Daei rules out Ali Karimi’s comeback to Perspolis

“I have a lot of respect for Ali Karimi and appreciate his football, but we cannot get desired results with the big names. It won’t work,” Ali Daei said in a news conference held on Wednesday.

“If it were up to me I’d rather sign up the best and most deserving players, since we have to make our fans happy,” the former Iran coach added.

Daei and Karimi have a prolonged conflict between them dating back to the time when they were both in Iran football team as players. The signs of this poor relationship can easily be traced in the past decade.

When Daei was Iran’s national team coach he did not call Karimi up to the national team during the 2010 World Cup qualifiers but his replacement Afshin Ghotbi immediately invited the former Bayern Munich midfielder to the team.

In the meantime, the two former Persepolis players don’t see eye to eye and neither want to put their differences aside.