The 23-year-old Danish centre-back has been dropped to the Under-21s by Black after refusing to sit on the bench against Bournemouth.
Aston Villa caretaker manager Eric Black has revealed that Jores Okore has been excluded from the first-team squad for the rest of the season after refusing to sit on the bench for the recent 2-1 loss to Bournemouth.
Okore, who has not featured for Villa since last month’s 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, was due to be named as a substitute for the Cherries clash before informing Black on the eve of the game that he did not want to be involved unless he was starting.
The Danish defender has since maintained that stance, prompting Black to demote him to the Under-21s for the final four games of the campaign.
Explaining the situation at his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Southampton, Black told reporters: “Jores trained pretty well ahead of the Bournemouth game. I spoke to him at the start of the week and he responded well.
“Then when I announced he wasn’t in the starting XI and wanted to work with them on the Friday he came to me afterwards and told me he didn’t want to be on the bench.
“He didn’t feel right to be on the bench – I found that strange. At that point he wasn’t involved in the group – I didn’t want him in the group if he didn’t want to be involved on the bench.
“I then gave him the weekend to think about it and reflect. I spoke to him again on the Monday to see if he had changed his views on that and he just confirmed that he didn’t want to play again and didn’t want to be involved again, which I must admit I find very surprising.
“At that point I couldn’t dream of bringing him into the group because I only want people there who want to play.”
Okore, meanwhile, provided his own take on the situation earlier this week in an interview with Danish outlet BT, explaining: “I have unfortunately been relegated to the U21 team. There is currently a situation between me and the manager.
I’ve said things straight out to him, and it has then resulted in that I am not a part of the first-team squad right now.
“I told him that I think I deserve a fair chance to play and perform, and I think I’ve done well enough in the few matches I have played this season.
“This is the opinion I have given to him, but the manager was not happy with it and therefore he put me down on the U21 team.”
Okore has made 46 total appearances for Villa since joining the club from Danish side FC Nordsjælland in June 2013 for £4 million but has spent extended time on the sidelines over the past three seasons due to persistent knee problems.
Nevertheless, the 23-year-old centre-back revealed to Ekstra Bladet in February that he felt he had not been given a fair chance to establish himself in the line-up when fit and also expressed his frustration that the club had failed to offer him a contract extension on his current deal which runs until 2017.
Talks over fresh terms have still not got off the ground two months later, and given recent events, it remains to be seen whether he will ever feature for the claret and blues again.
Villa’s squad is widely expected to be revamped over the summer as they prepare for life in the Championship, and Okore’s representatives met with club officials earlier this week to determine where the two sides stand following his demotion.
“It’s hard to say what’s going to happen,” Okore added to BT. “I would obviously like to play at as high a level as possible, but it may also be that I will be at Aston Villa and complete my contract.”
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