Rudy Gestede EXCLUSIVE: Former Middlesbrough striker reveals reason for Boro exit and opens up on Neil Warnock conversation
Rudy Gestede has exclusively revealed that he left Middlesbrough after failing to be given assurances over a short-term contract if he got injured in the final games of the Championship season.
Gestede was out of contract at the Riverside Stadium this summer and, following talks with Boro's new manager Neil Warnock, he walked away from the club when his contract expired at the end of June, having decided against playing in the final eight games of the campaign.
That was a move which drew criticism from Warnock shortly after Gestede’s departure was announced, with the 71-year-old saying, ‘you need people in the trenches with you in this situation', as the club battled against relegation from the Championship.
Middlesbrough ended up finishing 17th in the second tier, five points clear of the drop zone.
Gestede joined Middlesbrough from Aston Villa in January 2017 for an undisclosed fee, thought to be in the region of £6million, but endured a difficult spell on Teesside as he failed to nail down a regular starting spot due to injury and also being frozen out under former boss Tony Pulis.
As a result, Gestede feels Boro fans never saw him at his best and insists there was no animosity behind the scenes over the way he left the Riverside.
Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT, the 31-year-old Benin international said: “To be fair, [Warnock] was honest when he came. Before he came, I had a chat with [former manager] Jonathan Woodgate and my speech was the same.
“I said: 'Listen, I’m willing to stay if the club is willing to show that they want to take the risk with me'. It’s easy to ask the player to play for eight games, but I’m 31-years-old and out of contract, and if something happened to me like the injury I had in the past, who is going to give me a contract after that? So, I’ve been straight and honest with them.
“I said: ‘Listen, if you’re willing to give me something and if I get injured, I will play, but I cannot take the full risk on my side and you don’t take any risk'. So I said: ‘If the club is willing to give me six months, only if I got injured, and if I don’t get injured and we’re happy after the eight games, we shake hands and I go my way and you go your way'.
“I spoke to the CEO Neil Bausor and he said, ‘we cannot give you this for many reasons'. I don’t want to go into the details, but at the end of the day, I said: ‘Listen, if you don’t take the risk, I don’t take the risk'.
“Woodgate got sacked and Warnock came [in]. He put me in his office straight away and said, ‘what do you want to do?’, and I said the same thing.
"He said: ‘I’ve just come [and] I cannot push for you. You’re the type of player I like. If you stay, you will play. Obviously with me, I want you to be my striker for the next few games, so it’s up to you now'.
“I said: ‘I’m sure I will enjoy my time with you but there’s some other conditions I need to take on'. He said: ‘I cannot push now to make you stay; I’ve just come in the club, so it’s your choice.’
“I said: ‘My choice is the same, so thank you very much and I wish you all the best', and he wished me all the best on my side and we shook hands and I left and he went his way.
"We didn’t have any confrontation or he didn’t say he didn’t want me if I wasn’t willing to play. We just had an adult chat and there was an explanation and everybody was happy with it.”
Gestede continued: “When you don’t play week-in, week-out, it’s difficult to be at your best. For the last two or three seasons, it didn’t happen for me unfortunately for many reasons.
“It’s easy to say injuries but then when I was fit for a year Pulis decided not to play me for no reason. I trained, and trained hard as always, but it’s football sometimes and a human being's choice and you just get on with it.
“When you don’t play for a long period of time and you come back, obviously you can’t be at your best. But because you’re not at your best, the manager doesn’t play you in the next game, so you just go in a negative spiral and it’s difficult to perform.
“It has been difficult but now it’s behind me and I’m looking forward to a new challenge. I keep myself busy every day and stay fit. It’s part of my book but it’s a new chapter for me now.”
Prior to his time at Middlesbrough, Gestede established himself as a proven scorer at Championship level during spells with Blackburn Rovers, with whom he notched 35 goals in 72 games in all competitions, and also Aston Villa.
Back in the north of France for the time-being, the 31-year-old is now waiting for the right opportunity to come his way and says he is open to offers from around the world.
Warnock admits he's got the football bug again after agreeing Middlesbrough stay
“I’m open to a new challenge,” he added. “At my age, we need to talk about the conditions and the way they want to play, as it’s not like I’ve got ten years in front of me.
"I need to pick the right challenge for me and my family, but especially for me and my football, as I know my family will follow me everywhere, so it’s fine.
“It could be in England [or] it could be somewhere else; I don’t close any doors, I just need to find the right one for me.”
The 31-year-old’s newfound free time has allowed him to focus his attentions on launching the Jaarama Foundation alongside his wife, Hawa, which aims to improve the quality of life for orphans in west Africa.
The couple’s hard work has certainly paid off as they have just raised over £45,000 (€50,000) to build the foundation’s first orphanage back in Benin, with work to begin this week.
“We wanted to give back because we think we are very grateful and lucky to have what we’ve got,” he says.
“If we got the chance to give something back to the community or the people or the ones who deserve a chance, we wanted to do it. Obviously, with our roots from west Africa, on the ground there is a lot to do.
“We decided to build an orphanage for the next generation and to give them the chance to start their life with the best quality and we will make sure we give them everything they need to become the best version of themselves. The building of the orphanage will start this week. Finally, we’ve got all the agreements and everything is sorted.
“We’re very pleased with it and we’re looking forward to welcoming the kids to the house. It’s going to be a long project and very challenging. But, we’re very focused and committed to overcoming every challenge.”
To find out more about the Jaarama Foundation, visit