Ruud van Nistelrooy is close to renewing his contract with Real Madrid according to the 31-year-old Dutch striker's agent.

"Madrid know what Ruud wants and we know what Real want," Roger Linse was quoted as saying in sports daily Marca.

"I hope it will be for many years because Van Nistelrooy is at the peak of his powers and he wants to end his career with Madrid."

Van Nistelrooy's present deal with the Spanish champions runs to June 2009.

New Red Star boss wants progress

Businessman Toplica Spasojevic was named president of Red Star Belgrade yesterday and immediately vowed to make the Serbian champions a European force.

"We don't want to just squeeze into the Champions League and be a punching bag for one or two seasons, we want to become regular contenders in Europe's premier club competition," Spasojevic, chairman of Belgrade's ITM trade group, told reporters.

"It will take two or three years and a 40 per cent bigger budget to get there," added the 51-year-old, who is succeeding Dragan Stojkovic who quit last month after a string of poor results.

Advocaat prolongs Russia stay

Dutch coach Dick Advocaat has agreed to extend his contract with Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg for another year. Advocaat, 60, had agreed to coach Australia's national team but changed his mind and decided to stay in St Petersburg after leading Zenit to their first league title in 23 years earlier this month.

Zenit, backed by the seemingly limitless resources of energy giant Gazprom, have been by far the biggest spenders in Russian soccer.

Advocaat would become the highest paid coach in Russia, earning a reported salary of over $4 million a year.

Villarreal start Riquelme talks

Villarreal have said they are in talks with Boca Juniors over the transfer of Argentine playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme.

"We are in negotiations with Boca and the situation will be resolved with the goodwill of all parties involved," sports daily AS quoted director Jose Manuel Llaneza as saying.

Riquelme has not played for the Primera Liga side since falling out with the club last season but despite his lack of match practice he has produced some outstanding performances for the Argentine national side.

Derby in dire need of new players

Derby County manager Billy Davies has said the struggling Premier League club need to make some key signings in the January transfer window.

"We know the second transfer window will be crucial and I've been saying that for months," he told reporters.

"We need six players not only for the Premier League but also for the potential of us going down and needing to bounce straight back up."

Kiev 'revolution' inevitable

Dynamo Kiev's acting coach, exasperated at their poor performance in the Ukrainian championship and Champions League, said half his line-up was ineffective and would have to be dismissed in a "revolution".

"Let me say this openly. I have what you might call a 'black list' of players who, in my opinion, do not meet Dynamo's requirements," Oleg Luzhny said.

"This is practically half the current squad. The club's management is well aware of this. A revolution in the club's make-up is therefore inevitable."

Dynamo lie third in the national championship and have lost all four of their Champions League group matches so far.

Wigan put Bruce move on hold

Wigan Athletic were forced to put the arrival of Steve Bruce as manager on hold yesterday due to an unresolved issue between him and current employers Birmingham City.

Wigan chief executive Brenda Spencer told a news conference at the JJB Stadium that the Premier League club had been unable to sign a contract as planned with the former Manchester United defender.

"We thought we'd be announcing the new manager this afternoon," she said. "It was going to be Steve Bruce.

"Unfortunately something's come up and it's an issue between Birmingham and Steve. Until that is resolved, we can't announce him as our manager."

Croatia soccer chief arrested

British police briefly arrested Croatia's soccer chief Zorislav Srebric on suspicion of shoplifting at a London airport, but the Croatian FA said the incident was a misunderstanding.

"We released without charge a 67-year-old man who was arrested at Gatwick yesterday on suspicion of shoplifting. No further action will be taken," a Sussex Police spokesman said.

Srebric had gone to buy a newspaper while waiting for the team ahead of yesterday's Euro 2008 qualifier. When he saw the team arrive he went to assist them before paying, the Croatian FA said in a statement.

Lucrative deal for Ibrahimovic

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is lining up a world record contract that would dwarf anything Ballon d'Or hopeful Kaka will get from Milan.

The Brazilian is expected to receive the European Player of the Year award on December 2 before signing a contract renewal worth around £6.5m per year until 2012. Kaka is currently top of Serie A's wage table with £4m.

However, it seems that Ibrahimovic is set to go one better and become the most highly paid player in history with an £8m agreement - over double his current salary at Inter.