as Craig Bellamy. Newcastle had until midnight last night to appeal against the decision by Uefa to suspend Shearer for two matches after television pictures caught the Newcastle captain elbowing Fabio Cannavaro of Internazionale during last Wednesday's 4-1 defeat at St James' Park.

But the club accepted yesterday that any appeal would be futile, which means Shearer will also miss the trip to Bayer Leverkusen on February 19.

"Following careful consideration and in full agreement with the player and the manager, the club have decided not to appeal against Alan Shearer's two-match ban," said a club spokesman.