Schalke striker Raul turns down Blackburn

BERLIN (AP)—Schalke striker Raul Gonzalez has turned down a move to Premier League side Blackburn, the Bundesliga club’s general manager said Tuesday.

Schalke received an offer from Blackburn for the former Real Madrid striker on Monday, with Horst Heldt telling German daily Bild on Tuesday that the club would “meet with Raul and his agent today to talk about it.”

 
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AP - Aug 14, 1:37 pm EDT World Soccer Gallery Heldt later told Bild’s website: “The agent told me that Raul does not want to go to Blackburn. As it stands now he will remain at Schalke.”

Earlier, the Schalke general manager said there would be a “prompt decision in the matter.”

“We don’t actually want to let him go but if he tells us he wants to go, we will deal with it and enter negotiations,” the 41-year-old said.

The 34-year-old Raul, whose contract with Schalke runs until 2012, scored 22 goals in 55 games for the club following his arrival from Real Madrid last summer.

Raul is the all time Champions League top scorer with 71 goals. He played in all of Schalke’s 12 games in the competition last season, his five goals helping his side to an unlikely semifinal where it lost to Manchester United.

Raul started each of Schalke’s 34 games in the league last season, scoring 13 goals and setting up four. He scored again last weekend, with a delightful chip over the goalkeeper in Schalke’s 5-1 rout of Cologne.

He won the German Cup with Schalke, but failed to score in the 5-0 win over Duisburg in the final.

Blackburn was bought by Indian poultry giant Venky’s last year. Since the takeover, the midtable Premier League club has attempted to sign former England captain David Beckham and ex-Brazil midfielder Ronaldinho.