Two years ago, Javad Nekounam left Osasuna to Esteghlal Tehran after he refused to accept a substantial pay cut mandated by the Chief Executive of the club. Osasuna , which was playing in the La Liga was struggling financially and Nekounam was one of their highest paid players. Getting rid of him seemed to be a logical financial move for the club , but far from a sound decision tactically.
Today , Javad Nekounam has returned back to his old favorite place , but the Pamplona club is no more a La liga club. Last season and after a very tough run , the club was relegated , and now it is in the second division.
The Bosses of Osasuna introduced Nekounam to about 500 cheering Osasuna fans in Pamplona. Javad immediately got to work and started his first training session preparing for the imminent start of the Segunda Liga of Spain.
Before his departure from Iran, after returning from World Cup duty, Javad Nekounam created a major controversy when he embarked on a verbal war and spoke highly critically about Amir Ghalenoei , his coach in Esteghlal with his alleged faults. Nekounam did not chew his words either accusing the coach , who was also the coach of Team Melli when Nekounam was a member of the team in Asian Cup 2007 , of being ignorant about football coaching.
For the record, Amir Ghalenoei is the highest decorated Iranian coach in league history winning 4 titles with Esteghlal and Sepahan. His record with Team Melli is also one of the best officially losing one friendly match only. Not a bad achievement for a coach who ignorant about football coaching according to Nekounam.
The accusations against Ghalenoei made public by Nekounam , promoted Esteghlal club and Ghalenoei himself to seek justice and file a slander case against the Captain of Team Melli in the courts.
Meanwhile, it seems that the talks between a Greek club and Masoud Shojaei has broken down. Shojaei is a free player since he was released by Las Palmas at the end of last season and still seeking a club in Europe. It very much looks like the East for Shojaei, either back home to Iran or one of the Persian Gulf countries’ leagues.