Venables closes in on Okon

Terry Venables has revealed he is close to signing Australia international Paul Okon.

The former Lazio and Fiorentina midfielder, who had a spell on loan at Watford last season, is a free agent after leaving Middlesbrough.

Okon, who has captained his country, is well known to Venables, who almost led the Socceroos to the 1998 World Cup finals.

The Leeds boss, who expects to complete a £2.75million transfer of Nick Barmby from Liverpool on Thursday, said: "He's a player I know well and we will see what happens in the morning."

Venables was speaking after his side's 1-1 friendly draw with Rangers at Ibrox.

Alan Smith opened the scoring for Leeds in the 17th minute but Shota Arveladze won and then converted a second half penalty.

But defender Jonathon Woodgate is facing time on the sidelines after suffering a gashed leg in a challenge with Holland international Fernando Ricksen.

Venables said: "He's got seven or eight stitches in his knee. It's a deep cut and we won't really know until tomorrow how long he will be out.

"He said it was his own fault because he didn't control the ball properly. He was stretching and it was out of reach.

"It looked like he had jarred it as well. The gash was bad enough but I was worried he had done ligament damage but he seems to be okay there.

"It was a good work out, just what we had been working towards. I thought the fitness side was good as I thought we might have been a bit behind.

"I thought we matched them all right and played some good football."