Gilberto transfer broker loses his £450,000!
June 29, 2005
This is about the agent who helped broker the deal Gilberto transfer from Arsenal to Athletico Mineiro.
He was claiming that Arsenal should have paid him 10% of the £4.5m transfer fee (£450,000.)
Read about how the court battle started off, here.
Simply put: he lost the battle. This is a full article about the case being closed, (taken from this source):
A players’ agent today lost his legal fight over fees he said he was due over the transfer of World Cup winner Gilberto Silva.
Jacques Lichtenstein claimed that Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro agreed to pay him 10% of the £4.5 million transfer fee it received for Silva from Arsenal in July 2002.
The club denied any such deal and said that Brussels-based Mr Lichtenstein and his partner, football consultant and former Spurs star, Ronnie Rosenthal, had nothing to do with the transfer.
Andrew Green, for Atletico, told Mr Justice Jack at London’s High Court, that Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein supported its side of the story.
Mr Dein said Mr Lichtenstein had “missed the train†and had tried to “jump aboard when the train was already movingâ€.
Arsenal first team manager Arsene Wenger became interested in Silva after watching his performances for Brazil at the 2002 World Cup.
Mr Dein contacted a “good friendâ€, Dick Law, in Brazil to make inquiries about Silva as he had a background of helping to facilitate transfers of players from Brazilian clubs to Arsenal.
He said Mr Law was not an agent but “a conduit†with a knowledge of Portuguese and Brazilian culture who was “our man on the spot who we trusted implicitlyâ€.
Rejecting Mr Lichtenstein’s claim for commission, the judge said that although he was authorised by Atletico “to interest†Arsenal and Aston Villa in Silva, this was not an “effective cause†of the transfer.
He ordered that the Brazilian club should have its £94,000 costs of the action with £30,000 to be paid into court on account pending any appeal.
He refused Mr Lichtenstein permission to appeal although he can apply to the Court of Appeal direct.