Ledesma vows to leave Lazio

Ledesma: Looking to move on

Related links

Teams

• Atletico Madrid
• Fiorentina

• More teams +

  • Inter Milan
  • Juventus
  • Lazio
  • Real Madrid
  • Villarreal

Players

• Cristian Ledesma

Also see

• Transfer Centre
• Clockwatch
• Paper Talk

Cristian Ledesma will not renew his Lazio contract 'under any circumstances', according to his agent.

Ledesma's representative Vincenzo D'Ippolito recently angered Lazio president Claudio Lotito when he made public the midfielder's plans to leave the club via Fifa's Article 17 with a small fee in 2009.

D'Ippolito now claims he was due to meet Lotito late last week but the official failed to attend.

"I spoke to Lotito after the publication of my comments. He is very angry, but I would like to point out we had an appointment the other day," Lotito told Datasport.

"I waited until 16.30, but Lotito did not turn up. I called and he said he is the only one who decides on the contracts of his players.

"I informed Ledesma of what was said and that is when he told me he would not renew his contract under any circumstances."

Ledesma is understood to be unhappy with the fact that Lazio are still without a director of sport following Walter Sabatini's move to Palermo.

Options

The Argentine now wants to leave the club and D'Ippolito insists there are a number of interested clubs outside of Italy.

He said: "We will not back down. We gave Lazio a chance, but Lotito has not understood the kind of man Ledesma is.

"He is a professional and wanted to take a step towards the president to help out the club. We would have been happy with a private arrangement because he didn't want to start training without a contract renewal, but that is not the way it went.

"The way Article 17 is structured, we cannot use it to join another Italian club, so Ledesma must therefore look overseas.

"It's a shame, as in Italy he was of interest to Inter, Juventus and Fiorentina. Abroad we have Real Madrid and I spoke to Predrag Mijatovic, who is very impressed by the player.

"Villarreal and Atletico Madrid are also tracking him, so we have many options to choose from."