Tottenham’s Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko is planning showdown talks with manager Harry Redknapp and will demand a move from the club in January.
Pavlyuchenko has been a peripheral figure at White hart Lane this season and Russia coach Guus Hiddink has warned him could miss out on next year’s World Cup finals if he is not playing regularly.
“I want to leave the club,” he said. “It is impossible to remain there under the circumstances I find myself in. I have been sitting on the subs’ bench for half a year and as a result lost a place in the starting 11 of the national team, and now hopefully we will get to the World Cup – who will rely on a forward who does not play? I want to play and not just warm the bench.”
Spurs spent £14 million to sign Pavlyuchenko on a five-year deal from Spartak Moscow in August 2008 and the striker fears the board’s desire to recoup their outlay could scupper his chances of a move away from North London.
“Immediately after the games with Slovenia, my agent and I are flying to London for purposeful negotiations and I want to take part in them personally,” Pavlyuchenko added in an interview with Sport Express. “I will ask the management to quote a reasonable price for me.
“Our manager, Harry Redknapp, does not talk to me on the matter. At the start of the season, our manager said that four forwards is exactly the optimal number, but now he states that three is enough. I am the fourth one so it is obvious that I should part with the club.
“The only thing that can stand in the way is unmanageable price, but I will insist on leaving. The important thing now is to reach a compromise that will be suitable for the club and me, and my future club.”
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