TOKYO Italian Serie A team Perugia are set to offer Japanese international Hidetoshi Nakata, a star at France '98, a five-year contract worth almost $300,000 a year. The club's president Alessandro Gaucci said in a television interview with Tokyo broadcasting system broadcast on Wednesday that he had reached a gentleman's agreement with Nakata after two months of negotiations with his J-League club Bellmare Hiratsuka. However, a Bellmare spokesman told Reuter the club had not yet received a formal offer and nothing had been signed.

Nakata is under contract to Bellmare until January and any deal would have to include compensation for the J-League team. Perugia's Gaucci said he was preparing to travel to Japan next week with another official to sign a contract with the 21-year-old midfielder who made a good impression in France. He showed us in the World Cup that he has the necessary skills to be a great player and I think for him the most important thing is the environment in which he plays, said Giovanni Toronvetta, Perugia's director general.

If Nakata signs for Perugia he would become the second Japanese player to appear in Serie A after Verdy Kawasaki striker Kazuyoshi Miura, who played for Genoa in 1994/95. Perugia won promotion to Serie A via the playoffs at the end of last season and start pre-season training on July 21. However, they may face stiff competition from other European clubs for Nakata's signature with Spain's Espanyol and England's Aston Villa also said to be interested.

The midfielder has made it clear in the past that he would prefer to play in Italy or Spain rather than England's Premier League, where the game is more physically demanding. Nakata, the Asian Player of the Year in 1997, was the only Asian player selected in a list of 61 players in contention for a place in FIFA's World Cup all-star team.

(Reuter)