It seemed that it was a procedure, a letter of resignation, the situation of the pandemic and the matter resolved. But it won’t be that simple. Envigado has decided to sue Millonarios before the Dimayor Player Status Commission for alleged breach of the agreement that led Jefferson Martínez to the blue club and then, words more, words less, he took him out the back door.
This story began to be written on June 20, 2019, when in the most cordial terms, Envigado and Millonarios agreed to the loan of goalkeeper Jefferson Martínez in a very unusual style for the Colombian media: a “temporary transfer with a mandatory purchase option” of the sports rights of the player, as stated in the agreement. Option, which is not optional, but requires. All very European.
The clubs agreed on a very attractive figure, for Antioqueños of course, of $ 550,000 for the transfer of a substitute goalkeeper, since at the moment the Venezuelan Wilker Fariñez was still on the payroll.
And everything was, in those first months, more or less a rose garden: Millonarios honored their payments in a timely manner to cover the first 150 thousand dollars of the agreement, Martínez received from Envigado, in two certified payments, what corresponds to him According to the Statute of the player for what was considered by the orange club a definitive purchase (mandatory purchase, remember?) and only the remaining $ 400,000 remained pending, which, as agreed, would be paid “at the time of the signature of the definitive transfer of the Player “. And there the road was twisted, because the transfer was never final.
Envigado alleges, and provides a series of bank evidence, emails and official communications, that Millonarios drafted the entire agreement and that later, during the pandemic, took advantage of the “ambiguity” of the term ‘loan with mandatory purchase option ‘to evade the final payment, claiming that the player voluntarily resigned, that he presented a letter for the termination of his contract and left, which left the final objective of the agreement and the payment of the last installment without a floor.
And yes, Martínez resigned but, according to the ‘orange’ team through deception, because in Millonarios they told him to pass the letter because it was a simple procedure and they would then return to negotiate the new terms of a contract that they never offered him, as he himself explained in several interviews and is willing to ratify before the Dimayor Commission, when required.
Envigado adheres to a principle of the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) known as “In dubio contra stipulatorem” and which establishes that the interpretation of a clause that is not clear or ambiguous should be to the detriment of the party that wrote the clause in dispute. But the fight has not yet reached Switzerland and Millonarios hopes to make their case before in Bogotá, Colombia, South America. His main proof is that Martínez is not there, that he works at Atlético Bucaramanga, the object of the agreement no longer exists. It will also appeal to the literality of the contract, which says “purchase option”. Then it says “mandatory”, yes, but it is a war of terms that anticipates a long and tedious dispute.
Is your word against yours, Millionaires?
One detail, however, plays against the word of Millionaires. And it could be his word against his own. As well?
In the General Assembly of Shareholders, held by videoconference on Wednesday, May 18, 2020 (at 9:00 AM), the president of the blue club, Enrique Camacho, said: “The sports rights of Hansel Zapata from Equidad and from Jefferson Martínez de Envigado, and José Guillermo Ortiz and the defenders Deivy Balanta and José Luis Moreno arrived on loan. ”The video was publicly known.
But more than that. In the final text, with the signatures of all the club’s accountants, it states: “Sports rights show a significant increase mainly due to the acquisition of sports rights of the
players Jader Valencia, Hansel Zapata and Jefferson Martínez among others “.
Again, a principle of law: ‘non venire contra factum proprium’, which speaks of the inadmissibility of acting against one’s own acts done previously. That is, the aforementioned assembly.
That is why Envoy filed the lawsuit, which not only asks for the totality of the 400,000 dollars that, he considers, are owed for the loan but also asks for the payment of the highest interest rate in the market for the days in arrears that are already in progress (At this point it adds up to a little more than a month) and also sanction Millionaires not to be able to register players until the debt is paid, as stipulated by the penalties contemplated in the regulations.
For now, the demand is in Dimayor, it will go to the Commission of the Status of the Player of the Colombian Football Federation (FCF) in second instance and, if there is no agreement, it could reach the TAS, where the names of large or small teams do not weigh It is worth remembering the case that Cortuluá beat Atlético Nacional by Fernando Uribe.
Thus, the fight is just beginning and is anticipated dense and complex. There are accusations and many arguments with legal validity from side to side. The story of Jefferson Martinez, which many believed was a closed case, has yet to be written.
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