Jeremain Lens was hardly complementary about Championship strugglers Sunderland when fighting to secure a move away from the Stadium of Light.
Few could blame Jeremain Lens for eyeing a move away from Sunderland.
It just never worked out for him on Wearside following his £13 million move from Dinamo Kiev in the summer of 2015 and his hopes of a regular place in the Dutch national side would not have been aided by playing in a side in clear and irreversible decline.
But there is a way to go about things and it is fair to say Lens did not leave with any goodwill from the supporters.
‘Disgrace’
Lens drew the ire of Sunderland’s fans, not to mention manager David Moyes, when he claimed in January last year that he was hoping they would be relegated from the Premier League to make it easier for him to leave the club on a permanent basis.
“A lot of team-mates here who he played with are fighting every week with a small squad to try to keep us in the Premier League. It’s a disgrace to say that about your parent club,” Moyes told The Guardian of Lens, who was then on loan at Fenerbahce.
Of course, Sunderland were relegated and Lens did get his move, joining reigning Turkish champions Besiktas albeit only on loan.
But even though Sunderland are bottom of the Championship now and facing successive relegations, they can at least take some pleasure in knowing that Lens’ spell at Besiktas has not gone to plan.
The winger has started just eight of 22 league games, scored one goal, provided no assists and was an unused sub in the 5-0 Champions League thrashing at Bayern Munich on Tuesday. He has been omitted from the match-day squad on more than one occasion, while an image circulating on social media showed Lens not exactly looking the picture of health.
The word ‘karma’ comes to mind.
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