#INSERT type:image caption:Brazilian defender Felipe has left Parma over unpaid wages. END#
Brazilian defender Felipe said he has no regrets after following the example of Antonio Cassano and walking out on Parma.
The 30-year-old still had 2 1/2 years left to run on a contract which was not likely to be honored, given the club's financial problems. Parma have not paid any salaries since the summer and they have already been docked one point with a further two soon to follow.
Without a wage in more than six months, Felipe has decided to move back to his first Italian home in Udine with his wife and wait for an opportunity, saying it was not only the right thing to do, but the only one.
"I was not feeling good about myself anymore," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "My mood had worsened. I'm a laid-back type usually, but I would never end up coming home without so many thoughts in my head. I'm not leaving Parma because of the money, the problem was that they were constantly taking us for a ride."
Cassano came to that conclusion over a week ago and Felipe admits he did speak to his former teammate before making up his mind to follow suit.
"I've got a good relationship with him and we discussed it and both agreed," Felipe said. "When Cassano left, there were rumours going around that we would not even get paid in February. Last Saturday, as soon as I woke up, I made up my mind in an instant. I called our general manager [Pietro] Leonardi and told him."
Leonardi did not even try to convince Felipe to change his mind.
"He just asked me if I was certain, but he didn't insist," continued the 30-year-old. "I think he was expecting this from somebody. He didn't act surprised. I'm sorry because I went to Parma for him because I grew up with him [at Udinese].
"I would do the same all over again. It just angers me to see so many people in football who are there just because of who they know and not what they know. It's not nice to say, but that's the way it is.
"I give up on the last two years of my contract. In theory, they should still pay me until next May, but the last wage we got was in July. But what hurts me the most is seeing the club's employees in the same situation. I'm lucky and I can afford to go without getting paid for a few months, but they can't and that's the really bad thing about all this."
An end to the club's crisis is not in sight either. The players, led by Daniele Galloppa, have demanded the payment of outstanding wages by Feb. 15, or else they will have to take action.
Meanwhile, it was being reported on Friday that the syndicate which had purchased the club from former president Tommaso Ghirardi in December has now sold up to an unnamed Italian group of partners.