The 33-year-old was expected to join German side Schalke on a two-year deal but Raul denied a deal had been done.

“I have had very deep discussions with Schalke but there are other teams that are also interested. My future lies in Germany or England,” he said.

Raul scored 323 goals in 741 games for Real, and 44 goals in 102 Spain games.

That scoring record helped him become a legend at the Bernabeu club, which he joined in 1992 – making his first-team debut against Real Zaragoza in October 1994 at the age of 17.

If he opts against a move to the Bundesliga with Schalke, Tottenham and Newcastle have been mooted as possible options for the veteran forward, while Liverpool and Manchester United have also been mentioned as potential destinations for the Madrid idol.

“In a few days I will know whether I’ll be going to the Bundesliga [or to England],” he told a press conference, also attended by president Florentino Perez and director general Jorge Valdano.

Raul helped Real seal three Champions League triumphs and six Spanish league titles in his time at Real and he revealed: “This is a very tough and difficult day.

“Football has been my life and Real Madrid my home. Together we have lived unique moments.

“I feel like a footballer still and I will keep on playing but I will always be loyal to Real Madrid. I have tried to give everything in my time here.

“A new period starts today. I have been happy at Real Madrid and I will always be willing to help the club in whatever it needs.”

Real president Florentino Perez also paid tribute to the departing idol and stated: “We will never forget Raul.

“There are many men who form part of the legend of Real Madrid but few that are chosen to embody the club – Raul is one of those.”

Midfielder Guti, 33, who spent a total of 25 years with Real having come through their youth system, announced he was joining Turkish club Beskitas on Sunday.

The 26-year-old has been linked with a move away from Anfield, but Dalglish said he felt the arrival of new boss Roy Hodgson could persuade him to stay.

Captain Steven Gerrard has since said he expects to stay at the club, while Joe Cole has signed from Chelsea.

“When Torres sees that and talks with Roy I’m sure he’ll give us good news,” Dalglish told 5 live’s Sportsweek.

Hodgson told the News of the World on Sunday that he believed he had done all he could to keep Torres at Liverpool.

“Unfortunately, I cannot do much more. His beef is with the club and not me,” the paper quoted Hodgson as saying.

Torres has been struggling with injury of late and is currently out with an adductor problem although the club are hopeful he will be fit for the Premier League opening fixture against Arsenal on 15 August.

Chelsea are rumoured to be among the clubs interested in the Spanish World Cup winner, but Dalglish added: “I hope Torres stays. Only Fernando knows what is going to do. Unfortunately for him he is injured but he is a fantastic player and is very happy around the club and the city.

“The fact that Stevie is staying will be a great help and players like Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic, Jonjo Shelvey and Danny Wilson means there is buying for present and the future.”

Meanwhile, Dalglish said he was unsure about whether he will return to football management.

The 59-year-old has been out of management since ending a short spell with Celtic in 2000.

He was keen on the Liverpool post after Rafael Benitez’s exit, but stepped aside when it became clear he was not in the club hierarchy’s thoughts.

“Whether I would be a manager somewhere else remains to be seen. I don’t know,” he said.

“Sometimes you miss the buzz of competing at the top level but you don’t miss it when you lose a game because it can be very lonely.”

A Reds player for 10 years and manager between 1985 and 1991, Dalglish returned to the club last year to take up a senior position at the club’s academy as well as an ambassadorial role at Anfield.

“When Rafa went I offered to help in any way I could,” he said. There was a list made up [managing director] Christian Purslow and I spoke to a few people.

“After the initial conversations I stepped aside and the board made the decision who would be the next manager.

“I said I would help in any way I possibly could for Liverpool and I would have been prepared to be the manager if they wanted that.

“But they didn’t want that to happen which is their prerogative and that is no problem for me.

“I was very happy at the club last year working with the academy and being an ambassador and it was enjoyable.”

Dalglish believes the future is promising for Liverpool after the team failed to qualify for the Champions League this season.

“Signing Joe Cole and Steven Gerrard coming out with a statement saying he is staying gives everyone a lift and it wasn’t a bad week for the club,” said Dalglish.

“Roy is going to stamp his own authority on the club. It is difficult at the moment because the players are coming back in dribs and drabs after the World Cup and you don’t have everyone coming back together it is difficult.”

Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson

Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, who has been linked with the Fulham job, has “unfinished business” in the Premier League, says his agent.

The Swede is the front runner to replace Roy Hodgson after Fulham’s attempt to lure Martin Jol from Ajax ended in failure.

“It’s a very attractive club, not just for Sven [but there has been] no contact whatsoever,” said Athole Still.

“We’ve know for some weeks Sven’s one of the managers under consideration.”

Eriksson is unattached after taking charge of Ivory Coast at the World Cup, and is thought to be keen to return to England, where he was previously involved with Notts County and Manchester City.

He was sacked as City boss in 2008 by then-owner Thaksin Shinawatra when the team were ninth in the Premier League, a decision Still claims had little to do with the team’s performance on the pitch.

“He was in my view outrageously sacked from his position,” he said.

“He did a first-class job with Manchester City – it was a personal non-compatibility with Dr Shinawatra which caused him to be sacked. He should still be there.”

The Reds’ European campaign begins at home to either Rabotnicki of Macedonia or Armenian side Mika on 29 July.

World Cup finalists Fernando Torres, Jose Reina, Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel do not return until after that first leg.

Hodgson added medical staff told him it would be “very foolhardy” to risk any of the other seven due back next week.

Hodgson was already planning for the tie without Spain’s World Cup winners Torres and Reina and beaten Dutch finalists Kuyt and Babel.

Liverpool’s England contingent of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson, Denmark’s Daniel Agger and Slovakia’s Martin Skrtel are all expected back at training over the coming days, while Argentina duo Javier Mascherano and Maxi Rodriguez are due back by 26 July.

Hodgson, though, has strongly indicated he will resist the temptation to use any of these players for his first competitive test in his new job.

Speaking from his squad’s pre-season training camp in Switzerland, the former Fulham boss added: “If we feel we are endangering our chances of doing well in the Premier League by risking players in the early stage of the Europa League, it will be a decision the club will have to take. You have to follow the guidance.”

Serbia striker Milan Jovanovic, who became Hodgson’s first signing from Standard Liege earlier in July, will be available for selection.

And the 62-year-old coach claimed that any other fresh arrivals “would become important for the Europa League”.

On Saturday, a friendly against Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal was called off because of heavy rain, meaning Hodgson’s first game in charge will come against Grasshoppers of Zurich, a club he managed over 10 years ago.

Hodgson then takes his team to Germany where they face Kaiserslautern on 24 July.

Sandwiched in between both legs of their European opener, Liverpool return to Germany for another friendly away against Borussia Monchengladbach on 1 August.

And a fortnight later, the Merseysiders kick off their Premier League season at home to Arsenal.

Last season the Reds finished a disappointing seventh in the table, meaning that they failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since the 2003-2004 campaign.

The Argentine defender has left Liverpool’s training camp in Switzerland and is travelling to Italy to discuss personal terms.

The 21-year-old arrived at Anfield in January 2007 from Boca Juniors and played 62 games, scoring just once.

New Reds boss Roy Hodgson may now look to recruit a left-back after Fabio Aurelio also left the club in June.

“A deal has been struck with Fiorentina, we wish him well for the rest of his career and thank him for his time spent at Liverpool,” Hodgson said.

“I am expecting him to join Fiorentina next week.”

Hodgson also said he met Liverpool co-owner George Gillett prior to Saturday night’s friendly against Al-Hilal in Switzerland which was called off following heavy rain.

Earlier in the week the former Fulham boss stated that Liverpool stars Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres were not for sale despite speculation that they would leave the club.

Having joined Liverpool on 1 July Hodgson also said he has had to reassure what he called a “disenchanted” squad after they finished seventh in the Premier League last season, leading to end of the six-year reign of predecessor Rafael Benitez.

Capello, 64, said he wanted to stay in the post despite England’s second-round World Cup exit at the hands of Germany.

But, after speaking to Club England chairman Sir Dave Richards, Capello was told he must wait for a decision.

“I said I can be the manager for the next season, but it is for him to decide,” said the Italian.

“We spoke also about the players that can play for the next qualification and I know what I have to do.”

The England team left South Africa on Monday evening and are due back in the United Kingdom in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

There were some miserable faces as they boarded the bus to the airport to depart from a desperately disappointing World Cup campaign.

However, asked if he wanted to stay in the position he has held since December 2007 on a reported salary of £6m a year, Capello replied: “Absolutely.

“I have got a contract. I refused a lot of opportunities to be a manager from a lot of important clubs because I would like to stay here. I like this job. I like being England manager.”

Capello guided England during an impressive World Cup qualifying campaign, with the team losing only once and topping their group.

But they struggled to repeat that form in South Africa, drawing their first two group games against the United States and Algeria, before qualifying for the knockout stages with a 1-0 win over Slovenia.

The 4-1 loss to the Germans was England’s heaviest defeat in any World Cup finals, leading to criticism about Capello’s selection policy, his preferred formation and questions about the players’ fitness.

England midfielder Joe Cole also said after Sunday’s game that the squad still needed to address “a lot of issues”.

But Club England managing director Adrian Bevington stated that FA officials had decided to give themselves extra time to decide on Capello’s position to avoid a “knee-jerk reaction” in the wake the defeat in Bloemfontein.

“Sir Dave Richards met with Fabio this morning and we are all very clear that Fabio is under contract with the FA until the 2012 European Championship and nothing has changed in that respect,” said Bevington.

“Obviously everybody is very disappointed today, so it makes perfect sense for us to go back to London, take stock of the situation and see what we can take from it and just speak to Fabio from there.

“I don’t think there is anything sinister in it beyond that.

“We just want to show a common-sense approach rather than making a knee-jerk reaction within 24 hours of a very disappointing result.”

Asked why the performances of the England players had not matched those at their clubs, Capello answered that he believed they were suffering from a long season and called for a winter break in England.

“I think all the English players are really tired at this competition,” he responded. “The coaches told me the physical condition of the players was not good and they did not play like the players that we know.

“I understand a lot after this tournament because the players trained very well and were focused every time but the performance was not at the level that I know.”

Capello, who has won domestic titles in Italy and Spain but was making his World Cup debut as a manager, also rejected claims his preference for a 4-4-2 formation was at fault for England’s displays.

“I think you can decide on a different style but a good style depends on the form of the players,” he reflected. “We played this style for a long time and the results were very good.

“Sometimes you can change with the game but that depends on the physical situation and not the style. The style always depends on the players in my squad.”

The disappointing World Cup exit has led to calls for an English manager to take over from Capello, with Fulham’s Roy Hodgson and Tottenham’s Harry Redknapp touted as potential successors.

But Capello was not drawn on whether he justified a £6m-a-year salary.

“When they decided to pick me to be manager I spoke with the people and they decided to give me this money,” he said. “But I think it is not about the money, it is the value of the man.”

Bevington added: “It is not Fabio who sets his salary. It is very important that we appreciate that we hired Fabio when as a nation we were on the floor.

“Fabio restored that confidence with a successful qualification campaign and we need to put that into context.”

Meanwhile, the FA has confirmed that a number of England players were robbed at their hotel in Rustenburg.

A number of unnamed players had shirts, a medal and underwear taken by members of the cleaning staff at their Royal Bafokeng base.

The goods were eventually located and returned, while five hotel workers were convicted of the thefts by a special World Cup court.

“We can confirm that some items went missing, which have thankfully been returned,” said an FA spokesman.

“The local police have dealt with the matter and, as far as we are concerned, it has been resolved.”

The players looked tired as they passed through security at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport after a coach journey from their Rustenburg training base.

They touched down at Heathrow airport at about 0620 BST.

Manager Fabio Capello has been told by the Football Association that he must wait two weeks to find out whether he can stay on in the post.

David Beckham led the team off the plane, with Jamie Carragher and Michael Carrick just behind him.

Players’ wives, girlfriends and children were also among the group to emerge from the aircraft.

‘Really tired’
 
Capello told a news conference on Monday that he wanted to continue despite England’s second-round World Cup exit on Sunday.

The 4-1 defeat was England’s worst in the tournament’s history.

Capello became England manager in December 2007, and shortly before the World Cup, his contract – reportedly worth £6m a year – was extended until 2012.

But his managerial style and some of his decisions over team selection and formation were criticised following poor performances in the group stage.

Asked why the players had not lived up to the standards they reach regularly for their club sides, Capello said he believed they were “really tired”.

“The coaches told me the physical condition of the players was not good and they did not play like the players that we know,” he said.

There were rumours of a split within the England dressing room – something Capello strongly denied.

But midfielder Joe Cole said after Sunday’s game that the squad still needed to address “a lot of issues”.

Meanwhile, the FA has confirmed that a number of England players were the victims of a theft at the team’s hotel.

A number of unnamed players had shirts, a medal and underwear taken by members of the cleaning staff at their Royal Bafokeng base.

The goods were eventually located and returned, and five hotel workers were convicted of the thefts by a special World Cup court.

Walcott earlier this week was one of seven players cut from Fabio Capello’s 23-man squad, four years after his surprise selection for the 2006 tournament in Germany as a 17-year-old by Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Beckham himself bounced back from the adversity of his dismissal against Argentina at France 12 years ago to lead England into the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals.

And now the former England captain, who was ruled out of a place in the team for South Africa by a torn Achilles, has sent a text message to 21-year-old Arsenal forward Walcott, backing him to respond from his disappointment.

According to the Daily Express, Beckham told Walcott: “Keep your chin up, you’ve got a great talent and you will come back and be stronger in the future.”

The center back was hurt in a collision during a training session at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus.

“It happened near the end,” coach Fabio Capello said. “He has gone to hospital for a scan and we will have to see how things are.”

In more positive news, midfielder Gareth Barry trained for the first time in public since injuring his right ankle a month ago.

The ligament damage sustained by Barry playing for Manchester City on May 5 made him uncertain for inclusion in England’s 23-man World Cup squad. But he made the cut after a medical check on Tuesday.

“We have to wait day by day to see what happens with the ankle,” Capello said. “The work is harder every day, stronger every day.”

Goalkeeper David James, however, worked separately from the team in the complex’s gym to start the session.

“David James has a little problem with the knee after a long flight,” Capello said.

Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Chelsea have also been linked with the player but German newspaper Bild report that City ‘are the only serious candidate’ to sign Dzeko and will secure a bank guarantee to push the deal through.

Dzeko has the clause in his contract, which can be activated until midnight on Monday, or the striker will remain contracted to the German club until 2013.
Wolfsburg’s new boss Steve McClaren said: ‘Until Monday at midnight we have no control over the situation around Dzeko.’

City are anxious to build on their squad as they look to improve on their fifth placed finish in the Premier League next term.