Pardew sidesteps compensation talk
West Ham manager Alan Pardew refused to get dragged into a row over compensation following Dean Ashton’s injury.
Pardew was left “devastated” after key striker Dean Ashton was ruled out for three months with a broken ankle suffered while training with the England squad.
The Hammers had high hopes for Ashton, a £7.25m (€10.7m) signing from Norwich in January, in the forthcoming Barclays Premiership campaign.
But Pardew was reluctant to focus too much on the loss of a player while on England duty.
He told Sky Sports News: “It’s very difficult for us because he’s a very good player.
“But I don’t want to get involved in talk of compensation – I leave all the stuff at that level to the boardroom.
“I had him as a player and now I haven’t got him – as a manager that’s all I can think about.”
Ashton was named in Steve McClaren’s first England squad for the match with Greece last night – but had to pull out after sustaining the injury.
And Pardew continued: “I should imagine Dean will be very disappointed looking at how England played last night – I think he would definitely have scored.
“He’s a great character and is England-bound, no doubt about that, in the months to come but he’s injured now and he needs to recover.”
