Zenden not ready for coaching

Zenden not ready for coaching

Published Mar. 31, 2011 9:16 a.m. ET

The 34-year-old Sunderland midfielder has managed just two brief appearances as a substitute since making his last start for the club at Blackpool on January 22, with the arrivals of Sulley Muntari and Stephane Sessegnon strengthening manager Steve Bruce's pool of players. Bruce has made it clear he wants to retain Zenden's influence in the dressing room, particularly with the younger members of the squad, beyond his current contract, which is due to expire at the end of the season. The former PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Marseille player admits coaching could be a possibility for him one day, but he is confident he still has plenty to offer on the pitch for now. Zenden said: "I still believe I have got loads left to offer and the coaching thing will come eventually - but not now. "Maybe because of the situation I am in at the moment, that's something people will start speculating about. But I am not ready for that. "What I can say about that is I am not going to be pushed into a certain situation which I am not ready for. "For that reason, I might put question marks in what I want for the time to come." Bruce has admitted he might have used Zenden more in recent weeks - the former Holland international has played only nine minutes of senior football since the trip to Bloomfield Road - but that is little consolation to the midfielder. He said: "Of course it is a positive thing that someone admits a certain mistake or should have done something else or whatever you want to call it, but it doesn't give me back the games that have passed. "You don't know what the future will bring, but for example, the home game against Liverpool, that could have been my last one against my former team, which I didn't feature in. "That's not going to come back, is it?" However, Zenden, who joined the Black Cats on a free transfer from Marseille in October 2009, will not be making any firm decisions until he has sat down and discussed his future with the club. He said: "It doesn't mean that we have to jump to any kind of conclusions or you don't have to push me into management already. "There's still loads to come and that could definitely be at Sunderland - but that could definitely be somewhere else."

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