L’Équipe report that 21-year-old French midfielder Pape Gueye’s free transfer move to Watford, already announced by the Premier League club from Ligue 2 outfit Le Havre, was conducted under false pretences.
The player has been actively trying to get out of the arrangement, with RMC reporting that the player had signed three pre-contracts. Gueye has also dropped agent Bakari Sanogo in favour of a lawyer, called Pierre-Henri Bovis.
Bovis had the following to say on 29th April:
“We are looking into possible irregularities around the signing of the contract. We do not deny the existence of an agreement concluded with Watford through Pape Gueye’s former agent, but we are pointing the finger at some potential anomalies.”
The English club, who currently sit 17th in the Premier League, are convinced that Gueye is the future replacement for 31-year-old Étienne Capoue.
However, according to the player and his entourage, unhappy with the financial terms in the deal with Watford, have decided to change representative and are now seeking to break the deal, despite it already being ratified by the English FA.
L’Équipe claim that Gueye underwent his medical in June 2019, which foes against the 18-3 FIFA regulation in their statute on the transfer of players. The midfielder went to Udine on two occasions, in Italy, to undergo physical tests in a clinic. Accompanied by his former advisor, Bakari Sanogo, a close friend to Gueye’s family, and with whom the player had worked with since his joined Le Havre’s youth academy.
The medical bills and the hotel room bills is understood to have been paid for by Udinese, owned by the Pozzo family, who also own… Watford.
Le Havre and Watford have refused a request to comment.
Gueye does not yet know what his future holds, but he is looking for a way to get out of this Watford deal, and will go as far as making an appeal to FIFA. He and his team will need irrefutable proof against Watford in this case. One thing is clear, Gueye will have to have this resolved before 1st July, the start date of his signed Watford contact.
