Everton star being dragged through courts by man who discovered his talents

Everton star Bernard is still having some problems from the first big transfer of his career.

As reported by UOL on Tuesday, the man who has discovered the player is pursuing him over some money from his Atlético-MG to Shakhtar Donetsk transfer back in 2013.

Rubens, who used to be Bernard’s neighbour, is said to be the man responsible for discovering his talents and insisting on the mission to make the teenager a professional footballer.

Now Rubens claims that in an agreement with Bernard’s father many years ago, they struck a deal that he would get 5% of the player’s economic rights.

The agreement was never put to paper, and when Bernard moved to Ukraine, all that his father paid Rubens was R$200k (£40.3k). Had he got the 5%, it would have been R$3.85m (£776k).

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Rubens has recorded some conversations in which Bernard’s father lets him know that he’s transferred such money, and says ‘that’s all they can give’ to him.

Former Atlético-MG staff member Ricardo Mariano Lima claims that Rubens was indeed the most important figure in Bernard’s development.

“In fact, if it were not for him, unfortunately, Bernard, even with all his talent, wouldn’t have gotten where he arrived,” Ricardo Mariano Lima told UOL.

“I didn’t even meet Bernard’s father, I never saw him at Galo’s training centre. I only saw Rubão, so you could see the size of Rubão’s importance.”

Now a court hearing is scheduled for next Thursday, but according to UOL, Everton won’t release Bernard for that. They’ve let him speak to authorities before the start of November, when he didn’t do it, and then in March or May 2019.