Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella has issued a statement insisting he never intended to criticise Mario Gomez after he failed to score once again at the weekend.
Following Sunday's 4-3 win over Palermo, Montella said that he expects more from the German forward, adding that the time has come for him to start delivering on the expectations and weigh in with goals -- or else maybe he should consider ending his career.
The player's agent, Ulrich Ferber, hit back at Montella, telling Germany's Sport Bild that the manager's words "do not help anybody in this situation."
He added: "Mario knows how things work in football and he's not concerning himself with such remarks but is rather focusing fully on his own performance. At the moment, he's just lacking an edge and a bit of luck to score again."
Montella has now clarified his comments, which he claims were misconstrued by the media.
"I would like to set the record straight regarding some of my recent comments about Mario Gomez which were taken out of a much wider context and reported as having been in reference solely to Mario Gomez," Montella said.
"I was answering several questions about the relationship between chances created and chances taken and there's no doubt that at the moment we are behind in that sense.
"I have spoken on a number of occasions in the press room about the period Mario Gomez is going through, as I did after the match on Sunday, and it has always been with the aim of shaking my player out of this particular situation he finds himself in.
"I do not normally criticise my players, especially not in public, and it's certainly not something I would do with Mario, because there can be no disputing his worth both as a footballer and as a man."
Gomez has scored just five goals for Fiorentina since joining them from Bayern Munich 18 months ago, with injury restricting him to 30 appearances in that time.
This season, he has found the back of the net only once in 12 Serie A appearances, missing a penalty in a recent 1-0 defeat to Parma.