MX23RW : Wednesday, December 11 12:42:56| >> :120:8280:8280:

James Pallotta: Mehdi Benatia told "outright lies"

Roma chief James Pallotta brands Mehdi Benatia as "poisonous" following the Moroccan's comments about being sold against his wishes to Bayern Munich.

Roma president James Pallotta has accused Mehdi Benatia of "outright lies" about wanting to remain at the club.

The centre-back joined Bayern Munich towards the end of the transfer window for around £21m, and the Moroccan defender claimed that he was sold against his wishes by the Italian side.

However, Pallotta has angrily denied that was the case and slammed his former player as "poisonous".

He told Roma's official website: "Mehdi Benatia has obviously continued with his pattern of outright lies over the last couple of months. We had a verbal agreement on compensation and a raise back in July in Boston. He personally said to me that he was happy after I told him flat out with no exceptions that we wanted him to stay.

"Over the following month he lied about wanting to stay and about the details of his compensation to both [coach] Rudi Garcia and his teammates. Lying to me was one thing which I can somewhat handle. Lying to Rudi Garcia and his teammates was completely unacceptable to me.

"I told [sporting director] Walter Sabatini he was becoming poisonous and I wanted him gone, and Rudi and Walter agreed. It wasn't about the money; it was about having character in our locker room. We are in a very sound financial position."

Bayern were forced to move for Benatia when Javi Martinez was ruled out with a serious knee injury.

ID:175753: cacheID:175753:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:2632:
Written by
Paul Gorst
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Mehdi Benatia of AS Roma in action during the Serie A match between Atalanta BC and AS Roma at Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia on December 1, 2013
Read Next:
Roma want £50m for Benatia
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Bayern MunichBayern13103041103133
2Eintracht FrankfurtFrankfurt1383233181527
3Bayer LeverkusenB. Leverkusen1375130201026
4RB Leipzig137332114724
5Wolfsburg136342922721
6Borussia DortmundDortmund136342420421
7Freiburg136341717021
8Stuttgart135532623320
9Mainz 05Mainz135442318519
10Werder Bremen135442024-419
11Borussia MonchengladbachBorussia M'bach135351918118
12Union BerlinUnion Berlin134451214-216
13Augsburg134451625-916
14Hoffenheim133461825-713
15St Pauli133281117-611
16Heidenheim133191728-1110
17Holstein Kiel1312101333-205
18VfL BochumVfL Bochum1302111034-242


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!