Barrios to join China's Guangzhou Evergrande
Reuters - Friday 23 March 2012, 11:58
Brief news ahead of this
weekend's Bundesliga matches:
Borussia Dortmund forward Lucas Barrios will be moving to
Chinese team Guangzhou Evergrande at the end of the season, Bild
newspaper reported on Friday.
Paraguay international Barrios, who has lost his starting
spot to Dortmund top scorer Robert Lewandowski this season, had
wanted to leave the German champions in the winter transfer
period but a move to Fulham fell through.
The newspaper said Argentina-born Barrios, who last year
extended his contract with Dortmund after scoring 16 goals in
their run to the league title, had already agreed on a four-year
deal with the Chinese club.
Contacted by Reuters, the striker said his contract with
Dortmund ran until 2015 and he was focusing only on the
championship and the German Cup final against Bayern Munich.
"The rest is just speculation," said the player answering a
query on his Facebook account.
Borussia officials could not be reached for a comment.
Argentine Dario Conca, Brazil's player of the year in 2010,
also plays for Evergrande.
Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has yet to
fully recover from an ankle injury and is doubtful for their
league game against Hannover 96 on Saturday, the club
said.
Schweinsteiger, who has been out for months this season with
a broken collarbone and a ligament injury, has not played in
their last three games since returning from injury earlier this
month.
"It is highly unlikely [he will play]," Bayern sports
director Christian Nerlinger told reporters. "We have the
problem under control but it has not gone as quickly as we had
hoped."
Bayern, chasing a treble of domestic titles and the
Champions League, are in second place in the Bundesliga - five
points behind champions Borussia Dortmund.
Hoffenheim have parted ways with team manager Ernst Tanner
after a disappointing season so far during which the team has
dropped to 12th place, five points off the relegation zone.
Hoffenheim, who led the Bundesliga race at the halfway mark
in their first top-flight season in 2008, have not rediscovered
that form.
They sacked coach Holger Stanislawski in February after less
than a season in charge and replaced him with Markus Babbel, who
will now also take on Tanner's tasks.
Tanner, at Hoffenheim for three years, was blamed for a
string of departures including striker Vedad Ibisevic and
bringing in players who have yet to deliver.
"We decided that this separation was best for both sides as
we have different views on how to shape the sporting side of the
club," said Hoffenheim boss Dietmar Hopp.