07-07-2015, 09:38 PM
Interesting piece on Doyen.
Quote:Imbula/Doyen Sports: A funny merry go round.
The dealings of Giannelli Imbula between AC Milan, Inter, and Porto for his transfer has a point in common: the investment fund Doyen Sports, present in different levels in the three clubs, and who since its arrival in 2011 has become an important financial actor in European football.
If Giannelli Imbula did not go to AC Milan and Inter, its because of Doyen Sports. If he went to Porto, its thanks to Doyen Spors. If he goes to Milan in one year, it will be thanks to Doyen Sports. How can an investment fund thus influence the trajectory of a player, especially after the ban on third party ownership (TPO) since the 1st of May 2015? To understand, it is necessary to go in the backstages of contracts of players and transfers.
The Imbula/Doyen Sports saga really began in mid June, with the battle between AC Milan and Inter for Geoffrey Kondogbia. The Monaco player, who arrived in the Principality in 2013, is part of the “team” of Doyen Sports since his period at FC Sevilla. The investment fund, who has put him on their website under “Players Investment” holds 50% of his rights. Despite this practice being illegal in Ligue 1.
Questioned on the presence at Monaco of players under TPO coming from Spain and Portugal, a prominent football lawyer answered us, “In effect there can be a reasonable doubt in this club’s compliance of respecting the outlawing of TPO, in regards to the big presence of Portuguese in the club. But it cannot be proven. Because in this case nothing appears in the contracts addressed to the league. It would be necessary to establish between the parties an “act” under private seeing or a counter letter”.
Second Choice.
Mid June, AC Milan want Kondogbia and the deal seams promising as Doyen Sports advised Bee Taechaubol (a Thai billionaire) when he bought 48% of the rossonero club. But drama comes, as it is Inter Milan instead who finally get Kondogbia. Inter whose owner, Erick Thorir (an Indonesian business man) is a stakeholder in Doyen Sports. Kondogbia arrives at the Nerazzuri for 40 million euros, which is twice the amount Monaco paid for him two years earlier. We therefore guess that between a player labeled Doyen Sports, Inter Milan and its president who is a stakeholder in Doyen Sports, every party found a benefit.
This deal provoked collagteral damage, Giannelli Imbula, at first seducted by the offer from Inter. Except that once the Kondogbia transfer was completed, Inter and its coach, Roberto Mancini made the Marseille midfielder wait. Imbula was already frustrated by his bad adventure at FC Valencia, where Jorge Mendes, a big enemy of Doyen Sports since one year, made the club buy the Brazilian Rodrigo Caio at the last minute, this being done with the goal of stopping his transfer. Rejected by Valencia, being given a ride by Inter, Imbula was waiting. And who came to save him? Doyen Sports via Porto!
Change of Strategy
The Portuguse club is part of the top clients of the investment fund in the Iberian peninsula along with Atletico Madrid and FC Sevilla. With 20 million euros Porto broke its piggy bank as this is the biggest amount the club has spent in front of Hulk (19 million) and Danilo (13 million). The Portuguese club called on Doyen Sports, its partner for the previous deals of Falcao, Mangala, Defour, and Brahimi. But in different conditions. No more TPO, the cession of players’ rights to investment funds, a practice banned by FIFA since the 1st of May. It is therefore in the role of the “banker” of FC Porto for this transfer, and no longer as a holder of the player’s rights, that Nelio Lucas, the General Director of Doyen Sports, was sitting in a restaurant of Porto Tuesday night next to Giannelli Imbula.
With this transfer, the most expensive of its history, FC Porto is changing strategies. Until now, it consisted of financing the purchase of their most expensive players by selling a percentage of their rights to investment funds. By holding 100% of Imbula’s rights, the club is taking a big risk. Its financial balance was already precarious due to the very important interests paid to the lending funds. That is why the hypothesis of a very short stay of the ex Marseille player in Porto, with a transfer as early as next summer, seems the most plausible.
A finger in the tangle
This departure would be already agreed upon according to Gianluca Di Marzio and Luca Marchetti, journalists at Sky Sports Italia. The ones who affirmed that Nelio Lucas, the General Director of Doyen Sports, had “placed” Imbula at Porto and promised him that in one year, he would go to AC Milan. Also a way to “make amends” for the failure to get Kondogbia? Kondogbia at Inter in the summer of 2015 for 40 million, Imbula at AC Milan in the summer of 2016 for 50 million (the amount of his release clause)? Imbula is therefore at his turn entering in the big washing machine. The former Guingamp player staid wating, Tuesday night in Porto, while the club was selling Jackson Martinez to Atletico Madrid for 35 million euros and Danilo to Real Madrid for 31 million before signing his contract. Two transfers that Jorge Mendes operated between three (Porto, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid) of his numerous familiar clubs. Because FC Porto is also a shop window where tacitly the super agent and Doyen Sports have chosen to forget their rivalry.
All this world was rejected by Willy Ndangi, the father of Giannelli Imbula, who said in L’equipe on 29 December 2014. “Around a month before Giannelli signed at Marseile, I had a meeting with a structure operating with Chelsea. But the people wanted the control over the player for five years. You see the system of Kondogbia, Mangala and all that… I refused the money (1 million euros) (…). The footballer, he needs to be free, to be able to control his career and his salary. I didn’t want Giannelli to have a rope around his neck.” He finally signed for Porto on June 30, the club that arrived far behind Valencia, Milan, and Inter in the beginning of the month in the order of his preferences. A funny merry go round.
Who is Doyen Sports
Particularly present at Atletico Madrid, FC Sevilla, Sporting Gijon, FC Porto, AC Milan, and Inter Milan, Doyen Sports is a branch of Doyen Group which presents itself as a private investor operating in emerging markets. http://www.doyen-group.com/
The holding is based in Istanbul the financial division in London (Doyen Capital LLP) and the sport division (in operation since 2011) in Malta (Doyen Sports Investments). Amongst the biggest investors in Doyen Sports there is the Turk Fattah Tamince, owner of the Rixos hotel chain and of Stars MediaGroup, Tamice is very close to Recep Erdogan, the president of Turkey. In April 2013 Tamince sold 50% of his parts in Stars MediaGroup to SOCAR, the national petroleum company in Azerbaijan. Three months after this operation, Azerbaijan became the new jersey sponsor of Atletico Madrid, replacing Rixos Hotel Group.
The Madrid club is one of the most prominent in the galaxy of Doyen Sports. Diego Simeone the coach, is cited on the website of Doyen Sports as one of the starts of internation football along with Neymar, Xavi, and Januzaj
Tevfik Arif (a Kazakh/Turk) Is another investor in Doyen Group. He is the founder of Bayrock Group, based in New York (real estate investment in partnership with Fettah Tamince and Donald Trump). Erick Thohir, the owner of Inter Milan, an Indonesian media tycoon, is the other known investor in Doyen. The other stay safely in anonomity.
The majority of the information on Doyen Sports comes from the book “Gol di Rapina” (Edizione Clichy) and articles on calciomercato.com by Pippo Russo, Italian university lecturer and sociologue specialist recognizaed in uncovering the the goals and deelings in the football economy.