Reto Ziegler to stay with Sampdoria
Sampdoria defender Reto Ziegler has no plans of leaving the Italian Serie A club in the near future. The 24-year-old insisted that he will remain with the Genoa-based club despite getting offers from top European clubs.
"Anything can happen, but I have never said I wanted to leave, and it's not said that I won't sign a new deal," said Ziegler in an interview with goal.com.
"I don't really want to speak about my contract now, but I do want to give my best for Sampdoria," added the Swiss international, whose contract will expire in June.
Juventus, Liverpool and Zenit St Petersburg were among the clubs that expressed interest in Ziegler.
Ziegler spent his youth career with Gland, Servette, US Terre Sainte and Grasshopper Club Zurich. He made his senior team debut with Grasshopper in 2002.
Ziegler played there until 2004 when he transferred to English Premier League club Tottenham. He enjoyed some success with the Spurs although he was loaned to Hamburg, Wigan Athletic and Sampdoria during his spell with the club.
Ziegler decided to stay with Sampdoria permanently after the Spurs signed young left-back Gareth Bale. He mostly played as a substitute in his first few years in Sampdoria before finally becoming a regular in the starting line-up last season.
This summer, Ziegler came close to signing with Russian club FC Zenit but the move did not materialise when head coach Luciano Spalletti opted to sign Aleksandar Lukovic to replace the injured Ivica Krizanac.
Ziegler, whose brother Ronald plays for Swiss side ES FC Malley, made his senior national team debut for Switzerland in 2006. He had a good start with the national side but eventually struggled as he was left out of the 2006 FIFA World Cup squad. Ziegler
was also not named to the 2010 World Cup team.
Tags: