Greece defender Papadopoulos fires parting shot at Michel
International defender Avraam Papadopoulos suddenly quit Olympiakos on Monday to join Turkish club Trabzonspor, and fired a parting shot at Olympiakos manager Michel putting the blame on the Spaniard for his departure from the Greek champion.
“If you love me, let me go,” Papadopoulos reportedly told Olympiakos owner Vangelis Marinakis, as the central defender’s rift with Michel had made his position at Olympiakos untenable. The Greek international had lost his place to Alberto Botia, whom Michel brought in last month from Spain.
Trabzonspor acted swiftly and signed the 29-year-old center back as a free agent for one year, it announced on Monday.
In a statement that Papadopoulos released upon his departure, he said that his coach (whom he carefully avoided to name) had trusted him: “I have decided to depart from the club as I never had the esteem and the confidence of the current manager,” said Papadopoulos in the statement uploaded at the official Olympiakos website.
“It therefore came to the point where cohabitation with him had become impossible,” added Australian-born Papadopoulos.
This came on the same day that Olympiakos announced the departure of an even bigger name, Javier Saviola, whose destination is Hellas Verona in Italy. Saviola notched up 14 goals in 33 games for the Reds since August 2013.
