Rio de Janeiro, Dec 15 (IANS) Brazilian football giants Botafogo and Clarence Seedorf are in talks to extend the Dutch midfielder’s contract until the end of next year’s Copa Libertadores.
Seedorf’s two-year contract expires June 30 next year, but Botafogo want to secure the 37-year-old until the final of South America’s premier club competition Aug 13, should they progress beyond the group phase, reports Xinhua.
“The club’s planning for 2014 includes keeping Seedorf until the end of the Libertadores,” Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported.
Botafogo must defeat Ecuador’s Deportivo Quito in the pre-Libertadores to qualify for the competition’s group phase for the first time since 1996.
Victory over two legs Jan 29 and Feb 5 would see them play in the same group as Ecuador’s Independiente del Valle, Chile’s Union Espanola and a yet to be determined Argentine team.
Seedorf joined Botafogo in July 2012 after a decorated 10-year spell at AC Milan.
He led the club to this year’s Rio state championship and fourth place in the national league, known as the Campeonato Brasileiro.