UD Las Palmas president Miguel Ángel Ramírez has finally given some light on the transfer of Jonathan Calleri from West Ham United.
As said by Canarias 7 in an article which we covered earlier today, the move has been having some paperwork issues due to the number of clubs who he already played for during the past 12 months.
Speaking about Jonathan Calleri and Hernan Toledo to the club’s official radio, he said (via Canarias 7): “I closed the signings a month ago with Maldonado, the owners, the agents in America, in Europe, in Spain, and the clubs where they are assigned: West Ham and Fiorentina. We wanted them in summer and these paid more. They go out in the press, the clubs who paid in the summer want to get paid now. I closed them all a month ago. In the end it costs you more than the players.
“We can’t be competing to pay all that. This afternoon all the agents came, and Calleri’s adviser. On Saturday, he called his representative from London to announce it and I replied that there was no West Ham mail saying he was travelling, and now the club says they want a few more days.
“I think he will come and nothing will happen, and if not, others will come”.
As said by the president, Calleri belongs to Uruguayan club Maldonado, who are actually used by agents to register players.
After being bought by these investors, he was first loaned to São Paulo, where he spent six months, and then to West Ham. Their plan is to keep loaning him with buying option clauses, so there will come a time when a club will pay what they want.