SUMAREH GOES FROM HERO TO ZERO

FMT

Tony Mariadass

 September 6, 2020

 

Pahang’s national winger, Mohamadou Sumareh, has bit the hand that fed him, proving ungrateful to Pahang FA president Tengku Abdul Rahman Sultan Ahmad Shah, and the player could pay dearly for this.

The Gambia-born 26-year-old has not been training with the Pahang squad for almost a month and is believed to have prematurely terminated his contract with Pahang FA.

He failed to show up for Pahang’s first match against JDT on Aug 28 when the M-League resumed after being suspended because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sumareh is said to have exercised clause 8.7 of his contract which provides for termination of the contract for non-payment of salary. It also allows him to negotiate with any new club and to be released unconditionally to the new club on a free transfer.

Sumareh has been accused of biting the hand that fed him. (Pahang FA Facebook pic)

Pahang FA say they had paid his dues on the agreed date of Aug 26. Several matters remain unclear as both parties have been keeping everything close to their chests but all indications are that this saga is not going to end soon.

Tengku Abdul Rahman, who is Pahang Tengku Muda, told FMT that although there was a delay in payment, everything has been settled with Sumareh.

“I am disappointed with Sumareh for whom we have done a great deal, including getting his Malaysian citizenship,” he said. Sumareh became a citizen in 2018 and Malaysia’s first non-heritage naturalised player.

“It is a clear show of ungratefulness by him and the manner in which he has gone about handling this situation does not portray him as a professional,’’ said Tengku Abdul Rahman.

He said: “We promised to make the delayed payment and we fulfilled our end of the bargain. If he had an issue or wanted to leave for another team, he could have waited to speak to me and left amicably. He chose not to attend training and decided to take things into his own hands.”

Tengku Abdul Rahman is determined not to let Sumareh have things easy in his move to another club.

Tengku Abdul Rahman, who helped get Malaysian citizenship for Sumareh, is disappointed with the player’s unprofessional conduct. (Pahang FA Facebook pic).

“I don’t want him after all he has done and we will do everything to make known his unprofessional conduct to the relevant authorities. We will write to the FA of Malaysia and forward the letter to the Asian Football Confederation and Fifa and let matters take its course from there,” the Pahang FA president said.

There are several twists to Sumareh’s next move.

While there is speculation that Sumareh is moving to Thailand’s Police Tero FC to play in the league which resumes later this month, it is also learnt that Muangthong FC are also pursuing him.

It is learnt that an agent, who is arranging for Sumareh to don Muangthong colours, has contacted the Pahang FA for his International Transfer Certificate and offered US$1 million as transfer fee.

Whether or not Pahang FA agree to the deal is left to be seen. Why is a transfer fee being offered, if Sumareh considers himself free from his contract with Pahang FA using clause 8.7?

It is also believed his Thailand stop is a temporary measure because he cannot move to any M-League team as there is no transfer window this season due to the league being shortened with a one-round affair.

There is also talk that Sumareh will eventually turn out for JDT.

Sumareh could have handled things in a more favourable manner and avoided tarnishing his reputation. Some are even questioning his loyalty to the national team while others are asking if he had surrendered his Gambian passport.

Pahang fans have branded him as unprofessional and ungentlemanly.

None of Pahang’s 35-man squad complained of non-payment of salary, so why did Sumareh have an issue?

Pahang coach Dollah Salleh has been Sumareh’s mentor since he coached the Police team in 2015 before moving to Perlis and then Pahang since 2017. He is equally disappointed.

“I was like a father to him and when he told me he wanted to leave Pahang, I advised him to finish the season since there were only seven more matches left. I told him to talk to Tengku and leave amicably, although his contract with Pahang was until the end of 2021,” said Dollah.

“But he chose to do otherwise and has burned his bridges and hurt people who took good care of him, especially Tengku who has delivered everything promised to him and more.

“I even protected him when he did not turn up for training for a month and told reporters that he was injured.”

Sumareh came to Malaysia when he was 12 years old with his businessman father and they settled here three years later.

A former Maz International School and Segi College student, he had his early training with the Kuala Lumpur Youth Soccer academy under Argentine coach and former Kelantan player, Luis Pablo Pozzuto.

He made his debut for Malaysia on October 12, 2018 in a friendly against Sri Lanka, coming on as a substitute and scoring his first international goal in a 4-1 victory. He has since made 19 appearances for the national team and netted six goals.

 

 

BLOG VERSION

First naturalised football player has set a bad example and his integrity is questioned.

 

PAHANG'S national winger Mohamadou Sumareh has bit the hand that fed him when he proved ungrateful to Pahang FA president Tengku Abdul Rahman Sultan Ahmad Shah, the Pahang Tengku Muda and the player could pay dearly for this. 

