A new transfer system giving players the right to break contracts with a period of notice and compensate smaller clubs for the time they have spent on a player's development is likely to be in place by the start of next season.
European Commission officials and the game's world governing body FIFA met yesterday as part of continued negotiations on how the transfer system can be amended to comply with EC laws.
Following talks in Brussels, FIFA's general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen said that some issues still needed to be resolved but that the EC had agreed "in principal" to the proposals submitted by a joint FIFA/UEFA task force on how the system can be changed.
FIFA, is optimistic that the EC will approve its new transfer system in March and that it will come into effect in July.
The general secretary said the task force would meet again early next week to draft "counter-proposals" to a document issued by the Commission before returning to Brussels for another meeting next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, anti-terrorist police have been called in to investigate extortion threats sent to the World Cup-winning France and Bayern Munich defender Bixente Lizarazu by the Basque separatist group ETA.
A letter received on Monday by Lizarazu's parents at their home in Hendaye in the French Basque country carried the insignia of the outlawed pro-independence movement and accused the player of making money from an "oppressor nation with money stolen from the Basque people".
Armed police have been assigned to protect the left-back, who is currently injured and spending much of his time in France for treatment. Judicial sources said the anti-terrorist unit at the Paris public prosecutor's office was carrying out forensic tests on the letter, adding that the investigation would first attempt to establish whether it indeed came from ETA.
The letter, written in Basque, included the following threats: "You have been well paid to wear the shirt of an oppressor with money stolen from the Basque people and Basque region. We are upset and angry because you have defended the colours of an enemy state.
"Given these enemy payments, ETA is writing to you to ask for a financial contribution because it has major economic needs to continue its fight. A non-response on your behalf could lead to a response against you and your belongings."
The player has refused to comment on the incident, but Bayern said German police had been informed.
If genuine, the letter would be the first time that ETA has threatened a French citizen or French interests outside Spain. But a police spokesman said the threat was being taken "extremely seriously" following a series of arrests on French soil of suspected members of the militant separatist group.
