Bournemouth coach Garry O’Neil says he has no bad feelings towards Jordan Zemura after the Zimbabwean international rejected an improved contract in order to join Italian Serie A club Udinese on a free transfer.
Zemura (23), signed a four-year deal after refusing to extend his stay at the Cherries beyond this season.
The club responded by freezing him out of the senior squad and sending him to train with the development squad.
Asked if he feels let down by Zemura for the way his departure has transpired, Cherries head coach O’Neil told the Daily Echo:
All of it is out now, so you all have a really clear picture of the situation.
I don’t feel any way about it. As a footballer, you have decisions to make and you make them and you do what you think is best for yourself.
My responsibility is to do what I think is best for the team and the group and the club.
It is the same with any situation that I deal with really. No real feelings about it, just what is best for the group and how we give ourselves the best chance of staying up at the end of the season.
O’Neil said Zemura’s situation has not been a distraction to him and the squad. He said:
Nothing will distract me and the group from the task at hand, I can guarantee you that.
There will be no shift in focus. It will be 100 percent, from the moment that I took over until the end of the season.
I think you guys know most of it now, if not all of it. I think it’s all out.
The club has always been really aligned in how we see it.
Jordan will move on and play for another club next season. As always, my focus is on the group and making sure that everybody is ready for the weekend.
We’ve made a decision that it’s best at this moment for Jordan to train with the under-21s and that will remain until it doesn’t.
Zemura joined Bournemouth as an academy player in 2019 and was later promoted to the senior team, and his departure would see the club eligible for a compensation fee.
Bournemouth are currently sitting in 14th position on the log with 33 points from 31 games.
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