Riquelme returning to Boca

Juan Román Riquelme will return to Boca Juniors next week, the club’s president Danuel Angelici confirmed today. The 34-year-old midfielder will once again join the team on Monday after a six month hiatus.

After Boca lost the final of the Libertadores Cup on June, Riquelme, a talented player with a strong aversion to publicity, assured he was quitting the team, although he did not state the reasons.

Last month Carlos Bianchi returned as coach after two previous and highly successful stints, and it seemed that Riquelme was on board to rejoin the team. Nonetheless the Plot thickened in January as Riquelme insisted that he was not returning to the team, and vowed to keep his word.

The saga took another turn on Friday, when Angelici confirmed Riquelme will return to training sessions at 7.30 on Monday morning. “He has a valid contract. He won’t receive February’s wages and some of this contract’s clauses are confidential,” Angelici told reporters.

Brazilian club Palmeiras and Tigre reportedly had talks with Riquelme during his 6 month hiatus, but negotiations failed in each case.