Jonathan Calleri’s relationship with the group of investors who owns his rights has gone from bad to worse, according to reports from Brazil.
As explained a few times here, these investors bought him from Boca Juniors for €10m last year and made him sign for the Uruguayan club Maldonado, so they can loan him out before a permanent sale.
Calleri was first loaned to São Paulo, where he had a great spell, and then to West Ham, where he is still to score a goal for the club.
Now the player is reportedly pushing for a move back to Brazil, and according to UOL today, this is the reason why his relationship with the investors fell apart. Guillermo Calleri, the striker’s father, recently had a meeting with the group, and despite raising his voice a bit, the other party still didn’t give in.
Their intention is to keep Calleri in Europe. They consider that a return to Brazil will drop the player’s market value, so it’s not in their plans. An offer from UD Las Palmas has arrived, but Calleri turned it down.
The player’s father has promised São Paulo he’d give him an answer before the 20th of January. But both him and Jonathan Calleri consider the return situation unlikely, as the investors, or Maldonado, will only send him where they want to.
So right now West Ham have a player, who didn’t really want to join them in the first place, who is at loggerheads with the paymasters who own him over his future. It’s not a great situation for either West Ham or Calleri, and it’s surely time Fifa looked at this kind of ownership.
