Marseille President Vincent Labrune and General Manager Philippe Perez were released by police late last night after undergoing two days worth of questioning regarding supposed kickbacks received by third parties as a part of the 2010 transfer of André Pierre Gignac from Toulouse.
In a long interview with L’Equipe this morning, Labrune sought to explain more generally about troubles with agents:
“There is too much money in the game and we need to stop believing that there is only one person who can represent the player in the very big transfers, it is impossible. We, we are the club the most inspected and the one that has been sanctioned the most in the past. We have put in place big measures of control. If there is a club that has made the mistake, it is us, but at one point you have to accept the principle of reality. There are agents who are close to me, who speak to me, who don’t have a licence, I don’t even know. It is a crazy thing.”
