Fulham and Forest face pay-outs over transfer deals
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Fulham and Nottingham Forest may both be ruing their involvements with players from overseas.
Last night, the Londoners said they would appeal after being ordered to pay Valencia around £500,000 because they broke transfer laws by making John Carew's January 2002 move subject to a medical, which he failed. Forest's problem is that Pierre van Hooijdonk is suing them over his transfer to Vitesse Arnhem in 1999.
Fulham must pay Valencia a "percentage" of the proposed £7.5m fee in Carew's aborted transfer in January 2002. Fulham called off the deal when the Norwegian striker failed a medical due to an alleged condition known as "jumper's knee".
The Spanish side took legal action and Fifa, the game's world governing body, has now told Mohamed Al Fayed's club they must pay part of the fee. However, Fulham issued a statement yesterday saying: "It has always been Fulham's position that the agreement entered into prior to the medical was not contractual and therefore the club believes that this judgment is unfair."
The Carew case is the second current Fulham dispute to involve the Players' Status Committee. The club are also appealing against the body's ruling that they pay Lyon the final £3.27m payment on Steve Marlet's £11.5m fee two years ago.
Van Hooijdonk, who joined Forest from Celtic for £4.5m six years ago, has issued a writ claiming more than £650,000 arising from his move. The Dutch international was part of the Forest squad which earned promotion to the Premiership in 1998, but he missed the first 11 games of the following season after refusing to return to the City Ground for the new season.
He eventually resumed his Forest career but was sold to Vitesse at the end of the season for £3.5m - with Forest offering van Hooijdonk a significant sum of money to settle his contract. However, the 33-year-old did not sign the agreement and is claiming a portion of the transfer fee as well as a loyalty bonus from Forest for the 1998-99 season.
The club's finance director, John Pelling, said: "That he should also claim a loyalty bonus at the end of a season in which he had gone on strike and made himself unavailable for first-team matches or training beggars belief."
Charlton Athletic have reluctantly granted a surprise transfer request, by their 22-year-old England international left back Paul Konchesky.
* England are to play Croatia on 20 August in a friendly international at Ipswich Town's Portman Road ground. It will be the first time the stadium, with a capacity of 30,250, has hosted a senior England match.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments