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Bayern Munich defender David Alaba putting contract talk on hold

Bayern Munich defender David Alaba says he has put any talk over a new contract at the club until the end of the season.

Alaba, 23, still has another two years to run on his current deal but has yet to follow Javi Martinez, Jerome Boateng and Thomas Muller in committing his future to the Bundesliga leaders.

The Austria international has in the past been linked with a move to Real Madrid, and there have also been reports that he will follow Pep Guardiola to Manchester City -- although reports have suggested that he cannot sign any players from the Allianz Arena.

"Right now, I don't waste any thoughts on this," Alaba told reporters in Munich on Thursday. "That's because I want to focus on what matters now: the current season."

Alaba has been forced into playing as a makeshift centre-back in recent weeks with Jerome Boateng and now Holger Badstuber both injured, and he has said he will "help the team if the coach plays me there."

On Saturday, Bayern host Darmstadt and Alaba brushed aside concerns that the squad already have their minds set on Tuesday's Champions League trip to Juventus, insisting that the focus is firmly on the Bundesliga fixture.

"We're taking the match very seriously and we always look forward to playing in front of our own crowd," Alaba told the club's official website. "We're pros. First there's only Darmstadt in our minds. We want to maintain our eight-point lead in the Bundesliga. Then we'll think about Juventus."

Darmstadt will be without five players who picked up a suspension in their last match against Leverkusen, but coach Dirk Schuster vowed to take the game to Bayern.

"When you only focus on defence against Bayern, you will run into difficulties," Schuster said at his prematch news conference.