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Amine Chermiti Not Going Anywhere

June 17th, 2008 | By: Rami | 9 Comments »

Stayin in Tunis That’s the word on Mosaique FM and I believe them. They’re usually on point with this kind of stuff. According to their correspondent in Sousse, The sporting director of Hertha Berlin and Chermiti’s agent were met with a simple answer from Etoile president Moez Driss when they met with him yesterday and made their final offer for the Tunisian international. Needless to say, its wasn’t the “yes” they were looking for.

I’ll keep it short and simple: This pisses me off. It has nothing to do with the fact that Etoile is a direct rival to my club team in Tunisia (promise). It’s a lot bigger than that. It has everything to do with how this might adversely affect the players psyche and overall development. I don’t believe the empty threat he made saying he was considering quitting football altogether if he wasn’t granted permission to leave but I do believe there’s a risk he will stagnate in a Tunisian league where he is the victim of vicious tackles and constant provocation. Maybe I’m being selfish because I really was looking forward to having a Tunisian of his quality in the Bundesliga. In the end this obviously isn’t about me though, it’s about whether its the best decision from a sporting perspective.

All you have to do is look at his trophies to see he doesn’t have THAT much more to prove in Tunisia or in Africa:

2006/2007 Tunisian League Title
2006/2007 African Champions League Title
2006/2007 Best Domestic Player in Africa
2006/2007 Tunisian Ballon D’or

I can say with a fair bit of confidence that the final nail in the coffin for the transfer happened today when Godwin, the Nigerian striker Etoile had been targeting, ended up signing for Al Ahly of Egypt. It’s not easy to replace someone as good as Amine, so Moez Driss did the next best thing: He decided not to replace him at all. All we can hope for now is that Chermiti can overcome this disappointment and get on with his career. One more season in Tunis isn’t the end of the world and the door to Europe will stay open if he continues to prove his worth day in and day out.

How do you take this news? Did Moez Driss do the right thing? Is it smart to force a player to stay if his head is elsewhere? This isn’t the first time this has happened and won’t be the last but I’d love to hear you opinion on the matter.

Tags: Amine Chermiti, Etoile Sportive du Sahel, Group H, Hertha Berlin, Moez Driss, Tunisia Football

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Comments

By thamer | June 17th, 2008 at 4:25 pm

although i would have loved to see chermiti in europe, this isnt the end of the world by any means, he’s still only 21 and if anything, i think another year of dominating the tunisian league will only help him. and who knows, maybe he’ll end up leaving during the winter transfer window. something tells me he would have been a sub at berlin anyway, despite his talent, so playing another year as a starter in one of the best clubs in africa wont hurt his career.

Posted from United States

By Moni | June 17th, 2008 at 7:09 pm

Moez Driss is right , for him Etoile is everything. So from his vieuw its a good move. For Chermiti personely its disopointed maybe, but another year with Etoile could also improve him, lets mentions that Ali Zitouni a few years ago , at EST with Clayton Badra Jaidi, was far more better in goalscoring (also champions league). So chermiti could also learn some things at Etoile I think.
But got me thinking , is it so hard to sell talented player like this ?
Iff I were a europian club I would give Etoile 4 million euro ore 5 million euro , they sure would sell him.
But these euro clubs want to buy for 2 million and maybe Etoile ask for 2.5 ore 3 million euro.
But I always wondering iff tunisia league keep her players inside wouldnt that make the league stronger ? All the players that recently went to europe ore arabia , did this weaken the competion ore could we say that the empty positions wil be filled with new talent players ?
African Champions league : No tunisian clubs in the poule stage.
But I know evrybody in Tunisia want to go out to europe ore else were, they pay allot more.

Posted from Netherlands

By Tom | June 17th, 2008 at 7:50 pm

2 million euros, are Hertha that poor? Lets put this inperspective, Newcastle paid 9 million euros for a striker who hasnt scored in the league for 3 years and pay him 80k euro wages per week, but everybody hates him. His name, Alan Smith.

Maybe Newcastle will come in with an offer, at least i hope. 2 million euro isnt exactly much for even second division team in england.

Posted from United States

By Rachid | June 17th, 2008 at 8:20 pm

As an Etoile fan, this is the best news I’ve heard today! I find that Moez Driss truly has l’Etoile’s best interest at heart. Unlike other presidents of Tunisian clubs, he’s not solely motivated by money. He wants titles. It can be argued l’Etoile has not achieved its most important goals this year, so talented players like Chermiti should be kept until they pay their dues to l’Etoile that made them! This rush to go warm up benches in Europe is not a great idea. I wish they would all stay and make our championship the best in Africa. There is a great risk associated with these moves, both to the team and the player. The examples are countless, but I’ll mention Gmamdia and CSS. Has he benefited from his so-called “Ihtiraf” in Europe? He was hot with CSS, fearlessly scoring goals, but now has been reduced to a mediocre player. CSS, in the pursuit of quick money, has hastily sold most of its key players, and consequently have sunk to number 10 in Tunisia! That’s quite a shame. Chermiti is still a kid; he needs to understand that and focus on contributing to l’Etoile’s success. Another year is not such a bid deal! Any other attitude will lead him to go in flames and ruin his career. Be patient!

By thamer | June 18th, 2008 at 12:24 am

we already have the best championship in africa

Posted from United States

By Yassine | June 18th, 2008 at 4:48 am

Even if I’m an ESS fan I was really disappointed, Chermiti is one of few that could make it in Europe, I regard as the 2nd best Tunisian player (Chikhoui’s the best). Hertha Berlin is a very good side and I would like to see him combine with Pantelic next season. Driss is thinking that it’s good for the club if Amine stays but I don’t think that he’ll progress with one more season in Tunisia, especially one everyone is spitting at him tackling him cursing him and biting him.

By Tom | June 18th, 2008 at 7:18 am

By the soinds of it, it isnt long before a serious injury happens to Chermiti. Pantelic is probably leaving Hertha thats why they want him.

Id prefer to see him link up with Owen, Martins and Viduka, but thats just me

Posted from United States

By Rami | June 18th, 2008 at 8:38 am

We’ll see what happens, I just read in the newspaper today (le temps) that Hertha hasn’t given up. It might be erroneous information though because the newspapers in Tunisia can be a day late on this sort of thing. Tomorrow they could be saying it’s off…

Posted from United States

By Rami | June 18th, 2008 at 12:58 pm

http://www.jawharafm.net/publish/news/actualites.asp?ID=2628

Interview with Amine on Jawhara FM followed by an interview with Moez Driss too.

Amine basically said he respects whatever decision is made with regard to his transfer and that Driss promised him he would leave eventually. Seems like he’s just being politically correct but maybe he really feels that way.

Driss said there’s no way any Tunisian player in Etoile would leave the team during the months of June and July (no matter how much money its for) given that there’s Tunisian Cup and Confederation Cup qualifier against EST they have to play. This might leave the door open for a winter transfer. So I guess that settles it. I have to respect Driss’ desire to keep his good players. He can definitely still offer more to Etoile. I just hope that Amine gets his chance sooner rather than later.

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