Ibrahim Afellay told to stay away from Stoke City by Paul Lambert
Thursday 29 March 2018 14:25, UK
Stoke City midfielder Ibrahim Afellay has been told to stay away from the club for the rest of the season by manager Paul Lambert.
Lambert feels the former Netherlands international, who joined the club from Barcelona in the summer of 2015, is a bad influence on the rest of the squad.
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The Scot wants Stoke's squad completely united as they continue their fight to stay in the Premier League, and he feels Afellay's attitude during training has been poor, as well as disruptive.
Lambert told Afellay he was no longer welcome at the club's Clayton Woods training complex earlier this week.
Chairman Peter Coates told the Stoke Sentinel: "We have standards we have to keep and expect people to keep and we obviously support the manager on such issues.
"If he feels as strongly as he has on this issue, then of course we back him."
Afellay, who has a year left on his contract, has not played for Stoke's first team since December 30, when he started the 5-0 demolition at the hands of Chelsea.
His other five Premier League appearances this season have all come off the bench and he has not featured at all since Lambert took over from Mark Hughes in January.
The Potters are 19th in the table with seven games remaining in the campaign, a point behind Southampton and three adrift of West Ham and Crystal Palace.
Stoke's next game is a trip to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, which forms part of Super Sunday on Sky Sports Premier League.
