Agent: No offers for Defour

Sport.co.uk understands that Standard Liege have received no offers for star midfielder Steven Defour ahead of the January transfer window despite interest from Manchester United and Liverpool.

The player's agent Paul Stefani informed Sport.co.uk in an exclusive interview that the player and club had not received any formal offers but did admit that it was early in terms of January transfer activity.

Manchester United were confirmed as one of the seven clubs monitoring the player while Everton and Liverpool are also rumoured to have registered their interest in the player.

Defour, 22, won the Golden Shoe in 2008, the official award for the most valuable player in the Belgian league, however the leg break sustained in September 2009 kept the talented midfielder on the sidelines for much of the last campaign.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson even wrote to the player to commiserate over the leg break which ruled him out of much of last season's Champions League campaign promising to keep in touch with the youngsters progress.

The Belgian has recovered from his lengthy lay-off and has impressed with his domestic form Liege with United the favourites to land the midfielder in January, however his agent still believes he needs more games to get back to his very best.

Defour's agent Paul Stefani told Sport.co.uk last month: "He is playing really well and has reacted well since his return from injury. He is playing well but he needs three or four games to be better than 100 % and prove himself in his position.

"Yes, it is true he is being watched. He is being monitored by seven clubs at the moment from England, France, Spain and Italy."

Stefani was then asked if a January move was a bit too soon to think about leaving Standard Liege. He replied:

"We don't know. It depends on the club and whether or not there is a big move in the January window that could see other people move.

"I have received positive phone calls from clubs in the UK, who have said they can do things, so we will wait and see."

The player himself commented on the speculation last week. Defour said: "I know that Manchester United are closely monitoring my situation. There hasn't been any official contact yet though," he suggested.

"I've been sidelined for quite a while due to injury, but I'm playing at a high level again. The chance that I'll leave the club is rather big if I continue to play like I currently do.

"I've had the opportunity to leave Standard on more than once occasion in the past couple of seasons, but I loved the club too much to leave. However, I'm 22 years old now and I also have to think about myself.

"There comes a time when you just have to make the next step in your career, regardless of sentiments for any club."

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.