Earvin Ngapeth has just told Paris’ L’Equipe newspaper that he will be leaving Italy’s Modena for Russia’s Zenit Kazan next season. Here is his official statement:
“I made the decision to leave and go to Kazan. This was for two simple reasons: the first is that I feel I have finished my cycle in Modena. I’ve been there for four and a half years and, apart from the Champions League, I’ve won everything. I feel like I’ve entered a kind of routine at the end of a cycle. I miss something. I feel the need to see something else and put myself at stake to rediscover different stimuli. Second: Radostin Stoytchev is a good coach, but he is not my type of coach. You know, we’ve discussed it several times. We had occasional disagreements. I like having my freedom to play. He wants everything to be square and square. I’m not that kind of player. His contract will last two more years and I can not continue like this in a game system that does not satisfy me. It’s better if I leave. I spoke with Catia (Pedrini, the president of Modena). It’s very difficult because I love her very much, she loves me a lot, I love this club and its supporters, but I can not give up the opportunity to go to Kazan.”
Ngapeth’s decision most definitely means that Wilfredo Leon will be out of Kazan next season. This is a rare occasion, when a coach wins an arm-wrestling match against one of the world’s most prestigious players. To recall the Ngapeth x Stoytchev feud saga, visit the following articles:
