Aragones plays down talk of move to Fenerbahce

Published on Thursday 26 June 2008 10:38

CONFUSION surrounded the position of Spain coach Luis Aragones last night as Turkish club Fenerbahce claimed they had agreed a two-year contract with him.

Fenerbahce said in a statement on their official website that Aragones would sign a final contract after Euro 2008 and that the 69-year-old would be bringing with him a four-member coaching team.

Aragones later responded to the news by saying he was bewildered by the announcement and refuted suggestions that it would affect his team's preparations for tonight's semi-final clash against Russia.

"It's just another story. I have not signed anything with anybody," he told a news conference in Vienna.

"I don't think it will affect the players," he said. "It is just another piece of news. Sometimes the news is true and sometimes it isn't."

It had been known for some time that Aragones would be leaving as national team coach and he has dismissed suggestions that he might stay on if Spain won Euro 2008. "He's free at the end of the tournament and has every right to decide his future as he wishes," Spanish Football Federation spokesman Jorge Carretero told Reuters. "There is no problem from the point of view of the Federation."

Aragones saw his side become the first Spanish team to make the semi-finals of a major tournament in 24 years after they clinched a penalty shoot-out victory over world champions Italy on Sunday.

The triumph came after a run of nine consecutive wins, while they are unbeaten in 20.

"Our club has made a two-year preliminary contract with Luis Aragones, who is currently the technical director of the Spain national team, to be our soccer coach in the new season," Fenerbahce's statement said.

Aragones said last week he was unaware of any agreement to coach Fenerbahce but added that his agent was trying to secure him a job as a club coach.

The move by the Istanbul club comes after it failed to reach a new contract deal with former Brazilian international Zico.