Le Havre report Man Utd over Pogba transfer

[the wes 7,212]

The transfer ban imposed on Chelsea could soon hit Manchester United,after Le Havre contacted Fifa about the circumstances surrounding thesigning of Paul Pogba.

The Ligue 2 side, home to one of thefinest soccer academies in France, have asked the world governing bodyto investigate the transfer of the 16-year-old midfielder, who left tojoin the Premier League champions last month.

Le Havre's President Jean-Pierre Louvel claimed the case is similar tothat of United's Premier League rivals Chelsea, who were banned by Fifafrom signing players until January 2011 for improper conduct when theysigned Gael Kakuta, now 18, from Racing Lens in 2007.

Louvel said: "We have submitted the case to Fifa. The letter to leavehas not been agreed by the French Federation, so Fifa has been referred.

"I hope we will get the same result (as the Kakuta case), which couldjustify to those clubs they can't do anything and they have rules torespect."

Le Havre sporting director Alain Belsoeur said: "It is a very strongdecision which shows that a player under contract cannot leave justlike that."

He added: "The Pogba case is very similar. Manchester United are sayingthey respected the rules but they did not."

A United spokesman said on Friday: "We have nothing to fear as we havedone nothing wrong. We know Le Havre are not very happy with us, but wehave acted correctly."

At stake is a rule saying a young player being developed in France mustsign his first professional contract with the club coaching him unlessthe French Football Federation (FFF) issues him with a transfercertificate.

Belsoeur added: "In Pogba's case, the Federation refused to issue thetransfer certificate that he needed to go abroad. Our lawyers are incharge of this and will deal with it in the club's best interests.

"The problem is English clubs feel those are French rules that do notapply to them when they want to sign a youngster.

"Fifa have just told them they do and sent out a strong signal to theclubs acting like predators which tells them: 'Stop behaving that way,or it will hurt'.

"At Le Havre we spend five million euros (£4.3 million) a year on ouracademy, which is a lot for a club with a total budget of 25 millioneuros (£21.8).

"Out of the 25 professional players in our squad, 16 come from ouracademy. We want that work to be respected.

itn.co.uk

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Won't be surprise if nothing happens

[ZanSnake 1,211]

Are we actually being done for that 11 year old yet?

[Term-X 7,891]

nah, not everyone's favorite club

they want to destroy Chelsea.