Troubled Stam vows to remain focused

Irish fans can forget it. Notwithstanding the traumatic events of last weekend, Holland's central defender Jaap Stam expects to be fully ready for Saturday's all-important World Cup clash with Ireland at Lansdowne Road.

Even if the ex-Manchester United defender looked a distinctly less than happy camper during his first Italian news conference yesterday at the Rome headquarters of his new club, Serie A side Lazio, he still insisted that he will be fully concentrated on Saturday's big match, telling The Irish Times: "I am glad that the business of my move is all over. I fly to Holland tomorrow to join the Dutch team and I can assure you that I will be able to concentrate fully on the game in Dublin".

As statements from Stam went yesterday, that was about the most upbeat one going. Faced with a barrage of questions, mainly from British reporters, about the background to his sudden and dramatic departure from Old Trafford, Stam recurrently used expressions such as "not very nice" and "not happy" to describe the last fortnight preceding his £16.5 million sterling move to Lazio on Sunday.

So insistent was the British media interest in the terms of his departure from the English champions that, at one stage, exasperated Lazio director, Massimo Cragnotti, appealed to reporters "not to ask questions about Mr Stam's private life, but rather about football and Lazio".

Needless to say, the reporters paid no attention, finding 339 different ways of repeating the same question. Namely, did Alex Ferguson give you the old heave-ho because of your recently published book, Head to Head, which, among other things, suggests that United star David Beckham might not be Einstein (surprise, surprise) and that Ferguson made an "unethical" approach to Stam before signing him from PSV Eindhoven in 1998.

"You would have to ask the club that. At this stage, I don't know what to believe. The last two weeks have not been very nice for me. I wasn't happy. I played well at Manchester United for three years and then, within two weeks, you're not wanted anymore...

"Sir Alex called me aside and he told me that he wanted another defender and that he could see no solution for me. He also told me that there was an offer from Lazio and that the club had accepted it."

Yes, but what about that book, Jaap? "I have no regrets about writing the book. Go and read the book yourselves, it is not an autobiography but rather a book about football. It's not a book accusing anybody of anything. The paper which published the extracts made a mess of it, put bad headlines on it and then, as you know, people only read the headlines"

As the news conference progressed, one got the distinct impression that Stam was not only a trifle unhappy but also a mite confused.

United's loss could be Lazio's gain since the 29-year-old Dutchman is scheduled to line out in central defence alongside Italian international Alessandro Nesta, arguably the best central defender in Serie A. Certainly, opposing centre-forwards looking for space down the centre against Lazio are due for a miserable time.

In the meantime, United are reportedly in negotiations with Inter Milan for their 35-year-old French international defender, Laurent Blanc.