Thaindian News

Guangzhou (China), July 15 (IANS) Guangzhou Evergrande coach Marcello Lippi has confirmed that Argentinean midfielder Dario Conca would stay with the team.

“Conca will stay in my team,” Lippi said Saturday before the derby match against Guangzhou R&F.;

“Conca plays an important role in the team. He played almost every match since I took charge of the team,” he added.

But the Italian frequently replaced the Argentinean early in the match, who seemed to be unhappy every time he was substituted, reports Xinhua.

The Argentinean proposed a transfer request to the club a week ago, but the club said they would not sell the player cheap, with two and a half years contract remaining.

Reports said Conca’s former club Fluminense offered a transfer fee of $8.5 million, but the Chinese Super League champions insisted that they would not suffer a loss on the Argentinean as it costed $10 million to acquire the 29-year old in 2011.

Lippi emphasized that the frequent replacement of Conca was just for technical reasons.

“We have to make changes in and between matches, so there will be substitutions, not because of the condition of the player, but for the balance of the team,” the 64-year-old Italian said.

In fact, Conca’s bad temper has long been criticized since he joined the team. In May, the Argentinean launched a blistering attack on Evergrande’s former coach Lee Jang-Soo after being hauled off on the hour mark during his side’s AFC Champions League Group H clash with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

He was then suspended for nine matches by the club but was relieved in the match against Thai league champions Buriram United only two weeks later, when Conca scored a winning penalty to send Guangzhou to the final 16 of AFC Champions league.

Before joining the Chinese club, Conca played for Fluminense in the Brazilian leauge. He scored nine goals and dished out 19 assists for the Brazilian team in 2010 and was elected for two consecutive years as the best player of Brazilian league in 2009 and 2010.