FOOTBALL SHORTS

NEYMAR signed a new five-year contract at Barcelona yesterday with a buy-out clause that will eventually rise to £225million. The 24-year-old striker’s original deal had a buy-out clause set at £171m. In the new contract it rises to £180m in the first year, £200m in the second and £225m for the last three years. The new deal will take his salary from £8.2m net to about £15.9m net per season, rising to a potential £22.5m with bonuses.

ENGLISH clubs have been accused of effectively ‘kidnapping’ young players from overseas by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the chairman of Bayern Munich. Bayern are due to open a new youth academy next summer but will only take German players aged 14 and above and not pre-teens from other countries. Rummenigge said: ‘We don’t want to bring some 10 or 11-year-old to Munich like the English do. You could almost speak of kidnapping them.’

LEICESTER’S Austrian defender Christian Fuchs, 30, has signed a new three-year contract.

KENNY JACKETT has become Rotherham’s fifth manager in the last 14 months. The 54-year-old takes over with a three-year contract following the sacking of Alan Stubbs on Wednesday. The struggling Championship side are six points adrift of safety and have lost their last six games.

CHRISTIAN BENTEKE will continue to take penalties for Crystal Palace despite his miss in the 1-0 defeat by West Ham last Saturday when his spot kick went high and wide. Manager Alan Pardew said: ‘The most important thing is the next penalty, not the one that’s gone. I have great faith in him.’