Image: Anita Milas
Bentleigh Greens have reacted to claims from Kamal Ibrahim that the club mismanaged his injuries and “didn’t get the best out of me” in 2016.
After securing a move from Port Melbourne Sharks to Bentleigh for 2016 after a 2015 season culminated in Ibrahim becoming an FFV Gold Medallist, the winger suffered injuries in pre-season that hampered his season proper.
Restricted to a handful of league appearances and netting one goal, Ibrahim claimed he “wasn’t happy” at Bentleigh Greens due to “a few issues [that] didn’t get managed properly by the club”, while he still had his sights set on an A-League career.
“I could not see myself playing there next season to be honest and I’m happy now. The club had their own issue so it was a good thing for both of us. They didn’t get the best out of me and I wasn’t happy there. It was better to move on,” Ibrahim told mfootball.com.au.
“If it was managed properly, that would have been it. But like I said, there were a few issues and it didn’t get managed properly by the club. I kept getting injured and it affected my whole season. If you don’t stay consistent, it’s very difficult.”
Having kept the faith in Ibrahim, including retaining him after the 2016 mid-season transfer window, the club maintains it did all it could in its power to provide the correct treatment – as it did with the likes of Matt Thurtell, who returned from a long-term knee injury to net nine goals in 15 league starts – and takes its squad’s physical and mental wellbeing “very seriously”, hence its disappointment in Ibrahim’s claims.
“We are disappointed to see the comments Kamal made recently about our club,” Bentleigh Greens CEO John Ioannou said.
“Kamal came to us in pre-season underdone in late 2015 and injured his knee before the new year. We had his knee initially assessed by our club physio. We thought the injury would sideline him for two weeks of pre-season, but he did not return to action until April.
“When he didn’t seem to be making any progress, we paid for him to see a second physio, before he decided to seek a third opinion without letting us know.
“He clearly had talent, but his return of less than 10 starts and one goal was an extremely disappointing return for a player of his calibre. Hence we made the decision to not renew his contract for 2017.
“We strive to be a professional club with a professional environment despite playing in a semi-professional competition.
“Any issues our players have – whether it be physical or mental – we take extremely seriously and are offended by his accusation of mismanagement as we honored his contract for the whole season despite our disappointing return on investment.
“We wish Kamal the very best in 2017 and hope he reaches his full potential wherever he plays.”
TCF understands there had been some contact made between Ibrahim and Avondale FC about a potential transfer in 2017, however no move had been confirmed by the club.