CASH-STRAPPED Bradford City are still confident that Middlesbrough will take Benito Carbone off their hands at the end of the season, even though talks between the clubs have yet to start.

Bantams chairman Geoffrey Richmond remains resolutely upbeat that Boro will meet the reported £3m asking price for Carbone and that the Italian playmaker, whose Valley Parade deal is worth £40,000-a-week, will agree personal terms with Steve McClaren's club.

Boro boss McClaren maintains he is keen to make Carbone's move permanent after his inspirational input during the successful fight against relegation.

Carbone is equally eager to extend his stay at the Riverside Stadium beyond the three-month deal which runs out after Boro's final game of the season at Leeds a week on Saturday.

The 30-year-old former Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa star has already warned that unless he can play out the next four years with Boro and end his career on Teesside, he will return to Italy rather than First Division football with Bradford, who also loaned him to Derby County earlier this season.

The apparent lack of progress in Carbone's projected move to Boro has raised doubts about whether a deal will be struck.

But sources close to Bradford yesterday stressed they are even more "desperate'' to get him off their wage bill following the collapse of the Nationwide League's deal with ITV Digital.

Meanwhile, former Boro midfielder Christian Karembeu, who helped to secure their top-flight status last season with a stunning equaliser in the penultimate match at Bradford, is in a race to be fit for France's World Cup defence.

Karembeu, the first player to be sold following McClaren's appointment last summer when he switched to Greek giants Olympiakos in a £3.5m deal, will learn this week if a groin injury is to rob him of a place in the French squad bound for Japan and South Korea.

The 31-year-old is undergoing treatment in France after sustaining the injury in the Greek Cup final on Saturday.

Karembeu limped out of his side's 2-1 defeat by AEK Athens and is a major doubt for the last match of the season away to Aris next week.

An Olympiakos official confirmed: "He has returned to France where he will consult with his doctor."

Coach Takis Lemonis insisted Karembeu's injury was a crucial factor in the Cup final loss.

"Karembeu's exit through injury was among the deciding points in the match," he said.

*Michael Owen insists it is only a matter of time before Liverpool win the Premiership title, writes KEN GAUNT.

The England striker believes the future is bright at Anfield because of the young, vibrant squad they have. Liverpool's ten-game unbeaten run came to an end at Tottenham on Saturday, but Owen remains upbeat.

''It was disappointing because we had been on such a good run,'' said Owen at the launch of Umbro's XAI boot. "Everyone would love to win the title, and it's a major goal of mine.

"I am sure we are going to do it in the next year or two. We have shown a lot of improvement in the last three or four years.

"Every year we have made a giant step forward. You just have to look at the points total.''

Liverpool won a total of five trophies last season and qualified for the Champions League. Owen said: ''I still think that it has been a good season. The points total we will end up with could probably win the league next year.''