The 26-year-old Gambia-born, who has not been training with the Pahang squad for almost a month and failed to show up for their first match against JDT last week (Aug 28) when the M-League resumed after being suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is believed to have terminated his contract with Pahang FA prematurely.

Sumareh is said to have exercised his contract’s clause 8.7 which reads:

This contract may be terminated without any effect of any kind (either payment of compensation or imposition of sporting sanctions) if the Player does not receive his salary on more than one occasion. The Player must:

 i.  Having not paid a salary for more than one occasion, the Player shall write a letter to the Club Secretary or Manager expresses his intention to terminate the contract;

ii.  After stating his intention to terminate the contract, the Player has the right to negotiate with any new Club, without having to get permission from the current Club. In such a case, the Club shall release the Player to the New Club and release his transfer certificate (SPN) unconditionally as soon as the contract terminated and no further compensation or transfer fee may apply to new Club.

Pahang FA, however had not responded to Sumareh as they had paid his dues on the agreed date of Aug 26 and also due to Tengku Abdul Rahman not being available.

Although several matters remain unclear as both parties have been keeping everything close to their chests, all indications are that this saga is not going to end soon.

Tengku Abdul Rahman has told FMT that although there was a delay in payment, everything has been settled with Sumareh.

   “I am very disappointed with the attitude of Sumareh for whom we have done a great deal, including getting his Malaysian citizenship,” said Tengku Abdul Rahman.

Sumareh obtained his Malaysian citizenship in 2018 and became the nation's first non-heritage naturalised player.

 "It is a clear show of ungratefulness by him and the manner be which he has gone about handling this situation certainly does not portray him as a professional,'’ added Tengku Abdul Rahman.

“We had promised to make the delayed payment and we fulfilled our end of the bargain. If he had an issue or wanted to leave the team for another, he could have waited to speak to me and left amicably.

“When Matthew Davies was offered to play for JDT, he came to ask me for my advice and I told him since it will benefit his football career playing for the club which had top class facilities, was a formidable team and had ambitions, he can leave if he wants. We let him go without any conditions and neither party has hard feelings.

“However, Sumareh choose not to attend training and decided to take things into his own hands. At this stage I don’t want him too; after all he has done. We will do everything to make sure his unprofessional conduct is known to the relevant authorities.

“We will write to FA of Malaysia and forward the letter to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and FIFA. We will let matters take its course from there.”

Tengku Abdul Rahman is determined not to let Sumareh have things easy in his move to another club. And there are many twists to Sumareh’s next move.

While there is speculation that Sumareh is moving to Thailand’s Police Tero FC to play in the league which resumes later this month, it is also learnt that Muangthong FC are also pursuing him.

It is reliably learnt that an agent who is arranging for Sumareh to don Muangthong colours, has contacted the Pahang FA for his International Transfer Certificate (ITC) and offered US$1 million as transfer fee.

Whether or not Pahang FA agree to the deal is left to be seen, but why is a transfer fee being offered, if Sumareh considers himself free from his contract with Pahang FA using clause 8.7?

  It is also believed his Thailand stop is a transit stop, as he cannot move to any M-League team as there is no transfer window this season because the league has been shortened with only a one-round affair.

There is also talk that Sumareh will eventually turnout for JDT.

Sumareh could have handled things in a more favourable manner and avoided tarnishing his image and reputation.

There are some who are even questioning his loyalty to the national team, while others are asking if he had really surrendered his Gambian passport.

Pahang fans have branded him as unprofessional and ungentlemanly.

Pahang has a 35-man squad but none of the players had complained of non-payment, so why Sumareh had an issue.

Pahang coach Dollah Salleh, who has been Sumareh’s mentor since the latter coached the Police team in 2015 before moving to Perlis and then Pahang since 2017, is equally disappointed.

“I was like a father to him and when he told me he wanted to leave Pahang, I advised him to finish the season since there were only seven more matches left in the M-League, and then talk to Tengku and leave amicably, although his contract with Pahang was until he end of 2021,” said Dollah.

“But he chose to do otherwise and has burned his bridges and hurt people who took good care of him, especially Tengku who has delivered everything promised to him and more.

“It has just dawned on me that Sumareh has made up his mind to leave Pahang. I even protected him when he did not turn up for training for a month and told reporters that he was injured.”

Sumareh came to Malaysia when he was 12 years old following his father who worked as a businessman and began living here three years later.

Sumareh, a former Maz International School and Segi College student, had his early training when a teenager with the Kuala Lumpur Youth Soccer (KLYS) academy under Argentine coach and former Kelantan player, Luis Pablo Pozzuto.

 

He made his debut on 12 October 2018, in a warm-up match against Sri Lanka. In that match, he came on as a substitute and scored his first international goal in a 4-1 victory. He has since made 19 appearances for the national team and netted six goals.

 

Ends.