Gattuso shrugs off links with United

ITALY midfielder Gennaro Gattuso has brushed aside reports of a possible move to Manchester United.

The AC Milan star has been linked with the Premiership giants as his current club faces accusations of wrongdoing in the match-fixing scandal which has tarnished Serie A.

Prosecutors have called for Milan, Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio to be relegated.

“I am certain that I will remain at AC Milan and that I will play in Serie A next season,” said Gattuso yesterday.

“If this doesn’t happen, then I will talk to the club and hope to remain and finish my career at Milan.”

Italy coach Marcello Lippi was also linked with a move to Manchester United in the British press, but

Gattuso, who will play in tomorrow’s World Cup final against France, said: “The press can write whatever they want. At this point, I cannot think of another club wanting me or anything else but Sunday’s final.

“This game is bigger than myself, I have never expected to be able to play a World Cup final, so all my energy is directed at this.”

Lippi has yet to confirm whether he will remain in charge of the Azzurri after the end of the tournament.

“I hope that Lippi stays with us,” Gattuso said.

“Beside the enormous respect and friendship that I have with him, he is able to get the best out of his players and that’s very important for our national team.”

Meanwhile, David Beckham’s representative in Spain expects the former England captain to sign a new deal with Real Madrid “sooner rather than later”.

Simon Oliveira rejected reports that Beckham and his wife Victoria had held a meeting with Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd at Claridges Hotel in London to discuss a possible move back to the Premiership.

Instead, he claimed negotiations over a contract extension in Madrid were going well and the 31-year-old, who has a year left on his current deal at the Bernabeu, is looking forward to extending his stay under new coach Fabio Capello.

“We are in negotiations to renew his contract,” said Oliveira.

“All parties have shown a desire to tie up a new deal and it will come sooner rather than later.”

Beckham has welcomed the appointment of Capello, who joined the club from Juventus on Thursday.

“David is looking forward to a new season with Madrid and meeting and working under coach Fabio Capello,” added Oliveira.

Capello has said he wants Beckham, who resigned the England captaincy following the team‘s failure to progress beyond the World Cup quarter-finals, to remain at the club.

“Beckham is an important player and I will talk to him,” said Capello.

A national newspaper today printed separate pictures of Shepherd and Victoria Beckham leaving Claridges.

But Oliveira explained: “David and Victoria didn’t meet with Freddy Shepherd and they haven’t discussed a move to Newcastle. David dropped Victoria at Claridges to have a meeting with her publishers regarding her new book. It just so happened that Shepherd was also there.

A statement on the Newcastle website, nufc.co.uk, read: “Newcastle never comment on transfer speculation. The club has always enjoyed a close relationship with Real Madrid and would never do anything to spoil that relationship.”