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Villarreal to offload Lopez

JORGE LOPEZ looks to be on his way out of Villarreal after being omitted from the squad to face Heerenveen in the first leg of InterToto Cup final.

The 24-year-old midfielder was left out of the travelling party after demanding an increase in his wages, something that the club deemed unacceptable.

Lopez, rumoured to be a target for Atletico Madrid, has been lambasted by Villarreal president Fernando Roig, who insists that no player will be considered for selection unless they are totally committed to the club.

"I doubt that Jorge Lopez will play another game for Villarreal," said Roig.

"The reason that he has not travelled to Holland is that he is not committed to the club and no player who is not committed to the club will be allowed to wear our colours.

"We believe that contracts have to be honoured. We cannot increase them because, although he was a very important player for us, the club is more important."

Roig has now reduced Lopez's release fee from ‚é¼15 million (£10 million) to just ‚é¼4 million (£2.6 million) in a bid to seal a rapid transfer for the player.

However, The Yellow Submarines' supremo could not help but have a further dig at the player and his agent for attempting to engineer the player a move from El Estadio Madrigal.

"It's not the style of this club to have leaks from within.

"It's a lack of respect and so we will be taking the relevant measures to ensure that things like this don't happen again."