Transfer Balls: Manchester United And The Marcos Rojo Spies
TRANSFER Balls: Is Marcos Rojo heading to Manchester United or not? The Red Devils have bid for the Argentinean. But his club want more money. In reaction, Rojos has chucked his toys and refused to train with the squad.
Manchester United, still eager to sign Rojo, have seen a £15-odd million bid rejected as reports about problems with the player’s third-party ownership by the Doyen Sports group continue to rumble on.
Yesterday Sporting released a club statement in which they accuse an unnamed club of using an impromptu visit to the Jose Alvalade stadium to sneak the CEO of Doyen Sports (a powerful group of super-agents) in for a hush-hush meeting with Rojo by disguising him as an employee of the visiting club.
Here’s the salient bits from Sporting’s statement billed a “SAD Press Release”. It boils down to Sporting claiming the player’s third party owners, Doyen Sports, looked to sell the 24-year-old without their agreement. Doyen own 75 per cent of the player.
It’s all wordy and bitter:
…In reflection of the transparency that all those who have a role in the world of football should be guided by, it is important that Doyen identifies their corporate group structure, as statements are being made regarding societies which have never have anything to do with Sporting; such as Doyen Marketing, of which company it is important to identify financiers and beneficial owners;
…Through the athlete’s (Rojo) agent, Sporting accepted the possibility of his transfer under conditions which were advantageous for the club and which would have allowed for upkeep of other assets. The need for complete secrecy relative to the player was constantly inferred, in order to ensure that his performance would not be affected; especially considering that his transfer was not guaranteed. On the 23rd of July, Sporting’s intention to keep the athlete was communicated, in light of which the player should have immediately been removed from the transfer market. Sporting was guaranteed that this would be the case and that the club’s will would be respected. Surprisingly, it was only after that exchange that Sporting was confronted with offers for the player. As of that time and in going against that which was agreed, meetings were held between various clubs and Doyen to make offers for the player Marcos Rojo;
On 02/08/2014, Sporting received a written proposal for the acquisition of the player, which was flatly rejected in conformity with that which had been agreed with the player’s agent;
Following the rejection of the proposal and a request for a meeting, that same club made a surprise visit to Estádio José Alvalade, with that club thereby being received out of courtesy by an member Sporting’s Board of Directors;
Subsequently, Sporting became aware that Doyen took part in the resulting meeting, namely by convincing the member of Sporting’s board of Directors that the person in question was as member of the visiting club and not in fact the CEO of Doyen. The situation was masked to such a degree that the person in question did not at any time speak in Portuguese, communicating at all times in the language used by the visiting club;
On 07/08/2014, Sporting informed Doyen via email that the club had sent the contracts involving the economic rights of the players agreed with that company to its legal department and noted that the club considered the interference and illegitimate pressure being applied by the CEO of Doyen, Mr. Nélio Lucas, as totally unacceptable;
In light of the seriousness of statements being made and falsities being communicated, we have been forced to reveal that at the beginning of the 13/14 season, that same CEO sent various abusive text messages to the president of Sporting, including one which stated in capital letters: “MARCOS ROJO IS GOING TO THE [FOREIGN CLUB]” and that “IF YOU DO NOT LET HIM HE WILL BEGIN TO CAUSE PROBLEMS IN THE ACADEMY”. While being further clear evidence of the interference that Doyen generates with those who it calls its partners, it became obvious that this is a reoccurring tactic, with only the name of the club being altered;
k) Prior to the Teresa Herrera tournament, various directors and the CFO of SAD spoke on various occasions with the CEO of Doyen, with it thereby being false the assertion that no contact was made between those parties. What really happened was that none of the mentioned representatives of SAD gave in to pressure and interference which was systematically being provoked by Doyen, namely with an insistence that they player would not play in the Tournament;
l) Sporting confirms that Doyen, as noted in that entity’s press release, knows nothing with regards to information issued by our club. However, the fact that Doyen is profoundly aware of proposals made to Sporting is another example of the interference practiced by that entity. It is due to that knowledge that the mentioned entity could affirm in its press release: “For Doyen, in light of the existing proposals and that which we offer to Sporting out of good will, the most lucrative (substantially so) scenario is one in which Sporting decides to keep the player on its professional register.”;
m) We are worried about a fund, which manages millions and various assets, and its inability to count. To that end, 25% of 30M would never be equal to 25% of 20M, especially considering that Spartak Moscow would receive 20% of the value above 5M. We are surprised by the arithmetic failings of Doyen, especially noting that its CEO, Mr. Nélio Lucas, was able to transform a proposal of 20M made to Sporting, on 24/05/2014, into the acquisition of the player Brahimi for 6.5M to another Portuguese club, as has been noted in the public domain;
In light of the above, and without prejudice to the invalidity of the contracts agreed with Doyen regarding the players Marcos Rojo and Zakaria Labyad, Sporting SAD hereby announces that it is proceeding with the termination by just cause of the respective contracts with Doyen.
They also claim that Doyen chief executive Nelio Lucas previously sent “abusive” text messages to Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho, threatening that Rojo would “start problems” if he wasn’t allowed to leave this summer.
The issue of third-party ownershiup is not rare. And it isn’t all that open. Don’t fans and media need to know who own which players so that fairness in all matches can be best guaranteed?
Posted: 16th, August 2014 | In: manchester united, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
