Football: Espanyol "resigned" to Kameni loss

Par Phil Minshull | BBC Sport
MADRID - 04-Mar-2008 - 08h30   54228                      
4
Cameroon goalkeeper Carlos Kameni could be heading to England if Spanish club Espanyol do not improve his contract.
Sources told the Spanish sports daily newspaper El Mundo Deportivo that Espanyol are resigned to losing Kameni at the end of the season. Tottenham Hotspur are believed to have already been in touch about buying out the goalkeeper's contract. Manchester United have also been linked with Kameni in the past. "The intention of the three parties (Espanyol, Tottenham and Kameni) is not to start talking until April. "Everything until then will remain quiet. They want everything to finish amicably and for Espanyol to end up in Europe next season," wrote El Mundo Deportivo. Kameni, arguably one of Africa's top two goalkeepers along with Egypt's Essam El-Hadary, this week pointedly refused to answer questions about his future. His contract with Espanyol ends in June 2009 but any club could pay his buy-out clause of $9m, a relatively modest amount for a player of his statute, and sign him before that date. It is a well known fact that Kameni's agent - the former Cameroon international Patrick Mboma - has tried to renegotiate the goalkeeper's contract in recent months. Kameni has been on top form this season and his heroics have helped Espanyol up to fifth place in La Liga and they are still with a good chance of making the Champions League for the first time However, the cash-strapped club do not currently have the resources to give the 23-year-old player the same sort of deal as Real Madrid's Iker Casillas or Barcelona's Victor Valdes. According to El Mundo Deportivo, the club have lined up a cut-price replacement should Kameni leave, in the shape of Gabon's Didier Ovono. Ovono currently plays for Georgian league leaders Dinamo Tbilisi and his arrival would add to Espanyol's long history of signing African goalkeepers. This record dates back to when another Cameroonian Thomas N'kono moved there in the wake of his impressive performances at the 1982 World Cup. Incidentally, N'kono is Espanyol's goalkeeping coach and was instrumental in Kameni's transfer from French club Le Havre in 2004.




Dans la même Rubrique