The Vietnamese American star of Hoang Anh Gia Lai club has walked out after becoming “discouraged” with the team.

Pham (left) and his son Lee Nguyen on the day coming to Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

Lee Nguyen’s farther Nguyen Van Pham explained: “I think Lee Nguyen tried his best and contributed greatly to keep Hoang Anh Gia Lai staying in the V-League.

“After one year of working together, Lee Nguyen wants to leave because he realizes it is no longer appropriate to stay with this club”.

“Many things happened in the team that I can not tell you. But I can say that Lee Nguyen leaves because he is discouraged with his team.”.

Pham said that Lee Nguyen’s agency will liquidate the contract with Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

“When a player is not eager to work for his club, he has the right to leave and empower his agency to work with the club,” he said.

The father also said that Hoang Anh Gia Lai wants to meet directly with Lee Nguyen but according to international precedence, it a job for his agency representatives instead.

“Perhaps the working style of Vietnam’s football is different from international precedence so the two sides don’t meet each others and it can lead to misunderstanding or disputes,” he added.

On November 17, Lee Nguyen’s father and Hoang Anh Gia Lai’s chairman Doan Nguyen Duc had a long talk before the two sides agreed to end the contract two years early.

Lee Nguyen is now in the US and according to his father, he doesn’t he has no specifics plan for the near future.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre