On Monday we carried reports from the media close to Murcia that the Spanish club had won a FIFA battle with Middlesbrough over an extra €1m payment for the signing of Kike Garcia.
Middlesbrough had originally paid €2.5m for the player but there were clauses entitling Murcia to more should circumstances dictate. One of those was 15% of any transfer profit, but this wasn’t achieved when the player left for Eibar.
Another was the €1m promotion payment.
Kike was sold by Middlesbrough in February 2016. The move just missed the January window, so he was unable to play for Eibar for the rest of that season.
Promoted the following summer, Boro didn’t feel they needed to pay the bonus because Kike had been sold.
Murcia’s argument was that Kike had made 19 appearances that Championship season, scoring four goals and adding one assist, so was obviously a part of the promotion campaign.
That was knocked back so they took it through the football courts.
Tuesday’s edition of AS says Middlesbrough will now be forced to pay €1m plus a further €100k in interest, €600k more than the figure they refused.
AS disagree with earlier claims of the money having to be paid in 30 days, and suggest it could take a few months, maybe that’s due to a possible appeal.
