[Oliver_Kahn]

Franck Ribery looks set to join Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich despite the club's failure to qualify for next season's Champions League.


The French international will leave Marseille for a fee of around £16 million (25 million euros), with the German club beating Real Madrid, Arsenal and Lyon in the race for his signature.

"We are not far from a total agreement. The financial agreement has been reached with Marseille, not much is missing," said Bayern president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Ribery had said that his future at Marseille would depend on the club reaching the Champions League. The south coast side achieved the goal, while Bayern missed out, finishing fourth in a disastrous campaign by their standards.

Nevertheless, a transfer seems certain and the winger told Eurosport that he would wait until after Wednesday's Euro 2008 qualifier against Lithuania before making a decision.

However, he said the absence of Champions League football "is not a problem. Bayern are a big club, so too Real Madrid."

Ribery is one of the hottest properties in European football and certainly the French Ligue 1's leading asset.

He came to global prominence at last summer's World Cup, where he was one of Les Bleus' top performers as they defied pre-tournament predictions to reach the final.

Bundesliga - Ribery set to join Bayern - Yahoo! eurosport UK