Hareide: Hareide: "Iversen, go to Rosenborg!"
By Håvard Lindheim, 28 April 2004, 12:33
National team manager Åge Hareide is not in doubt about where he thinks local lad Steffen Iversen should go to get his carreer back at its feet.
Åge Hareide asks Steffen to go home to Trondheim and RBK in today's issue of Trondheim newspaper Adresseavisa.
"He has ended up in a very unfortunate situation in Wolverhampton. What he should do, is return to Rosenborg to try to find his old self. He knows how that club plays very well, and could quickly have returned to that Steffen Iversen we know he is at his best," Hareide says.
Iversen has played very little the past few years in England. In his current club, the Premier League bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers, he is nowhere near the A squad, and nothing points to a change in this situation. And, when he does not play at a regular basis on his club team, he will not get a chance at the national team either.
"What has happened to Steffen is sad. But as long as he don't play at the club team he can in no way be judged suitable for the national squad. I do hope that he considers returning to Rosenborg. But he needs to be motivated," the national team manager concludes to Adresseavisa.
And this is indeed the question. It is most likely that Iversen will have to endure a major cut of wages, should he return to RBK. The question is then, is Iversen willing to say good-bye to a high fee for warming a bench in England, in order to fight his way into the starting 11 in RBK...