West Bromwich Manager Calls For Countries To Pay Players During Int'l Duty

EPL side West Bromwich Albion Manager Tony Pulis said that countries "should pay players' wages" when they are on int'l duty, while blaming Salomon Rondon's "dip in form on the time the striker spent playing for Venezuela," according to Shravanth Vijayakumar of REUTERS. Pulis, who has "previously questioned the need" for int'l friendlies, blamed his "misfiring" striker's int'l committments for his "lack of killer instinct in front of goal." Pulis: "We think Salomon will score lots of goals but he goes away again next month for a third time and we will have the situation where the season is four months old and he will have been away for two months. He has to fly 22 hours each way to South America. He just has not had enough time to rest and pick up his performances and he has struggled a bit. ... My argument is that if international teams want these players, particularly for friendlies, then they should pay their wages for those weeks they are away" (REUTERS, 10/26).