Bundesliga - Franck Ribery looks set to join Bundesliga
giants Bayern Munich despite the club's failure to qualify for next
season's Champions League. The French international will leave
Marseille for a fee of around £16 million (25 million euros), with
the German club beating Real Madrid, Arsenal and Lyon in the race
for his signature.
"We are not far from a total agreement. The financial agreement has
been reached with Marseille, not much is missing," said Bayern
president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Ribery had said that his future at
Marseille would depend on the club reaching the Champions League.
The south coast side achieved the goal, while Bayern missed out,
finishing fourth in a disastrous campaign by their standards.
Nevertheless, a transfer seems certain and the winger told sport
that he would wait until after Wednesday's Euro 2008 qualifier
against Lithuania before making a decision. However, he said the
absence of Champions League football "is not a problem. Bayern are
a big club, so too Real Madrid."
Ribery is one of the hottest properties in European football and
certainly the French Ligue 1's leading asset. He came to global
prominence at last summer's World Cup, where he was one of Les
Bleus' top performers as they defied pre-tournament predictions to
reach the final.
