LEE BOWYER'S £9m move to Liverpool was on hold last night as the Reds refused to meet the midfielder's extraordinary wage demands.

As Rio Ferdinand delayed a decision on his immediate future, with Leeds still clinging to the faint hope that he would decide against demanding a £35m transfer to Manchester United, Bowyer remained an Elland Road player after failing to agree personal terms with Liverpool.

The Anfield club have offered Bowyer £35,000 a week but the controversial 25-year-old is believed to be holding out for closer to £50,000 a week.

He was placed on the transfer list by Leeds in May after he rejected a five-year, £10m contract, just six weeks after claiming he wanted to stay in West Yorkshire.

After Liverpool and Leeds officials agreed a fee for Bowyer last week, with the deal costing the Reds an initial £7m, his prospective new club hoped he would be available to make his debut against Le Havre this Friday.

But his huge demands are understood to be linked to Leeds' insistence that he returns the £850,000 he owes them in legal fees from his court case, where he was acquitted of GBH and affray last December.

He must also fight an expensive civil suit filed by the family of Asian student Sarfraz Najeib, who was attacked in Leeds more than two years ago in an incident that resulted in the conviction for affray of Bowyer's teammate Jonathan Woodgate seven months ago.

Liverpool are still hopeful of signing Bowyer, and the player's hand might also be forced by the shortage of clubs willing to pay £9m for him.

Arsenal have considered making a bid for the former England Under-21 international, whose contract expires next June, but Liverpool are his greatest admirers.

Ferdinand is likely to tell Leeds shortly that he wants to leave, sparking a transfer battle between Arsenal and United, who are the hot favourites for his signature.

Ironically, the expected departure of Dacourt for at least £11m, together with Bowyer's move, would fulfil new Leeds manager Terry Venables's obligation to show an operating profit of £15m on summer transfers.

But Ferdinand's exit, no matter how hard Leeds fight to keep him, would at least provide Venables with a substantial transfer war chest to rebuild his side.

Liverpool yesterday completed the signing of Senegal striker El-Hadji Diouf on a five-year contract - and Houllier claims his summer spending spree may not be over.

Diouf trained with his new teammates for the first time and he was joined by fellow new boys Alou Diarra and Bruno Cheyrou.

Houllier has also bought Diouf's Senegal teammate Salif Diao - although the midfielder will initially remain on loan at his club Sedan - to take his spending to close to £28m.

And he said: 'I'm quite happy with the business we've done, but it's not finished yet. There will be more signings before the season starts.'