AFP, Kuala Lumpur :
Former Argentina star Pablo Aimar has been axed by Malaysia’s Johor Darul Takzim after being sidelined by injury problems, the club’s president said.
The 34-year-old World Cup veteran was part-way through a two-year contract which reputedly made him the highest paid foreigner ever to play in Malaysia.
Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim, the crown prince of Johor state, announced the move as part of a clear-out strategy which also involved replacing coach Cesar Jimenez with Bojan Hodak.
“As it is now, Pablo Aimar has not fully recovered from his injury and cannot contribute 100 percent in the games played,” he said in a statement on the club’s website.
“After playing two matches for JDT, we had to sit him out of six matches due to the injuries succumbed. With the high investment that we have made for our foreign players, we expected to field three foreign players at all times.”
He added: “Clearly from this, we were not able to maximise our investment and with the advice of the coaching staff it is important for us to have three foreign players at all times.”
Aimar, who has 52 international caps and played at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, signed for JDT last September. He has also played for River Plate, Valencia, Real Zaragoza and Benfica.
