About a month or so ago, we covered a story in France regarding Elye Wahi and his potential transfer to Southampton.
The young forward caught the attention of many clubs during the 2016-17 season when he scored 89 goals at youth level, and the Saints believed they’d secured a deal to get him once he was legally allowed to sign for them.
Dealing with small club Montfermeil, Southampton had allegedly agreed to let him stay there until he was 16, when he would then move to St Mary’s.
However, Montpellier, in the meantime, signed him to a deal, and believed they had the right to have him at their club instead of Montfermeil.
Speaking to Actufoot, Montpellier’s head of youth development, Francis de Taddeo, revealed the outcome.
He said: “The LFP voted for us. They saw that Montfermeil’s request was excessive. Our deal was very legal. Elye is now under contract with us, and that’s why he’s playing competitive football with us.”
De Taddeo then explained why a deal with Southampton was never on the cards, either: “We were aghast… We were ready to fix any error we’d made (in their deal). We were thinking it would be more of a conciliation, but Montfermeil were saying he couldn’t sign with Montpellier as there was already a deal with Southampton.
“Let me remind you that a deal with a foreign club for a player who’s a minor is reprehensible. In fact, Elye never set foot in Montfermeil, he never even trained there.”
The head of youth development revealed an ‘exterior person’ put pressure on Wahi’s mother for him to sign with Montfermeil, claiming his son would not be able to play that season if he didn’t sign a licence before July 15th.
