Italian clubs after Christian Karembeu
Italian media reports disclosed yesterday that Olympiakos’s star midfielder, Christian Karembeu, has received offers by Italian clubs interested in signing him for for next season. The clubs were not named. Two Italian sports websites, Calciomercato and Onefootball, quote the 32-year-old French international as saying that, with two seasons remaining before his current contract expires, the negotiating would depend on Olympiakos’s intentions. «My contract with Olympiakos has two years left and I don’t think they’re going to want to let me go,» Karembeu was quoted as telling the sites. The French international, one of Greek soccer’s more prized foreign-player catches in many seasons, also commented negatively about persisting crowd violence here. He made specific reference to the trouble that erupted and marred his team’s recent clash against Panathinaikos. It resulted in a shocked and bloodied referee leaving the pitch with minimal protection, after Olympiakos converted a fairly called penalty kick to equalize late in the game. «Violence is the big problem with Greek soccer. In the match against Panathinaikos, fans invaded the pitch and were striking us with chairs,» Karembeu told the Italian sport sites. «Three weeks have gone by and my wrist is still sore.»
