Parlour may waive testimonial to move

RAY Parlour is prepared to consider giving up all rights to a lucrative Arsenal testimonial if Premiership rivals Middlesbrough make a satisfactory offer to sign him.

Boro boss Steve McClaren has admitted his interest in the midfielder, 31, who is in the last year of his contract at Highbury - his 12th season in the first-team squad.

But Parlour wants a three-year deal at the Riverside and the guarantee of first-team football, which he has no chance of being promised by the star-studded Gunners.

Testimonial matches - for players who have completed 10 years’ service - are also at the discretion of clubs.

And although one-club man Parlour made his senior debut as long ago as January 1992, Arsenal already seem committed to handing a testimonial match at the end of this season to Dutch star Dennis Bergkamp.

Such matches have been known to raise around £800,000 (€1.2 million) net for the beneficiaries and Parlour has only recently been ordered to pay out a huge amount of his income in a much-publicised divorce settlement.

Romford-born Parlour has been with Arsenal since 1988, when he joined them as a trainee, and has remained one of the few leading Englishmen in Arsene Wenger’s squad.

He said: “I have no plans to leave Arsenal and nothing about Middlesbrough has come through to me but, at my age, what every player looks for is first-team football.

“In an ideal world I’d like to join West Ham, my local club.”

Parlour, winner of three Premiership titles and three FA Cups, has been unlucky with injuries over the last two seasons, making only 26 starts and 10 substitute appearances, due mainly to a knee ligament injury which kept him out for nearly three months.

Now Jose Antonio Reyes has arrived to threaten his position on the right of midfield but manager Wenger has said: “I would like Ray to stay with Arsenal.”

Meanwhile, the agent handling Parlour’s contract dealings is also looking after Partick Vieira’s interests.

All kinds of tales have emanated from Spain, including the suggestion that Real Madrid are to employ a top negotiator to monitor the situation with the France midfielder.

Wenger has insisted Vieira would not be sold for less than £50 million (€75 million) and probably not even that, but Real look intent on knocking the price down to around half that figure.