Western Sydney Wanderers FC coach Tony Popovic could give no time frame of when Kerem Bulut would play for the club again after it emerged the striker has been charged with intimidation by police.
Just as the Wanderers were celebrating a rare Hyundai A-League win on Wednesday night, it was revealed Bulut was charged following an incident at an Auburn McDonald’s restaurant on Tuesday night.
It’s understood Bulut was at McDonald’s with other people when staff allegedly asked them to leave, causing a disagreement with the group allegedly telling the store manager to take the argument to the car park.
REPORT: Western Sydney Wanderers 3 Melbourne City 2
The 23-year-old presented himself to Auburn police station on Wednesday afternoon.
Popovic only learned of the incident hours before Wednesday night’s clash with Melbourne City and left Bulut out of his side, with the controversial striker now facing an uncertain future.
Wanderers are back in action on Friday night against Melbourne Victory and it’s unclear if Bulut will be available.
“I was made aware this afternoon there was an incident and he was stood down from the game because of that incident,” Popovic said after the win over City on Wednesday night.
“Now it’s with the club and the authorities and the FFA, it’s in their hands. That’s all I can tell you.”
The Bulut situation took some of the gloss of the club’s spirited come-from-behind 3-2 win over City, just their second victory of the campaign.
The Wanderers fell behind twice but responded through Mateo Poljak and Tomi Juric before Nikita Rukavytsya snatched all three points in stoppage time to haul them off the bottom of the ladder for the first time this season.
“I’m so happy for the group and the club,” Popovic said.
“We’ve been under adversity and we’ve shown a lot of fight in a lot of games recently and got no reward so it’s fantastic to once again come from behind twice and win it late with a team that’s playing its sixth game in 18 days.
“A team that has more injured players in the change room than fit players. It’s a credit to the players for keeping that belief.”
The Wanderers have less than 48 hours before they are in action again with a tricky clash against Victory at Pirtek Stadium on Friday night, with Popovic admitting some of his players are “starting to fall apart”.
“That will be our seventh game in 20 days. I played in the championship in England which is a tough, grueling league but never did we have to play seven games in 20 days,” he said.
“It’s beyond belief in some respects but as you can see this club and this group of players…you don’t score late goals if you don’t have that will and fitness to get through it.
“There’s a lot of fight and it’s a well-deserved win for the boys.”
