Franck Ribery has rebuffed Bayern Munich's first approach to
commence contract talks - and told them to wait until the end of
the season.
The Frenchman's contract expires in 2011, but Bayern are keen
to commit him to a new deal or else they may be forced to sell him
this summer.
Ribery had hinted that a decision would be made in March, and
Bayern Munich's progress to the quarter-final of the Champions
League by beating Fiorentina last week appeared to be one of the
determining factors.
But he has now made it clear to Bayern director of sport
Christian Nerlinger that he would rather wait and see how the rest
of the season pans out before holding talks.
"I spoke with him on Saturday and he said that he would
prefer to concentrate on the sporting aspects at the moment,"
revealed Nerlinger on Sky television.
"I have complete understanding for that and we can even wait
until the end of the season before talking."
When the talks do take place, Bayern honorary president Franz
Beckenbauer would like to see the club pull out all of the stops to
convince him to stay.
"Franck has huge importance for FC Bayern and I have told him
that Bayern is completely different since he has been here," he
told the Welt newspaper.
"And since Arjen Robben is also here, we have improved even
more.
"We need players like Robben and Ribery. We should definitely
lean a long way out of the window to keep hold of him."
Should Ribery not commit to a new deal, Bayern will probably
look to sell the 26-year-old this summer when they can still
command a substantial fee for the attacking midfielder rather than
risk losing him on a free transfer 12 months later.
