Everton have invoked the wrath of a club president following the confirmation from Marcel Brands that James Rodriguez arrived on a free transfer – but not the president you might expect.
Banfield and Envigado were two clubs who would otherwise have cashed in on a supposed sum of £12m that the Toffees supposedly paid Real Madrid for the 29-year-old. However, the BBC-reported figure emerged to be untrue.
Speaking to the club’s annual general meeting (AGM), Director of Football Brands confirmed that Real Madrid waived their rights to a transfer fee in order to offload the unwanted playmaker form their books. In comments obtained via the Liverpool Echo, he left nothing to ambiguity over the lack of a fee, saying:
It was one of the most difficult and weirdest transfer windows ever. We finished the window with a squad of 27 players – a little bit more than originally planned.
We signed six new players. Three on a permanent transfer – Allan, Doucoure and Ben Godfrey. One on a free – James Rodriguez. One on a training compensation – Nkounkou. And one loan without a loan fee – Robin Olsen.’
Under FIFA’s solidarity contribution scheme, clubs in other continents (and their footballing associations) are entitled to a small compensatory sum when a former player moves on to a new club.
This offers some compensation for the identification and development of the player, but any free transfers consequentially nullify any due fees. As a result, Envigado’s president Ramiro Ruiz was most displeased, telling Marca [via Sport Witness]:
I’m still surprised, everyone in Envigado is surprised because the statement of the Everton sporting director comes out coincidentally, when James is among the one hundred most influential players of the last ten years, he is at number fourteen.
Is a player of that level free? Envigado has already made the request to FIFA and Everton.
It is true that it is free in the transfer system, but we are infinitely surprised because in addition, we knew and it is no secret that they had offers from Italian teams, who were willing to pay for his arrival.
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Envigado evidently feel aggrieved and for good reason given the earlier reported value of a deal.
However, that should be of little concern to Evertonians – the Toffees have absolutely no obligations to offer any fees to Rodriguez’ former clubs.
