Barcelona set to offer plump contract to Suarez
BARCELONA: European Golden Shoe winner Luis Suarez said negotiations to extend his contract with Barcelona until 2021 were running smoothly. The 29-year-old, who claimed the award for a second time after finishing top scorer across Europe last season, originally joined Barcelona on a fiveyear deal from Liverpool in 2014.
“Negotiations are moving along nicely in the right direction,” Suarez told a press conference in Uruguay, where he is preparing for a World Cup qualifier with Ecuador on Thursday.
Barcelona-based sports daily El Mundo Deportivo reported on Wednesday the Spanish champions had offered Suarez an improved deal until June 2021. “Luis Suarez, ready,” read its headline, while Marca also reported the imminent deal. “His salary rise will be substantial,” said Marca. “Right now he earns 16 million euros a season, his new deal will push that to 25 million euros a season,” it added.
WILSHERE NOT AFRAID OF QUITTING ARSENAL
LONDON: Midfielder Jack Wilshere would not hesitate to leave Arsenal when his loan spell at Bournemouth ends if he fails to break back into manager Arsene Wenger’s first team plans. “Of course I love Arsenal, but if there comes a time when I have to leave, then I have to leave,” he told British media. “If I go back and I’m still not playing then, of course, I will have to think about things. “At the moment I’m concentrating on Bournemouth. I want to put myself in a position where I go back next year and I’m a better player and I can play week in, week-out.”
BAYERN’S LAHM DROPS HINT OF RETIREMENT BERLIN: Bayern Munich skipper Philipp Lahm hinted that he may retire from football at the end of the season. Lahm stepped down from international football after leading Germany to the 2014 World Cup and has a Bayern contract until 2018, but admitted he might hang up his boots in June 2017. “I wouldn’t rule it out,” Lahm, who turns 33 on Friday, told magazine Sport Bild. “I said nine months ago that it could happen and nothing has changed since then. I want to be able to measure myself at the very highest level and to recognise when it is the right time to end my career.”
NEUER JOINS GERMANY’S CASUALTY LIST
BERLIN: Captain Manuel Neuer is the latest Germany star ruled out of Friday’s World Cup qualifier against minnows San Marino, the German FA (DFB) confirmed on Wednesday. The 30-year-old Bayern Munich goalkeeper withdrew because he felt unwell shortly before Germany’s flight to Rimini to face the microstate in northern Italy. He will also miss next Tuesday’s friendly against Italy in Milan in Germany’s last international of 2016.
GREECE SUSPENDS
ALL COMPETITIONS
ATHENS: Greece suspended all national league and cup competitions on Wednesday after an alleged arson attack at the home of Giorgos Bikas, the head of its refereeing committee, the Hellenic Football Federation said in a statement.Thedecisionwasannounced by the EPO’s temporary administrative board following a fire in the early hours of Wednesday in the Halkidiki area of northern Greece. Neither Bikas nor any of his family were at the property, which suffered major damage.