With the media local to Carpi somewhat giving up on Mbakogu-to-Leeds as July turned into August, and the deadline for the verbal agreement they insisted upon passed, we weren’t going to have a look in Gazzetta di Modena again… but something pulled us back in.
Unsurprisingly, Jerry Mbakogu and Leeds United are mentioned in the newspaper’s Thursday edition. It’s stated a transfer to the Championship club has been ‘missed’, and Carpi won’t be getting the near €3m from the original agreement made back in the winter window.
That’s already known, but there’s a new twist… Jerry Mbakogu is set to terminate his Carpi contract.
There’s no real explanation why, but it’s presented as the striker doing it as a reaction to the Leeds transfer failing. What Carpi think about the situation isn’t reported on.
The Football Capital client last signed a renewal in July 2017, on a contract which takes him to June 2020.
Rescinding the deal would see him then able to sign for another club free of charge, but Carpi can of course pursue damages, unless he’d be doing so with their permission.
Carpi giving permission would be especially odd, because they’d almost certainly be able to get a transfer fee from somewhere for the player. And Mbakogu cancelling his deal without another club to join would also be odd.
Is Jerry going to rock up at Elland Road on a potential freebie? This transfer situation has been so strange that anything is possible.