David Moyes has warned Adnan Januzaj that he needs to “stop blaming everyone else” for his recent fall from grace and told Lamine Koné to show some patience.
While Januzaj, the Belgium winger, has joined Sunderland on a season-long loan from Manchester United which Moyes concedes to be “a little bit of a risk”, Koné is the subject of an £18m bid from Everton.
Unimpressed by the centre-half’s consequent attempts to effectively hold the Wearside club to ransom by demanding the immediate drafting of a lucrative new contract, Moyes – who has previously told Koné he will be offered an improved deal on 1 September – is now undecided as to whether to accept Everton’s offer. He will fine the former Lorient player for public comments expressing disappointment with the contract re-negotiation.
A player Moyes had initially resolved to keep was promised an enhanced agreement by the former manager, Sam Allardyce and, although his successor has no intention of reneging on it, he refuses to be backed into a corner. “We’ll honour something that was said to him regarding a new contract if we stayed up,” said Moyes who has held “private discussions” with Everton’s chairman, Bill Kenwright, regarding the proposed transfer. “But because we’re in the middle of the transfer window, we’ve said ‘can we wait and can we do it on September 1?’.
“We’ve told the boy, if you don’t mind, can you give us a little bit of time because you have a four-year contract and you’ve only served six months of it. We don’t think it would be too bad just to wait a few weeks, if you don’t mind’.”
Unhappy to see pictures of Koné on Merseyside this week, Moyes must now decide whether to start the 27-year-old Ivory Coast international at Manchester City on Saturday. “He’s a big player here. He was definitely in my team tomorrow, but I have got a decision to make because of what he’s come out and said. He’ll be fined. It’s a difficult situation.”
Januzaj will be involved at the Etihad Stadium following his reunion with Moyes, the manager who mentored him as he broke into Manchester United’s first team and seemed destined for the top. Since then Januzaj’s star has waned, the winger failing to convince either Louis van Gaal or José Mourinho.
“I’ve said to Adnan, you need to stop blaming everyone else for what’s gone wrong,” said Moyes. “This loan’s a little bit of a risk. I’ve told Adnan to look at himself and realise that it’s down to him to change it; it can’t always be the manager’s fault or the coach’s fault that he hasn’t progressed. Adnan’s got to ask has he prepared right, has he got himself in the best condition, has he trained well enough? And, when he’s got his opportunity, has he played well enough? In a lot of cases the answer has to be ‘no’.”
Even so he is delighted to have the Belgian in his squad. “He’s two-footed, he’s got a little bit of Chris Waddle about him and it’s a big boost because it’s the level of quality I would like to bring here,” said Moyes. “I’m going to try to get him back to the levels he was at a couple of years ago.
“ He’s coming to a manager who trusts him and believes in him but he’s not really featured for the past couple of years. But this boy can play two or three different positions, he’s got an ability to go past people, score goals, make goals. He’s got the talent to be a big, big player.”