Diego Forlan has slammed his Cerezo Osaka team-mates for not taking relegation seriously and claimed he wants to go somewhere he is wanted.
Forlan has six months remaining on his contract with Cerezo but it appears unlikely he will stay in Japan following his scathing comments to El Observador TV on Thursday.
The 35-year-old striker has barely played in the J.League since Yuji Okuma - Cerezo's third coach of the 2014 season - took over on September 8 and looks ready to leave after relegation was confirmed on Saturday.
"Nobody from [Cerezo] has spoken with me about my contract since we were relegated," Forlan said, as translated by Football Channel Asia.
"I want to go to a team that wants me."
When the 35-year-old signed with Cerezo at the start of the 2014 campaign, the Osaka-based club became instant favourites for the J.League title but after scoring six goals in his first 11 games, Forlan and his team's fortunes started to fade.
Cerezo picked up just 16 points in 13 games before the J.League's World Cup break and during that recess, the club sacked coach Ranko Popovic.
In came Marco Pezzaiuoli but Cerezo claimed just four draws during the German's nine-match tenure before Cerezo's former youth coach Okuma was promoted to the top job.
Under Okuma, Cerezo have won three J.League fixtures but were sent to the second division last week when they lost 4-1 to Kashima Antlers.
"[Japanese players] don't understand the significance of relegation because fans don't pressure them," Forlan said.
"There's no pressure for them to win or lose.
"It was strange to know that we had been relegated and see [my team-mates] laughing during training the next day."
Despite hardly playing since August, Forlan is likely to finish the season as Cerezo's top scorer as he has seven goals with one match remaining - two ahead of Kenyu Sugimoto and Cacau.
"I was frustrated because Okuma didn't allow me to help in the last three months," Forlan said.
"He always had an excuse to keep me from playing, saying that he wanted to defend more than attack.
"He clearly didn't bench me for poor form, because then he'd have to bench the entire team."
Forlan, who has been linked with a move to Penarol in the Uruguayan media, believes Japanese football needs more passion if they are to take the next step.
"[Japan] take football as a science when it's not," he said.
"They do things without an objective. Japanese people are very naive in some aspects.
"When Hotaru [Yamaguchi] and [Yoichiro] Kakitani said they wanted to bring the World Cup to Japan, neither of them believed it. They only said it because that's what people wanted to hear."
No comments:
Post a Comment