Ivory Coast international Eric Bailly has accused Manchester United of favouring English players rather than choosing teams on merit.
Last season Bailly made just four Premier League appearances after falling down the pecking order under both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick.
The 28-year-old joined Marseille on loan, with a £5million option to make the transfer away from Old Trafford permanent if the French outfit qualify for the Champions League.
Bailly is now preparing to face Tottenham Hotspur in their opening Champions League game of the season, but has seemingly hit out at Harry Maguire, who played regularly despite struggling while he failed to get a look in.
He stated that he hopes this will end with new manager Erik ten Hag now in charge at Old Trafford.
“The club should avoid favouring English players and give everyone a chance,’ Bailly said in quotes carried by The Times.
“[The club should] encourage competition in the dressing room, not just look out for some. I’ve always had the feeling that the national player was prioritised.
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“That doesn’t happen at Chelsea or other big Premier League clubs. Some people take it for granted that they are going to start, and that weakens the team.
“Luckily [Erik] Ten Hag has a lot of character and I hope he can change that dynamic.”
Ten Hag strengthen his central defence in the summer by signing Lisandro Martinez in a £50m deal.
And Bailly has revealed he held talks with the Dutch coach at the end of the 2021-22 campaign, and decided to leave despite the 52-year-old’s desire to keep him because he wanted more regular playing time.
“I met Erik Ten Hag in the dressing room at the end of last season when he went to sign his contract,’ Bailly added.
“I was packing my things because my intention was to leave, but he told me he wanted me to stay because he was going to give minutes to everyone.
“I agreed to do the summer tour with United, and he kept his word, but I don’t want to play every now and then. I want to do it every week and feel important. I want to get my confidence back.”
Bailly – who joined United in 2016 – has played twice for Marseille this season but was on the bench for the 2-0 win at Auxerre at the weekend.
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COMMENTS
When we tell them, they refuse to hear! Nigerian-born players are the heaviest victims with low minutes per game. Iheanacho in his first 5 games this season averaged 23.6 minutes per game. Even commentators on this site want to pretend that this is not happening. The main perpetrators are English managers, foreign managers in the premier league are more fair and objective.
What does this tell a Nigerian-born player? Don’t be in a rush to play in the EPL and if you must, choose a non-English manager.
I like to tell the story of the first black manager in the premier league, Ruud Gullit of Chelsea. He was appointed by Ken Bates then Chelsea Chairman to fail. All the English managers refused to deal in the transfer market with him. How was he going to improve his squad if he couldn’t buy players? Luckily for Gullit, he had spent many years playing in Italy and knew famous managers in Italy like Fabio Capello and Arrigo Sacchi. Through them, he brought Italian players to Chelsea, De Mateo, Zola, and Vialli.
Chelsea began winning trophies and grew in popularity because of the sexy football that Gullit created. They won their first trophy in 26 years and came 3rd in the premier league their highest position in 17 years. It was this that made Chelsea attractive to Abramovich.
He was sacked, why? Not for poor performance but because according to Ken Bates “I didn’t like his arrogance – in fact, I never liked him.”. He was too uppity for a black man. It was after his performance that Arsenal appointed their first foreign coach.
Thank you very much, my brother. Those who ‘know’ know that giving English players priority and undeserved spotlights is an open secret at clubs like Man U (Ferguson never hid his biases) and Tottenham – and in fact, the English press. I’ll never be a fan of those teams. What suddenly made Chelsea a big name in Europe in the early 2000’s? They got a foreign buyer, who hired a foreign coach who likes black players (Mourinho), who then recruited top foreign players. And then Drogba, Essien etc exploded on the premiership. Mikel knew what he was doing when he rejected Ferguson and it turned out to be a wise decision.