Liverpool’s signing of Iago Aspas is being blocked by the Spanish Football Federation in a legal row over the player’s representation.
And according to emails seen by MirrorSport, Kop managing director Ian Ayre continued to negotiate with unauthorised agents over the deal even after discovering that he was not dealing with the player’s official FIFA-licensed representatives.
Aspas has a representation agreement with Jorge Santome and Carmelo Vicente until 2014, but attempted to force through a move to Anfield by enlisting the help of Barcelona-based agency PromoEsport.
As exclusively reported by the Daily Mirror last week, wrangling over the deal was holding up the finalisation of the transfer, and Celta Vigo and the Spanish Federation are now so furious at the conduct of Ayre, Liverpool and PromoEsport that they are refusing to release Aspas’ International Transfer Certificate (ITC).
This means that although the 25-year-old could be presented as a Reds player and even train with the side, while the RFEF refuse to release the ITC the player cannot feature in any official matches for the Reds.
Santome and Vicente are now taking action against PromoEsport through the Spanish Federation, backed by Celta Vigo and several other La Liga clubs who are angry with PromoEsport’s conduct.
The agency, which on their website claims to represent another Liverpool target, Barcelona’s Luis Alberto, is banned from the Celta training ground and used the player’s brother to present the offer to the Galician club in order to hide their involvement.
A Liverpool spokesman said: “There was a complication with the paperwork. For the deal to be completed both FAs have to release the paperwork and we are waiting for that to happen. However, we are confident that will be done shortly.”
