The Fred Polemic

By: Inara | July 26th, 2007

Everyone’s favorite temperamental striker is playing hooky and trying to avoid coming back to Lyon.

The latest on the Fred situation is that he is still in Brazil, “recovering” from his Copa America injury but in reality having an extended honeymoon.

The club is annoyed because they don’t know how injured he is. Right now, OL’s medical staff are relying on the words of the Brazil National Team doctor. But naturally, considering Lyon’s on-going striker crisis, they would like to evaluate his wound for themselves so they can determine how long Fred will be out and whether the club needs another striker.

Remember how an injured Fred left Lyon without permission in order to be ready for Copa America? And how he then broke his foot during the first week of the competition? (For a more in depth list of Fred infractions, read this post).

Instead of returning to Lyon on July 2nd with everyone else, he stayed in Brazil. Lyon half-heartedly agreed, especially since they were getting ready to leave for the Peace Cup at that point. However, Fred was supposed to be back by July 24th for the resumption of practice.

He was a no-show. Fred’s excuse was that he couldn’t leave Brazil until next week because he needs to be examined by the Seleçao doctor one more time.

Lame.

Perrin (who has yet to meet Fred, by the way) confessed to being aggravated by Fred’s offhand attitude. Bernard Lacombe, Lyon’s sporting director and normally super sympathetic with all things Brazilian, called up Fred on the phone and basically said, “WTF buddy.” He informed Fred that his attitude was unprofessional. Fred did some grousing in return, which further pissed off Lacombe.

Best. Picture. Ever.

Aulas was even more blunt. He basically accused Fred of making up excuses in order to stay in Brazil longer. Very disappointed by Fred’s behavior, Aulas said that Fred made too many errors and that when he returns to Lyon, they’ll be having a serious talk.

I can’t even imagine what his teammates are thinking. While they all returned on time and are working hard, Fred is carousing in Sao Paulo.

Even I’m pissed off! And I blindly support everything OL!

What is really disappointing about this affair (besides Fred, of course), is that the club is being really lenient with him. Sylvain Wiltord had a wild party, and now he’s basically being kicked out of the club. Alou Diarra bitched in public a couple of times and was kicked off the senior team for a while. Hatem Ben Arfa spent three months playing in the reserves because he was late to practice a couple times. Even Eric Abidal, Tiago, and John Carew have been on the receiving end of Aulas’s snarky remarks since their transfers.

But Fred? He’s been the worst behaved OL player in recent years, and all he’s probably going to get is a fine. The club has stated that they have no intention of selling Fred, which might be why he’s been acting like an asshole recently. He knows that he’s the club’s best striker (currently), and with Lyon unable to attract a better forward, he’s all they’ve got right now.

He insisted on taking the #9 shirt a few weeks ago. And a pay raise!

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I hope he’s benched in favor of Milan Baros and Karim Benzema.

By the way, can someone clarify Fred’s marital status? AJ at the Cruzeiro Offside confirmed what I had originally thought – that Fred was already married to Amanda, the mother of his daughter Giovanna. But both Aulas and Perrin keep talking about Fred getting married in Brazil recently and how that will hopefully stabilize him (making Fred sound like a dangerous animal).