Iaquinta rejects Udinese deal

Udinese star Vincenzo Iaquinta has turned down a new deal.

The Italian international was offered a contract extension by Udinese to keep him at the club for the foreseeable future.

Iaquinta has established himself as one of the best strikers in Europe and he increased his profile with a superb hat-trick in last week's UEFA Champions League win over Panathinaikos.

Udinese director general Pietro Leonardi confirmed Iaquinta had been frozen out of their plans because of his refusal to sign a new deal and he will miss Wednesday's clash with Juventus.

"With great personal regret I realised today that Iaquinta is the only one of our lads who doesn't see himself as part of the Udinese project aimed at achieving certain goals," Leonardi said in a statement on the club's official website.

"All of the other players in the squad proved their deep faith in the essence of Udinese by each renewing their contracts without exception. Iaquinta has today placed himself outside of the project.

"In the hope that he can take a more reasonable attitude, for the good of the squad we will in the meantime leave space to those who believe in the objectives of the group."

The news is sure to alert a number of clubs around Europe to Iaquinta's possible availability.