Short Soccer, December 29, 2012

Schalke 04 midfielder Lewis Holtby will leave the Bundesliga club at the end of the season after the Germany international turned down a contract extension, the club said yesterday. However sports director Horst Heldt said Holtby, who has an English father and who had been linked with a move to the English Premier League, would not leave during the winter transfer window when the club would receive a transfer fee. His current deal runs out in June. "We had wished that Lewis could see a future here beyond this season. But we respect his decision," he said in a club statement. "We are certain that he will give everything for the club's sporting success up until the last match day of the season." The 22-year-old, who has won three caps for Germany, joined Schalke in 2009 and has had loan spells at VfL Bochum and Mainz 05 since last year. Reuters

Nigeria captain Joseph Yobo has lashed out at Peter Odemwingie for being disrespectful after the West Bromwich Albion striker said the country did not have a team leader. Odemwingie said via Twitter that recent Eagles captains had only looked out only for themselves and so the team lack a leader, prompting Yobo to reply. Odemwingie was surprisingly dropped from the squad for next month's Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa "[Odemwingie] has been reckless, disrespectful to most people. He should grow up because we cannot continue to babysit him. He is responsible for his problems," Yobo said. "This is not the first time he has been disrespectful. He is fighting all the coaches and at the World Cup he also disrespected me and he later apologised. "He is not the [Lionel] Messi or [Cristiano] Ronaldo of Nigeria. He should look at himself in the mirror." AFP