Over the past couple of weeks, Belgian football has been turned upside down as an ongoing investigation is looking into claims of match fixing and money laundering.
Among the main suspects is Mogi Bayat, who is widely seen as one of, if not the most powerful agent in Belgium, who so happens to have conducted a fair chunk of business in the Premier League, notably with Watford.
The agent is currently imprisoned in Belgium awaiting trial.
On Wednesday, Sport/Foot published an interview with their country’s Secret Footballer, who discussed the situation from a player’s point of view, and, to put it simply: he isn’t surprised.
Explaining how Bayat did business, he said: “He’s developed a whole process. He shows you a concrete contract and you think everything is sorted down to the last detail. But it isn’t negotiable, the only thing Mogi is waiting for is for you to sign.
“Let’s just take a fictitious example. Let’s say you earn €5k/month. A club wants you and Mogi gets you a €20k/month deal. At first glance, you’re winning. Who would refuse their salary being quadrupled? What you don’t know is that you could have earned €40k/month. The different is that Mogi has put it in his pocket, or he’s used it to give himself a commission.”
A bit later in the interview, the footballer also insinuated clubs were very aware of what was going on, but just decided to look away as they benefitted from these practices too.
He continued: “People like him are protected. Thanks to him, players like Dodi Lukebakio, Obbi Oulare, Anthony Limbombe, Kara, etc… went abroad for hefty sums. Mogi allowed big clubs to earn millions of euros.”
Two of the examples given there were Watford players, as Lukebakio was transferred to Vicarage Road from RSC Charleroi last January for £4.5m (he’s currently at Fortuna Düsseldorf on loan), while Obbi Oulare left Club Brugge for the Hornets in 2015 against a fee of £7.4m.
Together, they have a combined four Premier League appearances.
As for Limbombe (€7.2m) and Kara (loan with a view to buy at €2m), both swapped Club Brugge and Anderlecht respectively for Nantes in Ligue 1 last summer.
