CM EXCLUSIVE Russo: Doyen probed Dinamo for Coric move to Porto
Despite FIFA Circular 1464 (published on the 1st May of this year) explicitly banning Third Party Ownership schemes from operating within football, two news items from Monday and Tuesday prove the contrary.
Readers of this column will be used to Doyen’s wizardry when it comes to this kind of thing. Their favourite client of late, Porto, are involved again, only this time Inter transfer target Ante Coric is being linked with a €10 million move to Portugal’s second city.
According to Portuguese paper A Bola, Doyen aren’t just involved in bringing the Dinamo Zagreb talent to the Dragão Stadium... they initiated the negotiations themselves, and with the player’s family, too!
Completely coincidentally, the Croatian club just happens to boast a strong Portuguese contingent, namely former Genoa goalkeeper Eduardo, full-back Ivo Pinto, midfielders Gonçalo and Paulo Machado, the latter formerly of Toulouse and Olympiakos.
News of the 18-year-old Coric’s potential transfer may not be all bad for Doyen, though: the fact that this is even being talked about is proof that the fund is still operational, and presumably ready to take new customers on board.
Juventus fans will be less impressed, however, as Doeyn president Nelio Lucas' recent interview with French paper Liberation also saw him name-drop the Italian club.
The second case we hinted at earlier sees 19-year-old defender Iago Maidana move to São Paulo in suspicious circumstances. According to Futbol Interior, the player rescinded his contract with Criciuma, in exchange for 800.000 Reais (around €185.000). For some reason, he immediately signed with a tiny club that plays in Goias State, Monte Cristo Esporte Clube.
Surprise surprise, only two days later, giants São Paulo swooped for him, paying 2 million Reais (465.000) for the privilege of owning 60% of his rights.
That’s a profit of 1.2 million Reais in just two days, a case of rubbing your fingers together and somehow making money appear out of nothing. Meanwhile, Maidana’s value catapulted to 3,33 million Reais. Everyone’s a winner! It didn’t take long for the name of a third party to be leaked: in this case, Itaqueirão Soccer, a fund that paid only 800.000 Reais to Criciuma to secure Maidana’s release.
A Brazilian blogger has since discovered that Itaqueirão was only founded last July, and is the football branch of a company that is mainly involved in the fizzy drinks retail industry. Talk about diversification!
Among the fund’s shareholders, the name Agnaldo Julio de Queiroz Crusi emerges. He allegedly works in telemarketing!
So far, Brazilian soccer’s response has been lax: the first Commission of the Super Sports Justice Tribunal (or STJD in Brazilian) fined both Criciuma and Sao Paulo to the tune of 100 thousand Reais, and Iago barely 10.000, when he could have risked a ban of up to two years. Now, it is time for the Brazilian football federation, the CBF, to intervene. Let us hope the fines are a tad sterner.
