Why: Javier Pastore cost more than his worth

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Chelsea avoid legal wrangles by choosing Juan Mata over Javier Pastore

Juan Mata's two goals in two midfield starts for Chelsea suggest he is already repaying Roman Abramovich's £23.5m investment in him, unlike another Spain international who cost more than twice as much.

He has also saved Chelsea a potential headache for more than football reasons after they chose not to conclude their interest in Palermo's Javier Pastore. The Argentina international's agent, Marcelo Simonian, is said to have visited London for talks with Chelsea on 29 July after Pastore's club had described his transfer to Stamford Bridge as "very likely".

But something changed after that date and Paris Saint-Germain – now belonging to Qatar's sovereign-wealth fund – moved in, paying €43m (£37.3m) for the forward. A case before the Sicilian courts gives us an indication of what turned Chelsea off.

In the case Palermo will claim that, when Pastore was still with Argentina's Atlético Huracán, they ceded a portion of his economic rights to Simonian's Dodici Sports Management. Then, Palermo will say, when he joined them a deal was agreed whereby Dodici would receive a portion of any future transfer fee. This is perhaps up to half of the total fee due – if so, more than £18.5m.

Now the Sicilian courts are considering a complaint from Palermo alleging Simonian is "extorting" the money from them. They claim Simonian told Pastore that he should not sign for PSG unless Palermo agreed to pay over his half of the fee. Simonian denies that charge, claiming also he owned all of Pastore's "economic rights" until he sold half to Palermo and is therefore due half the fee from PSG.

Palermo are believed to have said they will pay no more than €12.5m (£10.8m). With Mata delivering, Chelsea look wise to have avoided being dragged into a messy legal wrangle that would have exposed details of their transfer business in public.

http://www.guardian....-javier-pastore

Considering we pay the most in agent fees, this is a positive step in our change in direction. In terms of negotiations.

[Guest justin_3d]

lol and the media always find a way to take a jab at Torres.

Does Carrol or Berbatov gets this much attention?

But then again Benzema was the same crap. It took him 2 seasons to get good......

And yeah getting Mata was a great deal. We have done very good deals with AVB and Emanolo. I hope Roman sees this, and does not screw it up again!

[ZanSnake 1,211]

If we can sign one more midfeilder in January, and maybe one more winger (for depth rather then needs), then we have a seriously solid team! Maybe finally, Chelsea has gotten a firm head on transfers? We are strict with contract's and older players, so maybe we should have a similiar set-up with certain players. I mean Raul was a back-up for Modric, and he has been sublime for us so far.

Maybe with AVB we don't need to worry about 'rushed' buys

[Term-X 7,891]

Signing Mata was a masterstroke.

Why let an agent be THAT influential in your career choices, Javier Pastore may as well just cut out the middle man and change his name to Marcelo Simonian.

[warnie_666 1,081]

Well our buys, who have been second choices have turned out an absolute steal and a blessing in disguise.

We missed out on 38m Pastore and ended with 23m Mata.....What a buy he has been so far.

We missed out on 40m Modric and ended with a 12m Meireles....So far he looks a steal for 12m

[termninja 5,290]

I think AVB has something to do with it. We went for Pereirra, and knowing CFC we'd cash in and overpay for him, but Andre said we're talking and that we are far from their evaluation. In the end, we didn't want to pay what they asked even though we could and Alvaro really wanted to join.

Great signings so far, not expensive and very successful. Keep it up Chels !

[manpe 10,861]

Juan Mata >Javier Pastore

[Fulham Broadway 16,845]

Lets not forget the Granny Shagger Man Utd Pele was absolute pony for a year.

End of theday, like most things, a players 'worth' is not the same as his 'value' and the price is dependant on what someone will pay...