David Fofana’s first club Abidjan City FC are going to go to the Federal Supreme Court to try and claim a percentage of his transfer to Chelsea, claiming that Molde FK, the team he played for before coming to Stamford Bridge, still owe them 20% of the fee, the Daily Telegraph have tonight reported.
Their claim has already been unsuccessful with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, so the Ivorians have to take it further up the chain.
Fofana joined Molde while still under contract with them, they claim. Abidjan City FS’s president Marco Né says that he wants “justice” for his club and for other African clubs who see their players “stolen” by bigger European sides.
Of course none of this is any fault of Chelsea’s. They bought him legitimately from Molde, and probably knew nothing of this arrangement at the time. But given the bad press going on right now, including a lot of separate investigations of our transfers, it’s not great timing.