Manchester City have found themselves brought into the CAS case around FC Koln youngster Jaka Cuber Potocnik after they were used to ramp up his valuation.
That’s according to Kicker, who cover the case around the youngster today and how those involved in his transfer used a fake bid from Manchester City to drive up his asking price.
Potocnik moved to Koln from NK Olimpija U17s in January 2022, but the Slovenian side took the case to court, and ultimately the Court of Arbitration for Sport, disputing that they were owed money from the deal as the player was still under contract with them.
Koln believed that the youngster had terminated his deal with the Slovenians, but they argue that was not the case and they were owed a fee.
The court have ultimately ruled in their favour, banning the player for four months and ordering a fee to be paid, with the German side’s actions labelled as ‘naïve at best and amateurish at worst’.
In terms of the fees being paid, the player’s side insisted it should be €100,000 as there was a clause in his contract at that value for foreign clubs. Olimpija, though, have insisted they are due €2.5m at least.
That’s where Manchester City come into the affair as former sports director at the club, Mladen Rudonja, has claimed his successor was making up fake offers from England.
He stated, “that his successor, Mr. Barisic, had asked him in vain to prepare a false undated offer from Manchester City, which, without prejudice to other possible consequences, could indicate that Olimpija as a whole had tried to artificially increase the value of the player.”
In other words, the club had tried to use Manchester City as a means to drive up Potocnik’s price, even though they weren’t actually interested.
That’s another matter to be resolved, with that testimony set to be the basis of a criminal complaint that could be dealt with by the state courts in the near future.
It seems, though, Manchester City’s continued desire to sign young players from around the world now has them involved in moves where they actually aren’t participants at all.
