“Absurd, unreal and senseless” – Manchester City signing’s agent accuses La Liga club of lying

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Juma Bah had signed for Manchester City, before immediately being loaned to Ligue 1 side RC Lens. It comes after the teenage defender “had gone AWOL” from Real Valladolid, after taking the decision to terminate his contract for the sum of €6m.

Valladolid expressed their fury at the statement, but now Bah’s agent Patrick Mork has rebuked the claims made by the La Liga club in a response (via Marca).

“In my almost 40 years as a footballers’ agent I have carried out countless agreements and transfers with football teams around the world and I have never been in such an absurd, unreal and senseless situation as the one I am experiencing now. Unfortunately, the statements made by the Real Valladolid board of directors lead me to write these lines.

“When the club decided to sign him, a loan contract was obtained with an option to buy, thus avoiding any economic risk, and an employment contract was negotiated with the player through me. For that contract, aware that they were hiring a young and unknown boy but who stood out for his enormous potential, Real Valladolid demanded conditions that were accepted practically without opposition or negotiation. Part of these conditions was a termination clause where the club stipulated the price of the player for an automatic termination of the contract.

“Given the recent behaviour of the Real Valladolid board, I want to clarify that neither Juma nor I, his agent, rejected the change of contract from the youth team to the reserve team or the first team. That is absolutely and categorically false. What’s more, Real Valladolid never contacted us to make that change of license. Nor is it true that we denied a renewal of the contract with an improvement in salary conditions.”

Mork also confirmed how the deal to take Bah to Man City unfolded.

“Some clubs offered even more than the price set by the release clause, but Real Valladolid did not accept any. One of these clubs showed a special interest in Juma and, after trying an amicable negotiation, decided, voluntarily, consciously and analysing the situation as a whole, to pay the price of the termination clause to release the player from his contract with Real Valladolid and proceed with his contract. A procedure that, far from the slander that has been said, is protected by legality.”