BERLIN, April 22 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich have withdrawn
the offer of a new contract to Philipp Lahm after failing to
reach agreement with the Germany defender, who said on Tuesday
he was eager to move abroad.
Lahm's existing deal runs out at the end of next season and
Bayern said in a statement that talks on an extension had not
been successful.
Bayern must now decide whether to sell him at the end of
this season or risk losing him on a free transfer in 2009.
Lahm, 24, who scored the first goal of the 2006 World Cup
and is a regular for Germany, has been linked with Barcelona in
local media reports.
'My plan is to leave Bayern before I'm past my peak,' Lahm
said in an interview with Stern magazine.
'I played for two years at Stuttgart and I'm in my third
year at Bayern, the biggest German club. The logical next step
is to go abroad.'
Asked if he could leave at the end of this season, Lahm
said: 'That's quite possible'.
Bayern, who won the German Cup on Saturday and have a
10-point lead in the Bundesliga with five matches to play, are
already working on plans for next season.
On Tuesday they agreed to sell forward Jan Schlaudraff to
Hanover 96 for an undisclosed fee.
The 24-year-old Schlaudraff broke into Germany's team last
season but since moving to Bayern before the start of this
campaign he has featured in only six league games.
