Júlio Baptista’s future at Málaga is in doubt unless he is prepared to take a substantial pay cut.
The Brazilian forward is now the best paid player at La Rosaleda following the departures of Joaquin, Martin Demichelis, Jeremy Toulalan, Santi Cazorla and Nacho Monreal.
Baptista has been linked with a move back to his native country with Internacional and the club may look to offload him due to their new austerity policy
Málaga’s new coach Bernd Schuster said this week that he is hopeful they can come to an agreement with the 31-year-old, as reported on Football Espana.
The German said: “I don’t know if we can arrive at a solution so that Júlio stays. If we are talking about him as a footballer then I prefer he remains here as I know what he’s capable of.
“If he stays free of injury and gets some luck then he would be an important cog in our team as he possesses a lot of quality and is a model professional.”
Baptista has been restricted to 29 league appearances since arriving from Roma in 2011 due to a string of serious injuries.
