avert the crisis that is threatening to derail their sponsorship deal
with money lenders Wonga.
Cisse informed the club several weeks ago that he does not want to
wear the Wonga.com branding on Newcastle United's shirts next season
because of his beliefs as a Muslim.
Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias will wait until Cisse
returns from World Cup duty with Senegal so the pair can sit down to
discuss the delicate issue.
However, the club are heartened that Cisse's protest is an individual
one, with none of the player's Muslim team-mates, most notably Hatem
Ben Arfa and Cheick Tiote, so far expressing objections.
Under sharia law, it is prohibited to benefit from lending money to
another person — the specific nature of payday loan company Wonga,
whose annual percentage rate is 4,214 per cent.
One option would be to allow Cisse to wear an unbranded top during
matches, as striker Frederic Kanoute did with Sevilla when they were
sponsored by the gambling website 888.com.
But Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is concerned the lucrative four-year
deal would be cheapened by his star striker blanking out the sponsor's
name and, if no compromise can be reached, Cisse would move on, with
wealthy Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala already willing to double
Newcastle's money by snapping up the 28-year-old.
Newcastle have no plans to follow the lead of Bolton Wanderers, who
last week pulled out of a similar sponsorship deal with QuickQuid, and
cancel their deal.
The St James' Park club announced its deal with the company last
October and are due to wear the Wonga name on their shirts for the
first time next season.
Cisse's departure would open the door for an emotional return to
Tyneside for hometown hero Andy Carroll, who was sold to Liverpool at
the start of 2011 for £35m.
Carroll has endured a nightmare spell at Anfield and spent last season
on loan at West Ham.
Hammers boss Sam Allardyce has agreed a £15m deal with Liverpool to
make the move permanent — but Carroll is so far stalling on making a
decision to see if Newcastle come in for him.
Senegal drew their World Cup qualifier 1-1 in Angola yesterday, with
Cisse scoring the opening goal in Luanda before Afonso Guilherme
equalised.
No comments:
Post a Comment