How much will Manchester City get back if they sack Carlos Tevez after his unauthorised flit to Buenos Aires and sue him for compensation? The answer isn’t straightforward as neither the player’s representative nor the club have been prepared to say exactly how much they paid for him with guesstimates ranging from £25m to £47m.
How much will Manchester City get back if they sack Carlos Tevez after his unauthorised flit to Buenos Aires and sue him for compensation? The answer isn’t straightforward as neither the player’s representative nor the club have been prepared to say exactly how much they paid for him with guesstimates ranging from £25m to £47m.
Sports lawyer Daniel Geey reckons that the precedent of Adrian Mutu and Chelsea suggests a figure of around £17m if City had spent £35m on acquiring him, or as much as £23.5m if they spent £47m. This is well short of the £40m City currently estimate as his value.
In the Mutu case the player was dismissed by the club when he tested positive for cocaine seven years ago. Fifa’s Dispute Resolution Chamber ordered Mutu to pay Chelsea £14.7m, a figure based on the 44 months remaining on his contract, Chelsea’s initial £19.3m outlay, plus agent and signing on fees.
It shoud be noted that any club that take Tevez on may find themselves liable for any compensation order Fifa hands down and that could be difficult for even the wealthier Latin American clubs. Of course, Fifa will have to come to a ruling and we have to hope that we will not be too distracted by dealing with Sepp Blatter’s gaffe of the week.