Dede close to new Dortmund deal
Financially struggling Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund are close to agreeing a new deal with influential midfielder Dede, which would tie down the crowd-favourite to the Westfalenstadion until 2008.
The Brazilian ace has been linked with moves to Bayern Munich and Barcelona, but Dede revealed he expects to pen a new deal at Dortmund soon.
"I have two concrete offers at the moment and one is from the Bundesliga, but talks [with Dortmund] are looking well, I believe we'll reach an agreement soon," said Dede.
Dortmund must sell a couple of players over the summer to ease their financial problems and it was believed that Dede would be one of them, but coach Matthias Sammer has now made it clear that players such as Dede and German international Torsten Frings are going to be the nucleus of a younger, less-expensive side for 2004-05.
"We could sell an older player or one from the young guard, but no one from the middle-aged players," stressed Sammer.
Sammer is hopeful of preventing a mass exodus from the Westfalenstadion, if the team are able to end a disappointing season by qualifying for the Uefa Cup for next term.
Following last weekend's 4-1 trashing of Bochum, Sammer's team rose to sixth and are now only one point behind a top-five finish, which would give them access to Europe.
