Frosinone president Maurizio Stirpe has admitted he would have sold long-term Celtic target Farès Ghedjemis during the summer window, but the club’s owners decided to keep the Algerian winger.
Ghedjemis was heavily linked with a move away from Frosinone after helping the club win promotion to Serie A, with Monaco among the sides pushing hardest for his signature.
Ghedjemis remained in Italy beyond the deadline and was absent from Frosinone’s opening league matches amid reports that he did not want to play while his future remained unresolved.
Stirpe has now spoken openly about the situation and admitted his own preference would have been to cash in.
He said via the Daily Record: “If it were up to me, I would have sold him. He stayed because Clara Vista stubbornly made him stay. It’s a relationship that needs to be rebuilt on more solid foundations.
“We can’t afford what happened in recent weeks. It’s unpleasant for someone to refuse to play. Clara Vista is unprejudiced in this regard.
“In the coming weeks, we’d like to return to the team a player who has recovered from an abandonment syndrome at Frosinone that ultimately didn’t materialize.”
Stirpe also took aim at the way Monaco handled their interest.
“Regarding Ghedjemis, there’s no contradiction between what I think and what Clara Vista thinks. There are some unclear behaviors on the part of the clubs.
“We go to the player first, then the club. I don’t like this. I spoke to the Monaco executives, but they didn’t do what they told us. Their official offers weren’t adequate.
“So there’s no point wasting time. A minimum of gratitude is needed. The affection and love must be mutual, never one-sided. The clubs that approached him were not honest because they reached an agreement with him before speaking to us.”
The Frosinone president also confirmed that Ghedjemis’ contract situation will now be revisited.
“Ghedjemis’ contractual conditions needed to be reevaluated, and they will be. Renzo Castagnini has been tasked with managing the agreement with his agent.
“The problem isn’t the agent or the player; it’s the clubs that are following the wrong path to achieve their objective.”
Ghedjemis has since returned to action for Frosinone, coming off the bench in their 3-2 win over Venezia on Sunday.
His immediate future now appears to be in Serie A, but Stirpe’s comments show just how close the relationship came to breaking down during a summer in which a move away looked increasingly likely.
Keep Reading
