DavidH wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:56 am
It worries me when you see the likes of Phillips apparently voicing his preference for Man City, and Rhaphinha setting his heart on Barcelona, as it limits the interest from other teams, and therefore the possibility of a bidding war. Though Kewell was (and remains), one of my favourite Leeds United players on the pitch, his stated aim of joining Liverpool, was instrumental in him being sold on for so little.
There was a
lot more to the Kewell transfer than meets the eye. His agent BERNIE MANDIC was not licenced, so he became Kewell's Commercial Manager and insisted that his brother NIKOLA MANDIC was actually the agent, even though (apparantly) he had not been involved at all in transfer negotiations!
Leeds rage at Kewell over cut-price move
Yorkshire club receives only £3m from £7m transfer
The Leeds chairman John McKenzie last night launched a scathing attack on Harry Kewell, effectively accusing the Australian and his agent Bernie Mandic of pocketing up to £4m in order to smooth a transfer to Liverpool.
Leeds will earn only £3m from the deal, which was completed yesterday, on a player rated at nearer £40m only three years ago.
The return has left McKenzie "outraged". He accused Kewell and Mandic of forcing Leeds' hand by threatening to walk away for nothing next summer, and of earning more from the transfer than the club which had developed the 24-year-old's talents.
"I have it in writing that, if we didn't settle for these terms, Harry intended to leave under the Bosman ruling next summer," said McKenzie, aware that the former Leeds midfielder Lee Bowyer's value shrunk from £9m last summer to only £100,000 in January after he refused to sign a new contract at Elland Road.
"There were clubs willing to pay more than the £5m Liverpool offered. Mr Mandic has listed them - Barcelona, Manchester United, Milan, Chelsea - but it was made clear to me that the player was not prepared to go, and, if we did not fall into line, he would leave for nothing. Harry sent me a message himself saying he'd sit out the season if we did not agree. So what could we do?"
He added: "I am angry and frustrated at the outrageous situation that has developed. Harry Kewell and his agent had been pressing us for a long while to give them 50% of any transfer fee or the player would leave for nothing next summer. With that in mind I agreed a deal of £7m last Friday with the Liverpool chief executive - with whose club Harry appears to have been illegally talking for six months - which Kewell and his agent refused to countenance.
"They were upset because, apparently, they didn't think they were getting as much money out of it as they had hoped, so they demanded that we reduce the fee paid by Liverpool to £5m with £2m of that to be paid to Mr Mandic. What happened to the remaining £2m from our original discussions I believe I know, but only Liverpool or Harry Kewell could tell you. Draw your own conclusions."
Liverpool last night insisted they were not guilty of any wrong-doing in the Kewell deal. "We were first approached regarding Harry Kewell on behalf of Leeds last January but were not in a position to take it any further," said a club spokesman. "Our recent negotiations with the player took place with the full knowledge of Leeds. Furthermore no deal was ever agreed at £7m with Leeds. It is crystal clear where the money has gone. We have agreed a transfer fee with Leeds and contract with Harry Kewell."
Mandic confirmed that the "missing" £2m was "money that Liverpool had that would be paid to Kewell" over the course of his contract. "This was not a money-driven decision," claimed the agent, whose client has signed a five-year deal worth around £17m. "People are forgetting that many players have left clubs on Bosman frees and Harry could have pocketed the entire £5m at other clubs." Mandic said the £2m from Leeds that was paid to his company Max Sport was a "success fee".
Kewell told Sky Sports last night: "I get my money from Liverpool and I let my agent get whatever he gets out of the deal." Whether for £5m or £7m, Liverpool have still captured a player of genuine class to delight their manager Gérard Houllier, who received confirmation of the signing yesterday while in London receiving an OBE. Kewell will be presented at a press conference this afternoon before departing with his team-mates for a training camp in Switzerland, leaving a smouldering sense of resentment behind him.
"Given Kewell's outburst on TV and his indication that he had been talking to Liverpool for six months, it would have been impossible for Harry to play for Leeds ever again," added McKenzie, who will hand a proportion of the £3m and the £2.5m saved in wages for the final 12 months of the Australian's contract, to the manager Peter Reid to add to his increasingly sparse squad.
