Anthony Stokes is facing the prospect of being released by a football club for the third time in eight months.
When Anthony Stokes graduated from the Arsenal academy in 2015, few envisioned the Irishman’s career panning out like this.
In July 2017, he agreed to a mutual contract termination with Blackburn Rovers. By August, he had returned to Scotland for a third spell at Hibernian. His decent form of 11 goals in 21 games was marred by trouble off the field. In January 2018, he was dropped from the first team squad after a training ground altercation. Shortly after this incident, he was released from the club for breaching disciplinary rules.
He only remained unattached very briefly. In February, just a few days before the Greek transfer window closed shut, he was snapped up by Apollon Smyrni FC.
Flash forward a couple of months and the club are already trying to get rid of him.
Far from ideal https://t.co/XlyRJikZh5
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 14, 2018
AWOL
Stokes was fined last month after taking extra time off from training to attend to a ‘personal matter.’ Apollon manager Georgios Paraschos confirmed last week that the club would be seeking an apology from Stokes for no-showing. He added that the nine-time Republic of Ireland international would play no part in their game against Lamia the weekend.
Yesterday, the club released a statement confirming they were exploring methods to axe the 29-year-old.
“The player is in clear breach of his contract. He has failed to even contact us during the period he has not turned up for training. As a consequence of this, we are looking if we can legally terminate his contract.”
Stokes, who put to pen to paper on an 18-month deal in February, hasn’t managed to find the net after appearing four times.
