Ex-Montreal striker Ali Gerba just wanted a fair chance, and he didn't get it. Almost a month after the end of the club's first MLS trial camp, Gerba opened up to TSN 990's Tony Marinaro and gave his own version of the story. And it goes like this...
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Ali Gerba thought that he was a lock to make MLS team a year ago -according to himself- and was surprised when Marsch announced him the bad news. The Canadian international still has respect for the club, despite claiming that they used the 'easy way out' to send him packing.
"I think it's something personal against me", Gerba said today, before explaining that he had very good relationships with club president Joey Saputo, ex-Impact coach Marc Dos Santos and coach Jesse Marsch. Gerba claims that the new head coach even offered him to come and use the training facilities to help him get back to his full fitness.
He went on to explain that he's still under contract with the team until 2012, which means that he cannot begin talks with other clubs until it runs out. Should this be confirmed by the Impact, this would be very surprising news considering that Nick De Santis said at the start of the last season that all the players' contracts would run out in 2011.
Gerba kept adding to the drama, by saying that a Turkish club was ready to offer the Impact more than 700 000$ for his transfer at the end of the 2010 season. The club declined the offer, and decided one year later to get rid of the striker.
Gerba didn't seem too worried about finding a new club, and even went on to say that he had the option of returning to Toronto. "The option is always there, and I would like play against the Impact", explained Gerba. "I am a professional, and I want to play at the best level possible. I respect the Impact, and will also continue supporting them. When I went to Europe, I did it for the money. But when I came back to Montreal, I did it for the fans."