Earlier on Monday, we covered the news from Ouest-France that Matt Miazga was in England to sort out his return to Chelsea, meaning his loan with Nantes would be cancelled.
What wasn’t known at the time was that the USA international did all of this without his manager’s knowledge, even going as far as lying to Vahid Halilhodzic about his fitness to try get out of the French side.
Barely used this season since the Bosnian manager took over (two appearances), the 23-year-old’s loan cancellation was already a source of speculation back in November, seemingly coming to fruition this week.
However, when speaking during a press conference on Monday, the 66-year-old clarified the situation.
🎙 Vahid Halilhodzic : “Ce matin, @MattMiazga3 était en Angleterre, à Chelsea. Il n’a prévenu personne. (…) Ces choses-là me gênent. Mais il faut faire avec, même si ça m’a beaucoup déçu.”#ESSGFCN
— FC Nantes (@FCNantes) 21 January 2019
He said: “The blackmail I was taking about yesterday, that was about Matt Miazga. He assured me he had a back problem, but after going through tests, there was no problem. He just wanted to leave the club.
“This morning, Miazga was in England, at Chelsea. He didn’t tell anyone. Things like that bother me, but you have to make do, even if it disappointed me a lot.”
Making just nine appearances in all competitions this season, the Chelsea loanee was clearly fed up with the way things were going in France, yet there’s a certain level of professionalism that needs to be upheld regardless of personal situations.
That is, of course, if what Halilhodzic says is what actually happened.
