Thursday, August 04, 2005

Who's stopping Le Tallec?

Media reports yesterday claimed that on-loan player Anthony Le Tallec was refused permission by Rafael Benitez to play against Liverpool for Sunderland this month - in case the forward damages the Champions League qualification hopes of his parent club.

But he will not be allowed to play in his new side's second Barclays Premiership clash of the season, against Liverpool away.

"Of course I would want to play against Liverpool but I cannot. I asked Benitez if I could and he told me no," he said.

"He said that if I scored against Liverpool and they finished fifth in the league it would not be good for me or for them.

"But to be honest I'm not thinking about Liverpool, I'm thinking about Sunderland."

However, today Liverpools Offiical website www.liverpooltc.tv claimed that the on loan midfielder Anthony Le Tallec will not be allowed to play for Sunderland against Liverpool on Saturday, August 20th due to Premier League rules. Explaining that the new rule state that a player on loan can not play against his long term employers.

That rules Le Tallec out of both Premiership games against Liverpool this season.

It remains to be seen if he is allowed to play against the Reds should they be drawn against the Black Cats in the FA or League Cup, where the Premier League has no jurisdiction. At that point perhaps we'll know whether Le Tallec has been banned from from playing against his current employers. Either way it won't affect LFC's qualifying for the Champions League.

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