Manchester United are in danger of losing Park Ji-sung to one of a group of high-level European suitors as the former South Korea international nears the final season of his contract.
Italian clubs Juventus and Lazio and Germany's Bayern Munich have all noted United's failure to include Park, 30, in a round of contract extensions and stated their interest in offering him an alternative place of employment.
There is also likely to be significant interest from other Premier League clubs in a versatile attacker who has been part of five title-winning sides in England and the Netherlands and also offers significant commercial opportunity as the former captain of South Korea's national team. (He announced his retirement from international football after the Asian Cup.)
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ALSO
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• Unusual Meireles not out of place at Liverpool
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United have dispensed with their previous policy of renegotiating the majority of contracts in the close season by allowing Sir Alex Ferguson to improve or renew the deals of a series of senior first-team players.
The process began when Wayne Rooney questioned the club's ambition in the transfer market last October and threatened to leave Old Trafford. Inside a week, the striker had been tied to a five-year deal for £150,000 (Dh885,000) a week.
Since then, United have agreed new long-term deals with Anderson, Patrice Evra, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher, while extending Ryan Giggs's contract for another season. Rooney became the best paid at Old Trafford, while Evra is now the most generously remunerated defender.
Park, however, has yet to be approached about an extension to the three-season deal he agreed in 2009.
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'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey'
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