Jason Denayer was repeatedly linked with a move to Wolves in recent months, as the Belgian looked for a new club as a free agent. Having spent time in England with Manchester City and Sunderland, a return to the country looked attractive for him.
He’d left Lyon after falling out with them over a contract renewal. The French club thought he was playing too hard to get, and he was edged out of the picture as a result, but the defender took it all to heart and decided to walk out on Lyon.
Denayer probably thought he’d get better offers than he did, with Wolves being the club linked the most. Negotiations with the Premier League club were said to be difficult, and the Belgian media suggested Denayer was being unreasonable and his options were quickly falling away.
Wolves appeared to have had enough and then the 27-year-old was left to see which other options were available for him. That ended up with a move to Dubai and Al-Shabab, something which has obviously been seen as something of a step down.
Denayer has now come out and defending his choice, insisting it’s not the negative many see it as. Quoted by Het Nieuwsblad, he suggested a poor experienced at Sunderland put him off joining a club which doesn’t fight for trophies.
“When I was still playing at Manchester City, the club loaned me out to Sunderland. I made that transfer because the club asked me to. We were relegated from the Premier League, we played all the time not to lose. I became very unhappy with that. I learned a lesson from it. It’s not that I felt too good for the clubs that wanted me, but they weren’t teams that were aiming for a European ticket. And I absolutely want to play to win trophies.
“I’m 27 and I have a one-year contract in Dubai. What’s the problem? There are so many players who made such a transfer and came back afterwards and performed well in Europe.”
