The American player, who concluded his contract on June 30 and who went to Atlanta during the State of Alarm, did not see clearly the return to Spain after not having received a renewal offer.
Malcolm Delaney, with Barcelona.
“Probably, there will be people from each team who test positive. And they want us to start a league. They are hallucinatingMalcolm Delaney never said anything.
The American base, with whom Barcelona propped up a glittering squad last summer and with whom he still intends to conquer the Euroleague this season, not play with the Barça club again. The entity and the player have reached an agreement – “mtuo”, specifies the athlete – to terminate his contract, which ends on June 30. Delaney, who lived alone in Barcelona and had gone to Atlanta a week after the State of Alarm was decreed to reunite with his family, had doubts about returning to Spain in the face of a still unresolved crisis like that of the coronavirus. But also for two sports issues revealed by himself in an interview with Eurohoops: Your role in the team and not having received a renewal offer.
The point of no return came after the Government decreed, via ministerial order published in the Official State Gazette, a 14-day quarantine for all those travelers who enter Spain from this Friday. A measure to apply throughout the Alarm State. Delaney had not yet returned to Barcelona to start training with his teammates, which began this week after the players underwent tests for the detection of the coronavirus.
“I was not comfortable with my role”
Beyond the problems that the mandatory quarantine could cause in the face of the hypothetical dispute between both the ACB and the Euroleague next June, the base understands that the sanitary conditions are not yet met.
“Basketball is a fun game. A fun business”Delaney wrote on his Twitter account a few days ago, where he has always been in charge of offering his version of the events and even responding to fans who asked him about his return. “I am not a bad partner,” he insisted.
“I was not comfortable with my role on the team”Delaney assured this Thursday Eurohoops, where he added in his criticisms to the first team coach, Svetislav Pesic: “Thomas Heurtel did not play. Pangos did not play either. Even so I was not a starter. Despite being the only team base, I was not a starter (… I sacrificed a lot. If someone calls me selfish, look at my minutes played and the shots I made per game. There was no place for me in the system, everything revolved around the team. I felt I deserved the renovation, and I never received an offer. “
Delaney maintains that he was willing to return to the team. But as long as they were sure that the competitions could resume and that the club would open up to talk about its renewal.
The US base complains in said interview, in addition, of the impossibility of being able to follow the telematic training carried out in the last weeks: “The team started training via Zoom. But at 11 in the morning in Barcelona, which was my five in the morning (in Atlanta). When I saw the schedule, I wrote to the coach and told him that he could not participate. I asked if I could delay it for three hours. He answered me and told me to try, but he ended up telling me that he couldn't. I don't know why, but I felt like I was no longer part of the team. They excluded me. I haven't spoken to Pesic since early March. “
And Delaney concludes: “Someone could have contacted me and said, 'Malcolm, we want you to stay.'. Even if they offered me something that wasn't great, unless they made me an offer. '
If the tournaments are resumed in competition, Barcelona will find a big hole in the base post. Thomas Heurtel, after overcoming a broken patellar tendon in his left knee that had kept him down until last January 25, was injured again, this time in the ankle, before the Copa del Rey played in February. He's already recovered. While Canadian Kevin Pangos has not played this season because of a broken foot.
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