That’s it, no more appeals. Sporting are condemned to pay the third-party company Doyen Sports €20.1m for the case which involved Marcos Rojo’s transfer to Manchester United in 2014.
The decision was taken on Wednesday and is a big deal in Portugal, with A Bola making the most detailed story about it.
The mess started in 2012, when Marcos Rojo was transferred from Spartak Moscow to Sporting. The Portuguese club paid €4m for the deal, having agreed with Doyen Sports that the company would keep 75% of the player’s economic rights.
Rojo was sold to Manchester United for €20m in 2014, and according to A Bola, Sporting understood they only had to pay Doyen €4.5m.
But, clearly, third-party companies aim to make money out of deals they largely fund, so they obviously didn’t let it pass.
In 2014, Doyen filed a complaint stating they were owned 75% of a €25m deal, as it also included the loan of Nani to Sporting.
Doyen won, with the court saying Sporting should pay €12m plus interest. They tried to appeal by taking the case further, and that’s the result that came out today, so the club have nowhere to run now.
In the end, Sporting are paying €12m, plus €1.5m in interest and court costs. That’s €13.5m, plus other €2.1m from the deal of Zakaria Labyad, who was another player with a problem between Doyen and the club.
Added to the €4.5m, there’s the total of €20.1m.
Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho said it’s “a sad day for football”, and called the decision “absolutely shameful”.
On the other hand, Doyen’s CEO Nélio Lucas said ‘inventions’ from Sporting had seen his family harassed, and asked Carvalho to reveal the contracts between the two parties.
Media attacks will continue, but the case is finally done now.
