Valencia

Helguera And Emery Relationship Frays Further

The relationship between Unai Emery and Iván Helguera has worsened today after the defender played a joke in training that the coach did not take too well...

Dec 11, 2008 6:16:57 PM

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Unai Emery has not been shy about making it clear which players he does and doesn't want at Valencia so far, and it seems as though Iván Helguera is firmly in the latter of those categories.

The Spanish defender has not played much under the new coach and today AS reports that the relationship between coach and player has got even worse after, what was meant to be, a 'joke' in training.

According to sources the incident started when Helguera wrote a 'joke' on the blackboard used by the coach to direct his messages to the players. Emery did not react well though and erased it, before asking who it was that wrote it.

Helguera admitted it was him and was then questioned by the coach as to what he meant by it, to which he responded that it was only a joke.

It is not the first time that tempers have become heated between the two and today it is believed that another player became involved in the discussions, which took place in the dressing room.

It seems now that Helguera's future lies away from the Mestalla, at least while Emery is in charge, and it would be no surprise to see him leave this winter.

Unlike Timo Hildebrand, who left for free, termination of Helguera's contract would cost about €4.5 million, so Valencia would ideally like to find a buyer for the player.

James Walker-Roberts, Goal.com