Valon Behrami disappointed and N'Zogbia asked to prove his worth at Wigan Athletic
Valon Behrami, the midfielder at West Ham United, has expressed his disappointment of not being able to get a deal at some other club during the transfer window. The Swiss international signed for West Ham two years ago from Serie-A side, Lazio. He wanted to move back to Italian football and was in talks with AS Roma but an agreement was not established before the deadline passed.
Roma were believed to be interested in signing Behrami, but it is reported that Roma had to off load a couple of players to raise funds for Behrami’s move. But they could not sell off players in time to bring the Swiss player to Rome.
West Ham has not had the best of starts in the league this season. The Hammers are currently on the bottom of the table with zero points. Their last game in the league was against Manchester United which ended in a 3-0 win for Red Devils.
Behrami who did make it clear that he wanted to leave West Ham before this season started, still hopes that he will be part of manager Avram Grant’s plans this season.
When a player openly admits that he wants to move away and if he does not manage to do so by the time the transfer window ends, the player often falls out of favour with the manager and is loses out on his fan following as well.
Behrami however said that he had taken the permission from Grant before talking to Roma so there are no problems on that front. As far as fans are concerned he said that he has received immense love and admiration in past 2 years, and hopes to get the same.
Meanwhile Wigan Athletic’s manager, Roberto Martinez has issued a clear warning to his striker Charles N’Zogbia to prove his worth to the club, after almost leaving the club last week. The French player was close to signing a deal worth 9 million pounds for a move to Birmingham City. Terms between Wigan and Birmingham had been agreed upon but the deal broke down when the front man raised his demands.
N’Zogbia was not part of Wigan’s line up when they beat Tottenham away on Saturday. Martinez said that N’Zogbia needs to do some work before he can once again be considered as a committed Wigan player. The manager added that the 24 year old is an important player to the team, but he will have to prove that he is still as dedicated and committed to the club as he was.
The manager said that N’Zogbia had been troubled by some issues in recent times, but there is no doubt about his capability as a striker.
Martinez said that he has tried hard to maintain a certain amount of discipline and commitment level in the dressing room. He said that if one player who was all set to leave the club certainly comes back, other players would be tempted to assume that he is not as committed as they are. So there N’Zogbia will have to wait in the wings and get himself back in the team smoothly before he can consider himself to be one of the ‘lads’ again.
Martinez said that N’Zogbia had handed in a transfer request just a day before the deadline, and even though the two clubs had agreed on the move, his extravagant demands resulted in breakdown of the deal. He said that there is intense competition for places in the team, and every player has to prove himself to earn a place in the first 11.
Tags: