Bundesliga - Olic staying put

Eurosport - Thu, 10 Jul 14:07:00 2008

Striker Ivica Olic insists he is not interested in a move away from Hamburg and has committed his future to the Bundesliga club.

FOOTBALL 2007-2008 Bundesliga Hamburg Olic - 0

The burly Croatia international, who featured for his country in their impressive run at Euro 2008, had been linked with a move to Liverpool.

But the 28-year-old has followed team-mate Rafael van der Vaart in ignoring overtures from abroad and pledging to stay with Hamburg.

"I cannot be bothered to move again," he told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper. "I am staying in Hamburg."

"My priority is not to transfer. My priority is Hamburg," he added in Bild newspaper.

"My family is happy here and I want to give everything for this club."

The news comes as a fillip for new boss Martin Jol, who has made the retention of key players a priority since taking over the reins at Hamburg earlier in the summer.

But another player linked with a move elsewhere, defender Timothee Atouba, has been less committal about his future at the Nordbank Arena.

The Cameroon international has been linked to Celtic and, while he says he will stay put for the time being, there is no guarantee for how long.

He said: "Celtic is a great team with a great history and I played there a few years ago for Basle and they have a great stadium, but I am concentrating on the start of the season with Hamburg.

"I have had a lot of offers, but the Celtic one is not concrete.

"If it became concrete and was good for both side - HSV and for me - then the time may come to leave."

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

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