Torino president demands apology from Nicolas N'Koulou

Nicolas N'Koulou (L)

Tuesday Aug 27, 2019. 08:00

Torino president Urbano Cairo has demanded an apology from Cameroon defender Nicolas N’Koulou, who is reportedly trying to force through a move to Serie A rivals Roma.

The Cameroonian international has been heavily linked with a move to the Giallorossi and asked to be left out of Walter Mazarri’s team for the season-opening 2-1 win over Sassuoilo this past weekend.

N’Koulou has two years left on his contract in Turin and Cairo insists that the player will be going nowhere ahead of the September 2 transfer window deadline.

The defender’s level of performances have been questioned in recent times, but he remains an important part of the squad.

“N’Koulou? He has a performance like the one against Wolverhampton, which wasn’t exceptional – you saw him on the third goal, and then he tells the manager he’s not mentally prepared after being called up,” Cairo told Tuttomercatoweb.

“He should’ve told us a day sooner so we could play someone else.

“I said at the beginning of the transfer window that I will keep everyone, so he will also remain. Maybe he has other ideas, but he has a contract for another two years.

“N’Koulou must apologise to the club and to his teammates. Will he stay? For me, yes, I want to keep everyone.

“And as I said, he has a contract for another two years. I even met with his agent at Forte dei Marmi: we were talking all afternoon and even talked about adding a buyout clause.

“Is this a low blow from Petrachi? No, I don’t know this, but Roma aren’t even able to contact our players: there is a written agreement, if they do, they have to pay a penalty of €900,000.”