PSV does not want to say much about the details in official communication to the outside world, but Football International and the Eindhovens Dagblad are aware of alleged illicit practices and dubious acts of Mohamed Ihattaren. The weekly and the regional newspaper publish this week, based on sources around the club, some underlying reasons for the frustration of PSV.
Ihattaren was left out of the selection on Sunday for the top match against Ajax (1-1). According to trainer Roger Schmidt, the attacking midfielder had behaved unprofessionally around Thursday’s Europa League game against Olympiacos (2-1). It Eindhovens Dagblad writes that Ihattaren heard before the race that he would not start, ‘and so it was no longer necessary for him’. “Deliberately taking a long time to change clothes. Being negative towards fellow players. Pretending you don’t want to go on the field to prepare like the rest. That kind of behavior.” In the end, Ihattaren sat on the couch for ninety minutes.
Schmidt clear about Ihattaren: ‘If he can’t muster that, he has no chance here’
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In a statement that PSV released on Sunday, the club wrote that ‘the entire staff, group of players and management’ had made unsuccessful attempts to support Ihattaren. Agent Mino Raiola then assured that not the entire group of players was behind that statement. One player who has at least criticized Ihattaren’s behavior is Denzel Dumfries. The regional newspaper writes about a moment during the training, when the captain grabbed the talent ‘by the proverbial guts’ in front of the outside world. “Ihattaren was lounging around, he thought.”
According to the newspaper, ‘everything went wrong’ outside the lines as well. “A simple example? Ihattaren, for example, refused to follow the guidelines in the field of nutrition and care. He did not take recovery drink after training, so it sounds from the club. He would have said that he had drunk the liquid and it turned out that this was the case. Than throwing it in the grass. ” Another example is that after a session in the heat, Ihattaren would have refused to take an ice bath, which was specially set up for the players. He then had to be ‘almost dragged along by Noni Madueke to do that after all’.
Football International talks on Wednesday about an ‘almost endless’ list of inadmissible matters. “Illegal indoor football, for example. Or that he suffers a muscle injury while he has a day off. If Ihattaren indicates that this is due to work with a personal trainer, PSV hears that he has not seen him for a month and a half.” The magazine writes that the club openly doubts if ‘the player reports sick for the third time’. “Eating unhealthy, exercising undisciplined, ignoring rules; the incidents are piling up.”