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Source: Reuters UK
BERLIN, April 22 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich have withdrawn the offer of a new contract to Philipp Lahm after failing to reach agreement with the 24-year-old Germany defender, who said separately on Tuesday he was eager to move abroad.
Lahm's current deal runs out at the end of next season and Bayern announced in a statement on Tuesday that talks on a contract extension had not been successful.
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, who scored the first goal of the Fifa 2006 World Cup and is a regular starter for Germany, has been linked with Spanish giants FC 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've played for two years at VfB 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." (Writing by Kevin Fylan, editing by Alan Baldwin)

BERLIN, April 22 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich have withdrawn the offer of a new contract to Philipp Lahm after failing to reach agreement with the 24-year-old Germany defender, who said separately on Tuesday he was eager to move abroad.
Lahm's current deal runs out at the end of next season and Bayern announced in a statement on Tuesday that talks on a contract extension had not been successful.
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, who scored the first goal of the Fifa 2006 World Cup and is a regular starter for Germany, has been linked with Spanish giants FC 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've played for two years at VfB 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." (Writing by Kevin Fylan, editing by Alan Baldwin)