WITH the transfer deadline approaching tomorrow night Leeds United are walking a tightrope brought about by their financial problems.

They are desperate to unload Eirik Bakke in order to be free of his reported £22,000 a week wages and only then would manager Kevin Blackwell be able to make any permanent signings.

Bakke is currently in Norway training with his former club Sogndal and is believed to favour a move back to his homeland, with Brann, the Norwegian League leaders, favourites for his signature. Such a move might be helped by the fact that Leeds have given up hope of getting a fee for him.

But even if he fails to find a club, he has been told he will not be picked to play for Leeds again because the club don't want to pay out his appearance fees, believed to be £5,000 per game.

The alternative then would be to loan him out but the odds would be against that because, under the rules, he would not be able to go to a Premiership or an overseas club, leaving just a Championship side as his option.

Even so, he would not be able to go anywhere for seven days after the deadline and then only for between 28 and 90 days, and that window closes in mid-November.

The same rules apply to players coming in, which means that if Leeds don't sign a back-up 'keeper for Neil Sullivan by tomorrow night, they will be gambling on being able to find a suitable loan replacement at short notice.

Leeds fans are clamouring for the manager to strengthen his squad in order to put up a realistic promotion challenge but the Bakke situation only goes to underline just how short of cash the club is after losing the £17million parachute payment from the Premiership.

Leeds chief executive Shaun Harvey told Bakke he would never play for the club again because they simply can no longer afford to keep the 28-year-old because of his Premiership salary.

Harvey said: "It's in the club's best interests for Eirik to move on.

"Eirik is back in Norway trying, along with his advisers, to find another club before the transfer window shuts.

"He is in the final year of a contract, which in any shape or form, would not be renewed at the end of the season. While the level of his salary is in no way his fault, it is preventing the club from moving forward as quickly as we would like."

Bakke was signed under former chairman Peter Ridsdale, and Harvey added: "Apart from Gary Kelly, Eirik is the last of the players from the Ridsdale era when players were remunerated very, very well.

"But time has moved on. We no longer have the parachute payment, we are no longer a Premiership club and we have to face reality."

Midfielders Shaun Derry and Steve Stone travelled to Germany yesterday for specialist medical examinations. Both are having hernia problems checked out.

York-born Matthew Kilgallon was named in the Coca-Cola Championship team of the week after a superb display in United's 1-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday.