Gyawe Jonas Salley wants out of Adelaide united

By Val Migliaccio
December 17, 2008

DISHEARTENED Gyawe Jonas Salley wants out.

Salley said he's had enough of Adelaide United once his contract expires at the end of the season.

He was adamant that his time was up after winning a two-year Reds deal in 2007.

Red's hardman Salley hasn't featured in any of the Reds two FIFA Club World Cup matches in Japan.

And he's highly unlikely to play in the fifth place Club World Cup play off against Egypt's Al Ahly at Yokohama Stadium.

Salley started his last match on October 31 in a 2-3 loss to Melbourne Victory at Hindmarsh Stadium.

He has seen just 56 minutes out of a possible six matches of game time.

"For me I need to move on," Salley said.

"I've already made up my mind. I don't know what's going on.

"I was looking forward to playing here but it doesn't look like it's going to happen and that's the way it is."

Salley said he doesn't know the reason why he has fallen out of favour.

"I haven't spoken to anyone about it," he said.

"For me it's not the best way, if you're not going to use someone tell him why he's not playing.

"I'm here just training, training, I don't know what I'm here for."

The Ivorian-born defensive midfielder became an Australian citizen this year.

But he was cruelly dumped from Adelaide's knockout AFC Champions League campaign after FIFA had changed its new citizenship eligibility rules this year.

Salley played as an import during Adelaide's Champions League group stage earlier this year.

But he was wrongly deemed to be eligible by football authorities for the knock out stage after taking out Australian citizenship.

But the AFC rejected Salley for the Champions League as a local player because he needed to live in Australia for five years before becoming a local according to FIFA.

He missed the cut by 18 months.

The paperwork bungle perhaps signalled the demise of Salley.

He was a regular feature of coach Aurelio Vidmar's starting XI until the second stage of the Asian campaign.

Salley is set to be the eighth player to leave the club either willingly or reluctantly at the end of the season.

He will join departing Reds Jason Spagnuolo, who agreed to terms for North Queensland's after requesting an early release, and Angelo Costanzo a target of Newcastle Jets.

There is also uncertainty on whether United will retain pending out of contract players Mike Valkanis, Daniel Beltrame, Isyan Erdogan, Paul Agostino and Diego.

But Adelaide's Robert Cornthwaite and Fabian Barbiero are due to win fresh contracts before their terms expire next year.