Bayer play down Dudek link

Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek has been linked with a move to Bayer Leverkusen.

Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek has been linked with a move to Bayer Leverkusen.

However, Leverkusen's coach Michael Skibbe has denied that he is about to swoop for the Polish international.

Robert Enke of Hannover is also said to be in Skibbe's plans, but the coach insists that current shot-stopper Jorg Butt still has a future at the BayArena.

Butt's contract is set to run out in the summer and there is speculation that he was unhappy about being kept in the dark over the club's future plans, but Skibbe has sought to calm matters with contract talks due to start in the winter break.

"From what we know today, we are not interested in bringing in a new goalkeeper unless Jorg tells us that he wants to leave," Skibbe said.

Butt joined the club in 2001, and he himself confirmed that Turkish club Besiktas had been after his services. Nevertheless, he conceded that he would rather see out his career at the BayArena.