Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean has revealed defender http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Christopher-Samba-c9212 is fit and available for the clash against Arsenal but will not be participating in the fixture.
Samba handed in a transfer request last month, claiming he wanted to leave Blackburn http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rovers-c40385 in the winter transfer window. The club refused to accept the transfer request, insisting the central defender would have to stay on and honour his contract.
Since then Samba has not featured for the Rovers and while initially it was claimed by Kean that the player was unfit, the manager has now revealed he is not in the right frame of mind to represent in his side in the upcoming fixtures.
In a press conference the Scottish manager refused to speak about Samba but revealed he was planning on speaking top Samba on his return to the squad. He said he was hopeful of the chances of the Blackburn Rovers captain returning to the struggling side.
Kean said while speaking to reporters:
“I'm prepared to say he's fit and he's available but he's not in the squad for the Arsenal game.
I'd rather speak about people who are available to play against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chris-c9006 has trained well today but he's not going to be in this squad.”
In their attempts to keep Samba at the club, Blackburn Rovers lost out of another defender http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/New-Zealand-c754 defender cancelled his contract with the Rovers and signed with Tottenham Hotspur.
Kean revealed he had expected Nelsen to join an MLS side as he neared retirement, but the defender has joined rivals Tottenham Hotspur. The manager said that he was part of the decision to let Nelsen leave since the defender was not fit and had featured
just once for Blackburn Rovers in eight months.
Kean revealed:
“He was having a lot of problems with his knee. Right at the last minute, he got the call (from Tottenham) and he's decided to go with it.
We understand the pain he was in and I hope their medics can look at it and get him back on the pitch because he's found it difficult. He's only played one game in eight months.”
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