For a brief period, Watford thought they had managed to snatch a good, young talent from France for very little in the shape of Pape Gueye.
The midfielder, who had run down his contract at Le Havre, was announced as the Hornets’ first signing of the summer, but it didn’t take long for problems to appear.
Changing agents, the player immediately made it clear he had no intention of moving to England, claiming he was unaware of the contract’s details when he signed it.
Part of the problem was Watford’s intention of loaning him to Udinese, which Gueye didn’t want to do.
Since then, there has been a fight in France over who would be able to get him, and Marseille appear to have come out winners.
The 21-year-old underwent his medical on Tuesday ahead of signing a four-year contract after being convinced by the Ligue 1 club that this was the right move for him.
Once close to committing to Angers SCO, the midfielder was swayed by the prospect of becoming, in time, ‘a regular in a team qualified for the Champions League’.
But what about Watford in all this? The player’s contract with them technically starts today, Wednesday July 1st, and L’Equipe explain they won’t go quietly.
While they have been ‘discreet in public’, the Hornets are expected, ‘via a bailiff, to notify the player’s absence from the club’, and a ‘strong reaction’ is likely.
Just a few days ago, Watford reportedly ‘sent a letter to all the clubs cited in the press as a potential landing spot, telling them they should prepare themselves for a lawsuit’.
This, however, didn’t scare Marseille, and L’Equipe explain the club’s lawyers went through Gueye’s contract with Watford and ‘there appears to be too many irregularities for the player to not be considered as free’.
All in all, the French newspaper believe there is ‘no doubt, this dossier will be sorted out in court’.
