I’m guessing the option is we pay him in full and he leaves otherwise we don’t want to do that so trying to bomb him out to make him choose to leave. I’m guessing no club willing to take on his current contractual terms so we are at this impasse. Might be appearance clauses etc that would incur further costs if we actually played him.
This is spot on we have pushed him away he wants to play but they aren’t willing to give him a chance cos we need money and his wages are substantial
Is this fact? I was under the impression that the club are open to offers/mutual termination/loan again for him. Yes because of his wages, but mainly because of his work ethic and sometimes attitude isn’t good enough. If his work ethic and attitude were top drawer, he’d be involved more which would inevitably increase his chances of moving on. A fully fit and up to speed player is easier to shift than someone who has been left out in the cold. See Styles for the correct example of how it works. Apart from the money, it was a bad move for him. Away from his family too much, and his wife gave birth whilst he was with us. As others have said, I think he likes to be close to home and family. So a move closer to home would have been better. His Turkey loan was because his brother is out there too.
Don't think we'll ever really know the truth of whether we're trying to force him out or if he did down tools and stick around for the cash. We mostly believe that players in the end want to play but Iseka arrived with Oulare who should be prosecuted under the trades description act. I thought his first few games he looked decent and could do a job at this level but then he just disappeared. Obvious now that a parting is on the cards and I think he will be out on loan again. unfortunately he has a fair wack left on his contract
I really don’t buy into this. It’s away from your family….? Firstly, why can’t people just bring their families? People have jobs where they move around all the time, footballers seem to have some kind of massive issue with it for some reason, even though it’s a line of work where you can virtually guarantee it. Secondly, you knew where that club played before you signed. You knew how far away it was. If you didn’t want to move there, don’t sign and find a club closer. Everyone is so soft! Much like our transfer policy. It’s not a surprise we get walked over, we are absolutely spineless.
Not convinced the family thing is that real TBH. If it was I would be jumping through hoops and working with club to cancel my contract and get something more local. He also went to Turkey which is a damn sight further from Belgium than the UK.
The thing that gets me is, what is his plan when the contract ends. It's very short sighted, unless he plans to retire, because who would sign someone who hasn't played and has gained a reputation for poor attitude? I guess there is always Conway to sign him for one of his clubs.
Two years left of a four year contract, supposedly on big money. This is an example why long contracts aren’t always in the best interests of the club when a player flops. If any of us were in his shoes I doubt we would walk away from a substantial contract. Lots of conjecture on his attitude work ethic but only the club and him know what the real situation is. As long as he’s not in breach of contract he can carry on picking up his wages. Sunderland had a very public issue with Jack Rodwell that seems very similar to this situation.
I think his wife didn’t settle all that great. Then she gave birth here in the UK and they had some difficulties after that (not sure what and not our business). Since then, it’s been downhill for him. Deep down, I think his wife basically wanted to return home after the birth to be with family - and ultimately Iseka wanted be with her and the kid too. Nothing wrong with that - and he’s not the first player to move because of it. The Turkey move worked as his brother and other friends were over there, so there was a support network.
Yes, Jack Rodwell. That was a stand off too. The longer it went on, the more Rodwell got p!ssed off and didn’t want to help the club as he felt hard done by.
It might also be that his salary includes an amount for actually playing. i.e. High Base Salary + High Matches Played bonus Maybe that's why he doesn't play? tbf it might not be his attitude at all, might just be that we don't have the money. He might be itching to play as a large portion of his potential salary with us is not being made available to him. We don't know, so might be best to withhold judgement. Yet to hear a manager say 'we'd love to play him, but his attitude is all wrong'
I'm going to say something that might shock you...even professional footballers have feelings and those feelings might be different from how they expected to feel. Similarly, even professional footballers have partners and children, and their happiness can seriously impact the player's happiness and subsequent performance. So whether you buy it or not, it doesn't make them soft - it makes them human. And finally, you say we're spineless yet we're holding a player to his contract in an attempt to protect the interests of the club. If you're going to criticise at least be consistent.
Yes footballers have feelings, but forgive me for not feeling too bad for the plight of the championship (that’s the wages he was signed on) footballer. If he really wanted to move that badly, we could agree to a mutual termination, and he would be able to find another club. He isn’t, and we haven’t mutually terminated the contact, so clearly he’s not that pressed. Who are you talking about? Iseka? Don’t quite understand what you’re getting at in your last paragraph.
Rodwell was on 70k a week because Sunderland failed to insert a relegation clause into his contract. He is on record as saying if the club had treated him with respect he would have walked away but refused as a result of how they treated him. He gave examples of things like making him report for training and then when he arrived being told publicly he wasn’t required to train with the first team and sent to train on his own to maintain his fitness.
This is the Catch 22 which fans sometimes forget. We sign a player on a long contract, something we are doing more often these days, and usually with a 1-year option; if they turn out to be a dud, then the fans blame the Board. We sign a player on a short contract, something we were doing more often in the past; if they turn out to be a revelation, then the fans blame the Board. If we had a crystal ball to predict the Duds and Revelations, we could tailor the contracts accordingly, but we can't. C'est la Vie.
I once signed a 2-year contract to work overseas in a country where I'd worked twice before, but on much shorter contracts. When I arrived, things had changed so much that I no longer enjoyed being there. I had to give 3-months notice, which I did. It cost me money and pissed off the company, but I did it for my own mental health. ALI has that option, and I'm sure he has banked more than I did in my short stay.
