Hitzfeld warns Demichelis

BAYERN MUNICH coach Ottmar Hitzfeld has dealt a massive blow to ‚é¼4.5 million new-signing Martin Demichelis by telling the Argentine international that he is only fourth choice for one the two posts in central defence.

The 22-year-old is regarded as Argentina's best young defender, but appears tired after he failed to take a break this summer when he rushed to Germany only days after winning the Argentine league title with River Plate and had been forced to undergo a special training programme on his own instead of working with his team-mates.

"Competition is extremely tough and he is still young, but I am not going to experiment. I will stick to those tried and tested," declared Hitzfeld, who prefers to rotate Sammy Kuffour, Thomas Linke and Croatian international Robert Kovac for the central positions in his back-four.

"Linke and Kovac had an outstanding season last year and at the moment time isn't on his side," he said with regard to Demichelis, who missed all four Bundesliga games so far and featured only in Bayern's 5-0 German Cup win against the amateurs of Borussia Neunkirchen.