Ribery attempts to end transfer speculation

Ribery has been linked with a move to Real Madrid (GETTY IMAGES)

Bayern Munich's French ace Franck Ribery has moved to try and put an end to speculation about his future by insisting that he has never asked to leave his current club.

The 26-year-old has been a target for the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Chelsea for much of the summer, but Ribery says that he is content to stay at the Allianz Arena.

He told Telefoot: "I never said I wanted to go to Real Madrid.

"If I had wanted to leave, I would have made an announcement. What bothers me is that I have never spoken about it.

"I cannot stop clubs making offers. It was not just Real Madrid, there was also Barcelona, Manchester United and Chelsea.

"What I can tell them is that today I am still at Bayern. The door was well and truly closed. My bosses really want me to stay."

Roma are reported to be closing in on a deal to take Italy striker Luca Toni back to his homeland from Bayern Munich.

The 32-year-old has scored more than 50 goals in two seasons with the German giants, but is out of favour under new head coach Louis van Gaal.

Toni’s representative, Jose Alberti, told Romagiallorossa.com: “It's a situation that is 80 per cent likely be concluded successfully.

“At the moment there is no negotiation but only an interest on Roma's part. Both the club and the player have been informed and Roma are awaiting a response.

“He wants to regain the faith of those who didn't believe in him in Germany. With that I'm not saying he's been treated badly, but many have not believed in his quality.

“I'm only thinking about the player's interests. I can confirm only that there have been contacts.”

Wolfsburg are highly unlikely to allow Italy defender Cristian Zaccardo to leave the club, despite rumoured interest from Juventus.

The 27-year-old helped the Wolves to the Bundesliga title last season and the club’s transfer consultant Vlado Borozan believes that a deal is not in the offing.

He told the Italian media: “Cristian Zaccardo is categorically not on the transfer market.

“If there was some truth to the stories, the only person who could shed light on such matters is the player’s agent.

“I would think such a move is very unlikely, because, to my knowledge, Wolfsburg have no intention of letting the player leave Germany.”