Barcelona has a difficult time demonstrating that the four players who agreed to modify their contracts in October 2020 (De Jong, Ter Stegen, Piqué and Lenglet) to square the required accounts that the Catalans would have committed any illegality that declared those agreements null. Despite the fact that in the last few hours it has been leaked that the Camp Nou is considering taking legal action to denounce these four cases, especially that of Frenkie de Jongit is a legal lever that is difficult to articulate in the opinion of Toni Roca, CEO of the Sports Law Institute and director of the office specializing in soccer Himnus.
«The players, to my understanding, have not incurred crime some, because they were only asked to help the club at a critical moment with a salary reduction that led to the logical requirement of having some kind of consideration in return, either in the form of more years, or in the form of a salary increase in future years, ” explains the lawyer. According to his vision, “it is difficult for Barcelona to take this case to justice”, because the process “it would take years and by the time everything is resolved, the players may not even be part of the club anymore.
The lawyer believes that it would be very complicated to prove. “It is more of a negotiating weapon with the risk of exercising boomerang effect, because the judicialization of this entire process could cause reputational damage. In addition, there is always the threat that unions such as AFE or FIFPRO denounce the club’s actions, “adds Roca, considered by Iberian Lawyer the fourth most prestigious Sports Law specialist in Spain.
However, Roca warns that the affected players, especially De Jong, cannot accuse Barcelona of extortionnor could they denounce the club for mobbing, as the Dutch footballers’ union is suggesting. “So far De Jong has not lost a euro from his contract, he has not suffered a deterioration in his dignity as a worker nor has he been discriminated against: he has not been separated from the training sessions of the first team or from the American tour. What’s more, the club has only spoken good words towards his person », he points out. “I don’t think we are facing a crime of extortion but rather a simple negotiation due to economic issues in which Barça is playing a little ‘on the limit'”, he reiterates.
The lawyer clarifies that the crime of unfair administration that would entail the possible illegality of these four renewals “should only respond to people who have the power to manage someone else’s assets, that is, the president and other members of the previous Board of Directors. «In no case the players. For them the only consequence would be a potential annulment of their contract », he adds. The penalties for unfair administration are provided for in articles 249 and 250 of the Penal Code and set sentences ranging from prison from 6 months to 3 years, or prison from one to six years and a fine of 6 to 12 months when certain circumstances concur.
These cases are part of the race against time that Barcelona is leading to comply with the rules of the salary limit of LaLiga and to be able to register the signings that have been made throughout this summer. The CEO of the Sports Law Institute emphasizes that Barcelona risks losing the incorporations it has made if, finally, they cannot register for LaLiga: “It would be something similar to the club leaving them without a number. Article 16.2 of the famous Royal Decree 1006 of 1985 establishes that the termination of the contract for this reason produces the same effects as unfair dismissal without readmission. In other words, the player would be free and could request compensation from the club.”
The non-registration of a signing in LaLiga does not entail his immediate release on the market, but rather to be considered a free player he must first report his situation and wait for the judge to resolve the complaint in his favor to release him from the contract with the club. Roca recalls that no club can threaten to leave a footballer without a number to force him out, as has also slipped in the press in recent days about some Catalan players who refuse to leave. “The Royal Decree sets that the players have the right to effective occupation. If a club violates this right (and leaving them without a number is violating it) the footballer is also empowered to terminate the contract that binds him to the club », he concludes.
