Bayern reject Benitez reports, want talks with Hitzfeld

 General manager Uli Hoeness has told local Bavarian television there has been no contact with Benitez, and that Bayern wanted to talk to coach Ottmar Hitzfeld on a contract extension.

 "I have promised Ottmar that we will be talking first to him in the winter break. If the talks with him are successful we don't need to talk to any other person," Hoeness said late Monday.

 Relations between Hitzfeld and the Bayern board have been tense after chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge vented his anger in public over the coach's recent player rotation policy.

 At the weekend reports, surfaced in the British media that Bayern had made "discreet inquiries" about Benitez, leading Liverpool's Spanish coach to say he intended to stay at Anfield.

 "I heard about the rumours at the weekend, and it is always flattering to be linked with other big clubs - because it must mean you are doing something right," he told Liverpool's official website.

 However Hoeness said: "We have made neither inquiries at Liverpool nor with Benitez. As long as the talks with Ottmar haven't taken place you can put all the rumours aside."

   Hitfeld, 58, who has won five Bundesliga and two Champions League titles with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, has a contract with Bayern until the end of the season.

 He turned down a chance to coach the German national side ahead of the 2006 World Cup but reports say he might be interested in taking charge of Switzerland after next summer's European Championships.

 Hoeness said that despite the recent differences over player selection, there was full agreement between the board and Hitzfeld.

 "But we have learned to voice our annoyance internally because when something happens at Bayern it is like a minor earthquake and more important than if Mr Putin resigns in Moscow," he said.

 In talks with Hitzfeld it had been made clear the coach should inform the board first about his team plans. There will be no more "one-man shows," he said.

 Meanwhile Hoeness said he believed German international defender Philipp Lahm would want to hold talks with Bayern over a contract extension.

 It follows a report in the Spanish sports daily Marca Monday that Lahm has agreed to join Barcelona on a four-year contract in July 2009 when his contract at Bayern finishes.

 "When the contract of a player like Lahm expires in 2009 it is clear there are going to be many inquiries, but I assume that Philipp will be speaking to us first. I really can't imagine that he is negotiating with Barcelona behind our backs," he said.

 French central defender Valerien Ismael will, however, be allowed to leave Bayern during the Bundesliga winter break.

 Valerien, 32, joined Bayern from Werder Bremen in 2005 but has been badly hampered by injuries and has played just one league match since the start of the 2006/2007 season.

 Bayern have lined up a replacement in 18-year-old Brazilian Vinicius Rodrigues Borges, known as Breno, whom they want to sign from Sao Paolo for a reported 14 million euros (20 million dollars).

 "We are interested in him. If he comes it will be in the winter break," Hoeness said.

DPA