An interesting exclusive released tonight by the Athletic claims that PSG wrote up a legal complaint about Chelsea’s actions during the battle for Manuel Ugarte’s signature over the weekend.
A report in L’Equipe earlier reported that Chelsea tried to offer to buy a minority stake in Sporting as part of a transfer deal for the midfielder.
Another source close to the deal denied this and said that both clubs had just met the Uruguayan’s release clause, and were each trying to persuade him to join them.
PSG were clearly convinced by the reports however, as they drew up a “legal letter” which they intended to send to Sporting CP, who they saw as pushing the player towards a move to London in order to secure the investment.
The drafted letter which has apparently been seen by the writer, outlines worries about the “integrity” of such a move, and we can well imagine that such a thing would be very difficult, if allowed at all, by UEFA’s rules.
At the very least it’s messy and opens up the door to all sorts of questionable manipulation, and whether you could force it through in the end or not, it’s not the sort of battle you want to be fighting.
Our relationship with PSG is already in tatters after the Hakim Ziyech farrago on deadline day in January. Whether or not they finally agreed the offer wasn’t true, this won’t have helped things.
PSG got their man. If they want to muddy the waters with allegations like this they should come with hard evidence. They’re a club who’s had it’s fair share of FFP issues and they have no business casting aspersions without the goods to back it up. Furthermore, nobody ought to be “reporting” this as news if they can’t obtain greater verification than a
peak at slanderous “letter.” Just cuz PSG says doesn’t make it so!