Bayern threaten to report Madrid

Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness has threatened to report Real Madrid to FIFA if the Spanish club continue in their bid to sign Franck Ribery.

Madrid are keen to make the 26-year-old their fourth galactico signing of the summer following the arrivals of Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.

The Primera Division giants have been relentless in their pursuit of Ribery despite Bayern's repeated insistence the France midfielder is not for sale and Hoeness is coming to the end of his tether.

"Madrid have lost respect," he told Spanish sports daily AS. "If this continues we will report them to FIFA.

"People such as (Emilio) Butragueno or (Zinedine) Zidane are speaking out and they should not be doing so because they are talking about a player who has a contract with us.

"The only legitimate people to talk are Florentino Perez and Jorge Valdano.

"We will report the Madrid club to FIFA if they continue like this.

"We haven't done so yet because of respect for Butragueno and Jose Luis Lopez Serrano."

Hoeness also revealed today that a deadline imposed on the possible sale of Ribery has now expired.

The Bayern chief claims that Madrid, as well as other clubs who had signalled their interest in the Frenchman, had been informed of the deadline, which expired before the start of the Bundesliga club's pre-season training camp in Donaueschingen today.

"It has been clearly formulated that Franck is staying with us," Hoeness told a press conference today. "There was a 14-day deadline set for the Ribery issue [to be resolved] and this expired yesterday.

"All of the clubs knew about that."

Hoeness also took a swipe at Ribery's agent, who has been trying to force a move for his client.

"He should finally have understood that you cannot get around Bayern Munich like you can with other clubs," he added.

Ribery is currently unable to train fully because of a knee injury which forced him to break off training for the second time on Monday, but should slowly return to action during their two-week stay in Donaueschingen.

However, he is unlikely to be fit for this weekend's mini tournament with Schalke, Hamburg and Stuttgart in Gelsenkirchen.