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Report: Blackburn's Christopher Samba considering going on strike to force transfer
Manager Steve Kean was forced to deny that the center back refused to play on Saturday against Fulham, with the player allegedly unhappy with club's 10 million pounds asking fee
Jan 16, 2012 6:45:00 AM
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Blackburn defender Christopher Samba will reportedly consider going on strike to force through an exit from Ewood Park in the transfer window, according to The Mail.
The report claims that the center back is thought to believe his high valuation by the club could prevent a transfer. He missed Saturday’s win over Fulham with a reported stomach illness, just 24 hours after telling French newspaper L’Equipe he wanted to leave.
The Lancashire club are believed to have already rejected a £6.5 million bid from QPR, while Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham has shown interest but may be put off by a valuation in excess of £10m.
Samba has captained the side in a turbulent season, and manager Steve Kean played down suspicions that his skipper will force through an exit by refusing to play.
Kean told Sky Sports: “I don’t think he’s thrown one in. I can totally understand [why people might ask questions]. He’s not for sale, it’s as simple as that."
“I’d like to have spoken to him on Friday morning but he texted in that he was having severe stomach cramps. He texted again on Saturday morning that he was too weak to play.
“We’ll make sure he gets the proper medication to get over a nasty bug and, hopefully, he will be back in on Monday or Tuesday.
“It was disappointing he wasn’t available but I’d rather talk about the lads who were, because they were the ones putting their bodies on the line and dragging us out of the bottom three.’”
The win over Fulham came despite the sending off of striker Yakubu after just 22 minutes, after goals either side of half-time from Morten Gamst Pedersen and David Dunn gave the home side a 2-0 lead before Mauro Formica ended Fulham’s revival with a third.
Goalscorer Pedersen explained the importance of keeping the squad together, commenting: "Every one of them is a Blackburn player at the moment and we have to keep them.
"We're still in a battle, we have to be realistic. We're not going to win 10 games in a row. There are loads of other clubs around us but if we can keep together and work hard we know we can be better than them."
His goal came from a low free kick from 20 yards out, on which he added: "I've been practicing so to do that and succeed feels good. The previous two free kicks I had ended up in Row Z. But that's the gamble, so I just went for it."
The report claims that the center back is thought to believe his high valuation by the club could prevent a transfer. He missed Saturday’s win over Fulham with a reported stomach illness, just 24 hours after telling French newspaper L’Equipe he wanted to leave.
The Lancashire club are believed to have already rejected a £6.5 million bid from QPR, while Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham has shown interest but may be put off by a valuation in excess of £10m.
Samba has captained the side in a turbulent season, and manager Steve Kean played down suspicions that his skipper will force through an exit by refusing to play.
Kean told Sky Sports: “I don’t think he’s thrown one in. I can totally understand [why people might ask questions]. He’s not for sale, it’s as simple as that."
“I’d like to have spoken to him on Friday morning but he texted in that he was having severe stomach cramps. He texted again on Saturday morning that he was too weak to play.
“We’ll make sure he gets the proper medication to get over a nasty bug and, hopefully, he will be back in on Monday or Tuesday.
“It was disappointing he wasn’t available but I’d rather talk about the lads who were, because they were the ones putting their bodies on the line and dragging us out of the bottom three.’”
The win over Fulham came despite the sending off of striker Yakubu after just 22 minutes, after goals either side of half-time from Morten Gamst Pedersen and David Dunn gave the home side a 2-0 lead before Mauro Formica ended Fulham’s revival with a third.
Goalscorer Pedersen explained the importance of keeping the squad together, commenting: "Every one of them is a Blackburn player at the moment and we have to keep them.
"We're still in a battle, we have to be realistic. We're not going to win 10 games in a row. There are loads of other clubs around us but if we can keep together and work hard we know we can be better than them."
His goal came from a low free kick from 20 yards out, on which he added: "I've been practicing so to do that and succeed feels good. The previous two free kicks I had ended up in Row Z. But that's the gamble, so I just went for it."
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