Football: Ivory Coast Kalou threatens to leave Hertha Berlin

Football: Ivory Coast Kalou threatens to leave Hertha Berlin

Friday, December 19, 2014 5:25 pm


Toure and kalou for Ivory Coast during last World Cup qualifier

Toure and kalou for Ivory Coast during last World Cup qualifier

Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou believes the Hertha Berlin team should be built around him and has threatened to leave the Bundesliga side unless he plays more.

Having made more than 70 international appearances in a career which included six years at Chelsea, where he won the 2012 Champions League title, the Premier League in 2010 and the FA Cup four times, Kalou feels he should be better used at Hertha.

“I think you should treat a player like me a little better,” the 29-year-old, who joined Hertha from Lille in August for a reported 1.8 million euros (US$2.2m), told Berlin-based newspaper BZ. “This is my humble opinion.

“If you bring in bring a big player in, then you should build the team around him.”

Ex-Borussia Dortmund striker Julian Schieber has risen above him in the Berlin pecking order by scoring in each of his last three games and Kalou has said he will find a new club if need be.

“I have come here to achieve something and if I can’t do that here, I will go somewhere else,” he told German daily Bild.

“I think, after what I have achieved in my career, that I can play in any team.”

Kalou scored the last of his five league goals in 12 appearances this season at the beginning of November, but has started only seven of Hertha’s 16 Bundesliga matches and singled out Berlin’s Dutch coach Jos Luhukay for complaint.

“He doesn’t talk to me,” moaned the Ivory Coast star, whose Hertha side is 13th in the table.

“I can’t turn around and say, ‘I’m playing today’, I don’t get to decide that.”

But Hertha’s manager Michael Preetz explained why Kalou has not started in their last three league games.

“There is a story for every single player to explain why they are not in the starting eleven at the moment,” Preetz told Sky Sports.

“Salomon will be missing for the whole of January when he is at the African Cup.

“And if he stays until the end of the tournament, he will miss the first three Bundesliga games in the new year.

“That is not an optimal situation, but we already knew that when we signed Salomon in the summer.”


Join The Conversation

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.