Every transfer window there always seems to be one deal that somehow fails to get completely over the line. This summer it was the turn of Mika, and his proposed move from Boavista to Sunderland.
David Moyes had been very keen to sign another goalkeeper for Sunderland, and the club certainly need one, but the last minute deal failed to get approval from FIFA.
There’s some kind of appeal going on at the moment, trying to get FIFA to allow the transfer, and the player’s agent has had his say on the situation.
Portuguese newspaper A Bola quote César Bonaventura explaining how he sees it: “The transfer of Mika was not validated because of an error in the computerised transfer system (TMS) which left pending the entries made by the clubs.
“At 22:30 the contract signed by Mika was sent to TMS. However, we have not received confirmation, given that the system was down and only returned to normal at 23:50.”
FIFA may well let this one go through, giving the benefit of the doubt, but what could go against that is the isolation of the issue. It’s not as if Europe is full of reports on TMS failing, or other transfers hit the same rocks.
As for how Mika is dealing with the situation, Bonaventura said: “He’s a professional… his head is focused on Boavista.”
