Puyol warns Barca over new deal

The 24-year-old ace insists he does not want to leave Camp Nou, but that he may have no other choice if the club do not improve their original offer of a new deal, which he flatly rejected.

The uncompromising defender still has two years to run on his present contract at Barca and the club are keen to tie him down to a longer deal until 2006.

Their first offer was rejected by Puyol and the player's comments about possibly leaving have alerted a number of top clubs across Europe.

Real Madrid, Manchester United, Milan and Internazionale have all been linked with the right-sided full back and his performances at the World Cup will have raised his profile even more.

The Spanish international is thought to have a release clause of £15 million in his contract and that would not put off any of the sides interested in Puyol.

Puyol is hoping that a deal can be reached so that he can stay at Barca, but has warned that he will leave if he does think their offer is suitable.

"My aim is to stay here for a long time," said Puyol.. "I have two more years on my contract and it was the club who called me to renew it.

"But you never know how things are, the world of football is such that you can never assume anything.

"I didn't agree with what Barcelona offered me before the World Cup and we didn't reach an agreement on anything. All I can say is that I didn't agree with their last offer."

"I want to see how the club values me. It would be very hard to leave Barcelona, but if an offer came in, I would study it and then decide."