Since arriving in the Premier League, Liverpool FC player Andrei Voronin has been conspicuous mainly for his blond ponytail and his spectacular lack of success on the pitch.
But the 27-year-old Ukrainian has finally managed to make a name for himself - as an outspoken critic of Britain in general and the city of Liverpool in particular.
Despite earning an estimated £30,000 a week, he says that he was forced to take his young son back to Odessa for treatment to a skin allergy because the NHS was not up to the job.
He condemns the UK as a cultural backwater with poor health care and high crime rate.
Although his 24-year-old wife Yulia was recently named the worst-dressed soccer WAG after wearing a leopard-print velour tracksuit, he says Britain is far less sophisticated than Germany.
And in a rant which will do nothing to increase his popularity among the Liverpool fans, he ridicules the Scouse way of talking.
He says foreigners struggle to understand home-grown team mates such as captain Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher because they "speak with some peculiar local accent".
Voronin, who moved to Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen in Germany at the beginning of the season, makes his indiscreet remarks in an interview with a Russian newspaper.
"Compared with Germany, England is far behind in terms of comfort and culture," he says.
"Five out of the seven houses near us are occupied by footballers.
"Steve Gerrard was burgled recently so a police patrol car comes into our compound fairly often.
"We hear police sirens all the time. Leverkusen, by contrast, was so much quieter."
He goes on: "The medical services here are poor. When I was in Germany, there were lots of good clinics and doctors.
"It is nothing like that here - when our child had a skin allergy we waited hours for the doctor to see him.
"When we finally got to see a doctor, he said he didn't know how to treat children and to try rubbing in this ointment.
"That was it. I was stunned. As a result my wife had to go back to Odessa with him and took a full set of tests there."
On the language barrier, he says: "I study English twice a week with a teacher and I have made some progress in it.
"But English isn't the main problem. The main thing is to learn to understand the local players like Gerrard and Carragher.
"They speak with some peculiar local accent and sometimes I have absolutely no clue what the guys are saying.
"Many foreign players have the same problem."
However it seems he has no trouble-communicating with some of the other non-English speakers in the squad.
"I've taught my teammate Fernando Torres a few dirty words in Russian and he has taught me to swear in Spanish."
Voronin's attack drew a contemptuous response from Richie Pedder, chairman of Liverpool Supporters Club.
"I think it's a load of rubbish," he said. "He can hardly speak English himself, so what right has he to criticise anybody else?
"I think his views are over the top and I wonder what axe he's got to grind.
"Hopefully though, most people will just take it as a joke and ignore it."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770
But the 27-year-old Ukrainian has finally managed to make a name for himself - as an outspoken critic of Britain in general and the city of Liverpool in particular.
Despite earning an estimated £30,000 a week, he says that he was forced to take his young son back to Odessa for treatment to a skin allergy because the NHS was not up to the job.
He condemns the UK as a cultural backwater with poor health care and high crime rate.
Although his 24-year-old wife Yulia was recently named the worst-dressed soccer WAG after wearing a leopard-print velour tracksuit, he says Britain is far less sophisticated than Germany.
And in a rant which will do nothing to increase his popularity among the Liverpool fans, he ridicules the Scouse way of talking.
He says foreigners struggle to understand home-grown team mates such as captain Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher because they "speak with some peculiar local accent".
Voronin, who moved to Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen in Germany at the beginning of the season, makes his indiscreet remarks in an interview with a Russian newspaper.
"Compared with Germany, England is far behind in terms of comfort and culture," he says.
"Five out of the seven houses near us are occupied by footballers.
"Steve Gerrard was burgled recently so a police patrol car comes into our compound fairly often.
"We hear police sirens all the time. Leverkusen, by contrast, was so much quieter."
He goes on: "The medical services here are poor. When I was in Germany, there were lots of good clinics and doctors.
"It is nothing like that here - when our child had a skin allergy we waited hours for the doctor to see him.
"When we finally got to see a doctor, he said he didn't know how to treat children and to try rubbing in this ointment.
"That was it. I was stunned. As a result my wife had to go back to Odessa with him and took a full set of tests there."
On the language barrier, he says: "I study English twice a week with a teacher and I have made some progress in it.
"But English isn't the main problem. The main thing is to learn to understand the local players like Gerrard and Carragher.
"They speak with some peculiar local accent and sometimes I have absolutely no clue what the guys are saying.
"Many foreign players have the same problem."
However it seems he has no trouble-communicating with some of the other non-English speakers in the squad.
"I've taught my teammate Fernando Torres a few dirty words in Russian and he has taught me to swear in Spanish."
Voronin's attack drew a contemptuous response from Richie Pedder, chairman of Liverpool Supporters Club.
"I think it's a load of rubbish," he said. "He can hardly speak English himself, so what right has he to criticise anybody else?
"I think his views are over the top and I wonder what axe he's got to grind.
"Hopefully though, most people will just take it as a joke and ignore it."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770
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