Friday’s edition of Record reported a dramatic situation between Rui Patricio, Sporting and Wolves. With the goalkeeper’s move to Napoli stalling, the English club moved in and agreed a deal worth €18m, with Record saying Patricio was then given the go-ahead for a medical.
Contracts were drawn up but at the last minute, according to the Portuguese newspaper, Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho wrecked it all by asking asking for an extra €2m.
Then it was reported, also by Record, that Patricio, furious over the Wolves situation and everything else going on at the Portuguese club, had taken steps to rescind his contract with Sporting, citing ‘just cause’. So sure did the footballer want to be, that he sent the notice by fax, email and registered letter.
It didn’t take long for Bruno to respond and he’s held a press conference.
Record quote the Sporting president as saying: “I’m sorry that Rui has not talked to the employer about what is happening.
“I want to tell you that Sporting were negotiating with Jorge Mendes, who said that there was a proposal from Naples, but in the meantime the change of coach at the club ended up cooling that interest, then appeared Wolverhampton, a business with different contours.
“Jorge Mendes’s right-hand man called us at 11 at night and asked what was Sporting’s position. Of the €18m, Jorge Mendes wanted 7 and we said no. Jorge Mendes wanted to take advantage of the situation, which is a crime.
“When we did the renewals of Adrien and Rui, we finished the old contracts and made new ones, the old ones, made by Godinho Lopes, said that both the player and Jorge Mendes had a percentage of the registration. With the new contracts the percentages of the company Gestifute are annulled.
“In the middle of all this panic from Sporting there was a clear use from Gestifute, who said that to do this business we have to pay €3m, plus €4m from Adrian, or no business. And there is no business. Sporting cannot be under fear, under blackmail or under threat.”
Bruno’s words would bring understanding if it wasn’t for his record. He’s claimed various things like this before, perhaps most notably when he refused to pay the Doyen investment group a percentage due from the sale of Marcos Rojo from Sporting to Manchester United.
Doyen funded Rojo’s transfer from Spartak Moscow to Sporting in 2012, paying €4m.
The company were then due 75% of any future transfer fee, but when Rojo moved to Manchester United in 2014, in a deal worth around €25m, Bruno refused. The Sporting president accused Doyen of a whole list of things and refused to pay the money, so it ended up at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Even when CAS sided with Doyen, Sporting still didn’t pay up and UEFA had to withhold money due to them from European competition.
