The Stoke chairman is doing his utmost to keep goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, despite heavy interest from Chelsea and claims that the Bosnian refused to play in Tuesday's Carling Cup victory against Shrewsbury to try and force through a move.
'This is an internal matter - and we will decide on what action to take,' Peter Coates told Sky Sports News. "Asmir Begovic remains our player.
"He is regarded as one of the best young goalkeepers in the Premier League and we are not interested in any new offers from Chelsea.
"We are not interested in what Chelsea do and we have already rejected an offer, from them, for Begovic. We wouldn't welcome another bid from Chelsea and, as far as I am aware, we have not received a new offer from Chelsea for him."
Begovic has denied claims he refused to play on Tuesday, citing a misunderstanding.
PFA deputy chief executive Bobby Barnes told Sky Sports News: "The PFA would not condone a player refusing to play for his club.
"But Asmir was at great pains to make it clear to me and the wider public that at no stage had he actually said that he refused to play for the club.
"It's common knowledge now that there has been a bid received. From Asmir's point of view he says that he had a conversation with the manager in which he was asked whether he was 100 per cent fit and ready to play.
"Asmir's take is that he had indicated that his mind was a little bit scrambled by things and that probably if there was an alternative it would be best if he didn't play.
"But he says at no stage did he say that he wouldn't play, and had he been asked to play he would have done so."
No comments:
Post a Comment