Late last night the Telegraph implicated Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino in a ‘football for sale’ undercover sting, saying that he was offering 20% of the club as a way around third-party ownership rules on players.
The Telegraph state that Cellino: “offered a fictitious investment firm a way around FA and FIFA rules on transfers” and, with a company investing in Leeds United, ” it would receive a portion of his players’ sell-on fees.” For this to happen, Cellino seems to suggest that a prospective investor could purchase 20% shares of Leeds United, in return for a future cut on transfer dealings.
Cellino puts forward the idea of inward investment and outward profit flow from player sales as the way forward for any investor wanting to take advantage of it. Seemingly guarded in his opening gambit on the video, saying to the investigative journalists: “I’m telling you not with Massimo Cellino lips but I’m giving you the recipe to do a job that cover you,” before then going on to talk about how the inward investment would add to the logic of becoming partners.
However, in a midnight statement, Leeds United are refuting the claims made by the Telegraph, insisting that what the newspaper presents as substance is nothing more than a “non-story”. Further to this, the Club announcement goes on to state that what was spoken about by Cellino “is plainly not a suggestion as to how to circumvent the rules” but rather a “concise explanation of how to operate within the confines of the rules,” with any investing company effectively becoming “the Club.”
The official statement concludes by saying that Leeds United will not be making any further comment on the claims levelled at Massimo Cellino by the Telegraph.
