Samuel Ezeala lifts lid on his dumping by Clermont

Samuel Ezeala has expressed his disappointment after being told that he will not be retained by Clermont for the next season, saying that they have effectively ripped up a contract that would have seen him stay.

The 23-year-old winger has told L’Equipe that he had previously agreed to a three-year contract extension with the club in January with departed boss Jono Gibbes, but two and a half months later, he was informed that the club – and newly appointed head coach Christophe Urios – wanted to change the terms of the agreement. Ezeala refused the changes and in April, he was told that he would not be extended next season.

“I didn’t understand. I was inevitably disappointed because Clermont is my favorite club. I arrived there at the age of fifteen coming from Spain.

“I am attached to the ASM and to the region. What disappoints me above all is the way of doing things. It’s not the problem of being kept or not, it’s part of rugby and the professional world. I am disappointed with the way I was treated,” said the Spaniard.

“Since the beginning of October, the club had told me that they wanted to offer me an extension but the offer did not arrive. I then went to see the leaders to warn them that I had somewhat warmer contacts with other clubs.

“And before going any further, I wanted to know if I was going to get a proposal. I said out of respect for Clermont and for everything the club has done for me. They then sent me the offer and we reached an agreement in January.”

Despite not playing since the end of January and being one of the last choices on the squad, Ezeala remains focused on staying in shape and showing his worth. He also mentioned that he has a few leads on other clubs that may be interested in him.

The club are apparently claiming that while emails were exchanged, no formal agreement had been reached but Ezeala very much understood that he was going to stay with Clermont for three more years, and the news of his non-retention has hit the winger hard.

The problem for Ezeala is getting enough game time to put himself in the shop window, given April is already late in the day in terms of rugby union’s player transfer market.

“What I regret is that he validated the contract, that he waited two months to tell me that he wanted to change the agreement and no longer keep it. It’s the timing that’s the problem. I would have preferred, before validating the proposal, that he said to me “Sam, I have nothing against you but I don’t know you, I prefer to give you an answer in a month when I will have seen you play, and training, but you can continue with the other interested clubs”, and we would have seen at the end to formalize the agreement. January to April are very important months for recruitment.”

Despite his disappointment, Ezeala remains focused on his future and is determined to show his worth to potential new clubs.

“It’s a shame that it ended like this with the ASM. I wish it had been quite different. But I want to bounce back somewhere else and I have to stay in shape to show what I’m worth. It’s discouraging not to be able to play but you have to think about your future.”