Pardew trusts Chinese on Zizi

By Rob Virtue on July 17, 2008 12:17 PM |

Tagged with:

CHARLTON boss Alan Pardew has revealed he has placed his trust in the Chinese FA over Zheng Zhi’s fitness.

The Addicks midfielder was reported to be set to miss the Olympics after damaging his back.

However, this week he was declared fit for the tournament with Zhi, who is with the national team in China as one of the team's 'over-age' players, brushing it off as an old injury.

While Pardew may be worried that Zhi playing could risk increasing the injury, the Charlton manager said he trusted the Chinese FA to do what was best for the 27-year-old midfielder.

Pardew said: “Zheng has got an injury. We haven’t assessed it, that’s difficult because of where he is.

“And China are obviously hoping he’ll play some part in the Olympics so we have to trust them that they feel he’s got a chance to be involved. Otherwise I’m sure he would be back with us.”

Pardew denied reports he demanded the Chinese return Zhi so the club could look at his fitness. He said that might have jeopardised Charlton’s relationship with the Chinese.

The Charlton manager said: “It’s not true. We have a good relationship with the Chinese FA.

“They helped us last year in letting him stay on a big longer with us on a couple of occasions and now we’ve let him go back for the Olympics. So we want to keep that healthy relationship.”

On Monday, the club flew out to Spain for a pre-season tour without Chris Iwelumo and Marcus Bent.
Iwelumo, who was Charlton’s top scorer last season with 10 goals, signed for Championship Wolverhampton Wanderers for an undisclosed sum on Monday afternoon.

Bent complete a deal to take him to Birmingham City on Wednesday.

The rest of the squad will be taking part in nine days of training in Spain, as well as two matches behind closed doors.

The club will also play Athletico Bilbao in a friendly at The Valley on August 2 for a 3pm kick off.