Why grassroots players need education on signing of foreign contracts News

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Why grassroots players need education on signing of foreign contracts

By Daily Sports on March 16, 2017

Many young Nigerian players plying their football trade at the grassroots level are hungry to go to Europe. That's no news. But what is troubling is how ignorant some of them are of contract details when they get an offer to fulfil their dreams.

Recently I got a scoop on one young Nigerian international who was part of the Rio Olympics Dream Team squad and his travails as regards playing in Europe.

This young man was allegedly lured into signing a contract for a Spanish side after his return from Olympics duties by a particular ‘football academy’ based in Lagos. It was alleged that the academy did ‘so much’ for the player to be able to get to the Olympics and also paid him some money to sign a deal with them.

However, the academy reportedly negotiated a deal with the said Spanish second division side that would have seen most of the player's salary go to their pocket and not to the player.

My source told me: “This player (name withheld) is currently in limbo now. He had signed but after some knowledgeable friends, including a premier league attacker insisted he obtains a copy of his contract from the Lagos academy. When he saw the contract and shared it with these people, it was allegedly discovered that he had effectively signed a slave contract that would see him working while his salary would be going to the selling academy which in turn would be paying him peanuts.”

When the said player later discovered the details of his contract he sought to revoke it. But that effort hit a brick wall.

“Young players these days in their desperation to get to Europe are very vulnerable to greedy agents and academies. When the academy pays his hotel bills, sends him on flight to Europe and meets almost all his expenses, he finds it difficult to ask for details of his contracts to know what exactly he’s committing himself to, when they get him a foreign club,” the source said.

Source Daily Sports

Posted March 16, 2017