Salas set to stay with Lazio

S.S. Lazio coach Dino Zoff appears to have ended Valencia CF's hopes of swapping midfielder Kily Gonzalez for Marcelo Salas after he told the Chilean international that he wants him to stay in Rome.

Player exchange deal
The Spanish side, UEFA Champions League runners-up for the past two seasons, had hoped to conclude a player exchange deal with the Serie A club that would have moved Argentinian international midfielder Kily Gonzalez to Italy and Salas to Valencia.

Agreement reached
Valencia recently said that they had reached an agreement with the Lazio striker, but made it clear that the deal hinged on the player settling his differences with his present club.

Kiko future in doubt
The collapse of the deal appears to have implications for the future of former Club Atlético de Madrid forward Kiko Narváez. He was set to sign for the Italian side on a free transfer but Zoff insisted the deal is far from done. "I don't know if Kiko will now come to Lazio because at the moment we have too many forwards," he said.

European dates
Lazio will secure a place in the UEFA Champions League first group stage if they beat the winners of the FC Torpedo Kutaisi v FC København tie. Valencia head the list of entries to this season's UEFA Cup.