Meira 'to try something new'

Portuguese international Fernando Meira is to leave UEFA Intertoto Cup participants VfB Stuttgart the German club have confirmed.

Pastures new
The 2006/07 Bundesliga champions announced the news on Sunday, but where the 30-year-old defender will be playing his football this season is as yet unknown. Meira left Stuttgart's training camp on Sunday afternoon. "We have initially released Fernando Meira from training," Stuttgart's sporting director Horst Heldt told the club's website. "Back then [last summer] I told him that we would be open to discuss the matter this summer if he should be made an offer from another club. That has happened now and Fernando has decided to try something new. For us, his decision to leave VfB is not easy to take." Meira played in all three of Portugal's group matches at UEFA EURO 2008™ and scored eleven goals in 173 league appearances for Stuttgart after arriving from SL Benfica during the 2001/02 season.