PETALING JAYA, Aug 29 — It looks like the country’s first naturalised football player Mohamadou Sumareh and his team Pahang are set for a messy split.
Pahang manager Datuk Mohammed Suffian Awang, in confirming that Sumareh has a contract with the Elephants until 2022, claims that the player’s heart is no longer with the team after failing to take part in any of the team’s training sessions for the past one month.
He said this showed the national winger’s unprofessional attitude towards the team and added that the matter had been taken to the highest level of the Pahang Football Association (PFA) for further action.
“The highest management of the PFA will make further decisions as well as take disciplinary action. For now, I cannot comment on the action to be taken.
“All I can say is that in this case, Sumareh’s heart may no longer be with Pahang,” he said when met by reporters after the 56th Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Annual Congress here today.
Pahang head coach Dollah Salleh had previously revealed that the 27-year-old Gambia-born player did not participate in the team’s training sessions, thus affecting the team’s preparations ahead of the Malaysia League (M-League) competition which resumed yesterday and which saw the Elephants lose 3-2 to Johor Darul Ta’zim at home in the Super League.
Mohammed Suffian, however, clarified that Pahang has not been approached by any team expressing an interest in signing Sumareh, thus ruling out any elements of ‘tapping-up’.
“Maybe a team may have personally got in touch with him that we have no knowledge of.
“The best thing now is for the player to come and meet the top management in a gentlemanly manner for a discussion, just like how Matt Davies came forward to discuss his transfer issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sumareh, in his latest Instagram posting, apologised to the fans.
“It is unfortunate things turned out this way, I didn’t mean to break my promise to support my prestigious club. However, sometimes things don’t go as planned, I am very sorry for any inconvenience that this might has caused. At the moment I don’t have much to say, time will tell it all (sic),” he wrote. — Bernama
