Bayern Munich have withdrawn the offer of a new contract to Philipp Lahm after failing to reach agreement with the 24-year-old Germany defender.
Lahm’s current deal runs out at the end of next season and Bayern confirmed that talks on a contract extension had broken down.
Bayern will now have to decide whether to sell him at the end of the season or risk losing him to a free transfer in 2009.
Lahm has been linked with a move to Barcelona and the player confirmed that he saw his future abroad.
“My plan is to leave Bayern before I’m past my peak,” Lahm said in an interview with Stern magazine.
“I’ve 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 the club at the end of the current season, Lahm was quoted as saying: “That’s quite possible.”
