Manchester United have paid debt-laden Leeds United the final installment of their record 30 million pound purchase of Rio Ferdinand, but it was less than half what was due under the contract.

Leeds, with 80 million pounds of debt, have been given until Friday to solve their financial crisis and are desperate for cash.

Chief executive Trevor Birch needs five million pounds to see the club through to the end of the season. A consortium of local businessmen is also in talks over a possible 20-million-pound takeover of the club.

United are expected to announce manager Alex Ferguson has signed a new contract later on Wednesday.

In a statement to the stock exchange United, the Premier League champions, said they had agreed to pay Leeds, bottom of the Premier League, 1.5 million pounds as "full and final settlement" for the transfer of the England defender.

Manchester United said the payment covered the 3.25 million pounds it had owed Leeds, adding it would pay a levy of 75,000 pounds to the Premier League.

The July 2002 transfer of Ferdinand was the biggest in the country and the highest for a defender worldwide.

Club sources said they expected a statement on Ferguson's contract later. Ferguson's current contract runs until 2005. The 62-year-old has been at United since 1986 and has won eight league titles.

John Magnier and J.P. McManus, who hold a 25 percent stake in United through their offshore investment vehicle Cubic Expression, have threatened to force an extraordinary general meeting if they do not agree with the length of the contract.

Whether any rolling contract would start from the day Ferguson signed or from the end of his existing deal was seen as crucial to the Irish duo's position.